Does your bathroom give you claustrophobia? Have you finally grown weary of a dark, gloomy bathroom? If so, use glass to open up the space and create your own mini getaway from the stresses of life.
Here are four ways that glass makes a bathroom seem bigger and look amazing.
1. Get Rid of the Shower Curtain
Shower curtains create a visual blockage in a small bathroom. Toss the shower curtain and install see-through glass shower doors around your tub or shower.
You have four basic types of glass shower enclosure doors. They are:
- Bypass doors
- Hinged doors
- Pivot doors
- Bifold doors
Bypass and bifold doors use the least space of all glass shower doors, since they don’t swing out into the room. If you have a tiny bathroom, bifold and bypass doors add the illusion of more space without taking up more actual space.
Glass shower doors visually increase the space in your bathroom instead of partitioning off the bath area. You can choose from smoked or patterned glass to provide privacy. Alternatively, use shower doors of clear glass to show off the attractive tiles in your custom shower.
If you love glass shower doors but don’t like the greenish tint that some glass doors have, order shower doors made with low-iron glass. Standard glass has 10 times the iron content of low-iron glass, which is why standard glass appears greenish blue. Low-iron glass has more clarity than regular glass. Shower doors made with low-iron glass seem brighter and clearer.
2. Install Glass Doors on Divided Baths
Some bathrooms divide into two separate areas. A small door closes off one part of the bathroom from another part. For example, a door may divide the toilet area from the bathing and sink area.
Because a standard hinged door must swing over the floor, the door takes up valuable real estate in a divided bathroom. You need at least 32 inches of width and depth on the floor to accommodate a standard door. The solid presence of the door can also make each of the divided rooms seem cramped and dark.
When space is at a premium, install a pocket door with a glass insert to divide the two spaces. A pocket door slides into the wall and takes up zero floor space when opened. Glass inside the pocket door allows light to shine through even when the door is closed.
If you can’t install a pocket door between the rooms, use a hinged door with a glass insert as a divider. You lose the same amount of floor space when the door is open, but the glass door removes the visual barrier of a solid door and increases the sense of space in a divided bathroom.
Use ribbed or textured glass in your dividing door when privacy is a concern. You have a wide variety of patterns and textures available in privacy glass for use in pocket or standard doors.
3. Use Glass Shelving to Make Space
Each solid object in a bathroom adds to the overall feeling of stuffiness and clutter. Dark shelving and vanities break up the visual space and make small bathrooms seem even tinier.
Replace wooden and other shelves with glass shelves. Glass shelves let you see straight through to your attractive tile or wallpaper. The bathroom becomes brighter and more clean-lined with glass shelving rather than wooden or plastic shelving.
You can mount glass shelves on wall brackets in small bathrooms or on multi-shelf storage units in a larger bathrooms. Alternatively, place a glass shelf in an unused corner to add more storage space without cluttering the view.
4. Position Mirrors for Optimum Reflection
A mirror is a tried-and-true method to increase the feeling of openness in a small room. Get rid of a tiny medicine cabinet mirror and install a sink-to-ceiling mirror in its place. The larger, taller mirror makes the room dimensions seem to increase.
Another trick to increase the view in a tiny bathroom is to install a large mirror on a wall that runs perpendicular to a window. The mirror reflects the outside view and makes it seem like part of the bathroom.
Especially tiny bathrooms benefit from an entire wall made of mirrors or mirrored tiles. This mirror installation makes your bathroom appear to double in size. Of course, this is only an illusion, but the effect makes your bathroom seem more spacious and open.
Use a minimalist mirror without frames to maintain a clean look on a neutral or white wall. The frameless-mirror approach is a great strategy to use over a double sink. The absence of a solid frame around the mirror creates a seamless look to the wider wall. This is also easier to dust and clean.
Schedule your bathroom upgrade with new glass and mirror features by contacting Valley Glass today. We install mirrors, glass inserts, and bath and shower enclosures in Utah homes including residences in Boise, Layton, Ogden, Idaho Falls, and Salt Lake City.
Leave a Reply