While you may be focused on the big issues when planning your bathroom remodel, like the layout, shower plan, vanity cabinetry, and ventilation, don’t forget this room has its own style that is influenced by accessories. These extra style touches take your room from utilitarian to extraordinary with the addition of color, texture, pattern, and personality. From a glorious mosaic tiled niche to cabinet hardware to your personal selection of candles and knick knacks, accessories are the finishing touches that bring your design to life.

How do you get started in selecting the accessories that will make your room pop without overwhelming it? Your design and remodeling expert can help with your final selections, but our guide will offer the inspiration you need to start planning.

Hardware

Cabinet hardware is known as the jewelry of kitchen and bath design as it beautifully accents cabinetry with color, texture, and pattern. Much like how jewelry complements an outfit, hardware can offer a subtle accent to cabinetry or it can stand out with its own unique style statement. Choose sleek handles or knobs in a metallic finish that matches your plumbing fixtures to create a fluid style. Go for full on glam with crystal knobs to match your chandelier. There are endless options for hardware that can change the look of your style, and they can be updated over the years to give your design a boost!

Lighting

No bathroom design is complete without lighting and must include a multi-layered lighting design with a combination of task and ambient light in key places around the vanity, tub, and shower. Did you know your light fixtures can also double as a decorative feature? Utilize your lighting to inject style with pendants, chandeliers, or sconces.

Bold metallic accents to complement hardware and plumbing fixtures can be added in the form of sconces or pendants, ranging in style from bright, contemporary to edgy industrial. Go full on sparkle with a crystal chandelier to give your master bathroom design the appeal of old world glam. Lampshades certainly have their place in a bathroom design and can add pizazz to any space ranging from delicate, small lampshades on sconces to large, bold lampshades for a pendant light.

master bath design with large pendant light

Plumbing Fixtures

Plumbing fixtures are an essential component of your bathroom remodeling plans, and much consideration should be given to the practical issues regarding the type of showerheads, faucets, and tub fillers that will best fit your requirements. They are also a prominent feature in your new bathroom design and offer another opportunity to dress up your room with metallic accents. Typically, you would choose a finish to complement cabinet hardware, lighting, towel bars, and other metallics in the room. The metal accents offer a prime opportunity to accent your shower’s tile design or the veining in your vanity countertop. Like with hardware, chrome and nickel are classic choices but have increasingly given way to bold tones like black, brass, and gold.

Tile Details

While tile is not an “accessory” you can easily change like your towel colors, it is a feature of any bath design that offers a chance to make the rest of your room pop. Choose carefully at the design planning stage and you can find colorful mosaics in varying shapes, pebble tiles, or shiny glass tiles to accent a recessed storage niche or create a unique border that will beautifully offset the rest of your neutral color scheme. You could also create a “rug effect” tile feature around a freestanding tub for a truly stunning centerpiece in your bathroom remodel.

freestanding tub with floor tile feature

Wall Coverings and Artwork

The walls are typically the first thing you see when you walk into any room, since they are directly at eye level. Don’t miss this opportunity to grab the attention of anyone entering your new bath design! In addition to tile features, wallpaper and paint are a prime opportunity to dress up your bath design and can be changed more frequently than tile to alter the look of your room.

Make sure you carefully select moisture and mildew resistant options or stick to a less frequented guest bath or powder room. Another option to achieve a beach style or old-world charm is to install wainscoting or beadboard on part of your bathroom walls.

Don’t be afraid to add artwork to your bathroom walls, carefully selecting a favorite framed print or a family photo. For a small child’s bathroom a uniquely framed photo of baby’s first bath can be a cute feature suited to this space. Make sure any artwork and frames are well-protected from moisture.

Open Storage

Open storage is a practical way to increase your bathroom design’s storage options while also offering an opportunity to enhance your style. Recessed niches and floating shelves allow you to store decorative items or neatly arranged essentials like your toiletries in a shower niche. They do this while being less intrusive on the floorspace in your bathroom design. These open storage solutions are also an ideal way to accent your room’s style in several ways:

What’s behind it? Add a stunning mosaic tile detail to a recessed niche to make it a stunning focal point. For open shelves, consider including a bold accent color or pattern behind your shelves in a contrasting paint color or with wallpaper.
What’s on it? Carefully curate the items you place in open storage so that it ideally enhances your design, but at the very least doesn’t detract from it. Stick to the toiletries you really need in a shower niche or consider putting everything into matching decorative dispensers. For floating shelves, place color-coordinated rolled towels neatly a la your favorite spa retreat, or arrange select personal items like a framed photo, a small objet d’art, or candles.
What’s it made of? Your shelf material can become a design accessory itself! Glass shelves reflect light and add to the bright, airy feel of a spa design. Wood shelves can be installed in reclaimed wood for a rustic appeal or in a glossy wood finish to complement cabinetry. Metal shelves give your bathroom design an industrial or contemporary feel depending on the style and finish.

Mirrors

Mirrors are another bathroom design accessory you simply cannot live without. Imagine trying to apply make up or shave in your bathroom with no mirror or one that is not fit for purpose? The results would be disastrous! When selecting a mirror, remember that a large mirror reflects light and makes a smaller bathroom feel bigger. It is also a prime opportunity to add another layer to your design with a custom framed mirror. You could frame it in wood to match your cabinetry, in metal to accent hardware, or customize it with a mosaic tile frame.

Towel Bars, Rings, and More

Metallic accents carry through to other accessories like towel bars, rings, tissue holders, radiator towel warmers, and more. From your soap dispenser to your robe hooks, the style you select should fit with your space to create a cohesive style. Be aware of not only the finish but also the lines of the accessories to make sure they all go together. Your bathroom design expert can help with this and typically offer a single line from one manufacturer for all these accessories, allowing you to be sure they all fit together.

Window Treatments

Windows bring natural light into your bathroom design, which enhances your space as part of your lighting scheme and by adding a connection to nature. This has to be balanced with a need for privacy, which is more important when your bathroom windows overlooks a street or neighbor’s backyard. Combine this need for privacy with a style accent when selecting your window treatments. Blinds, shutters, and curtains all work in a bathroom design to give you peace of mind but accessorize your style by adding color and texture to your space.

Furniture

One of the most important fixtures in a bathroom design is the vanity cabinet, as it provides essential storage and supports your countertop and sinks. You can also add other freestanding furniture items like a small cocktail table next to your tub or a rustic wooden stool that doubles as a place to keep folded towels handy. If your bathroom design has the space, don’t be afraid to add a unique piece of furniture that offers both practical and style benefits.

What’s on the Countertops?

Messy countertops will immediately detract from your fresh, new bathroom design and also make it a struggle to keep the space clean. Your new vanity, medicine cabinet, and open storage should make messy countertops a thing of the past, since every item you need now has a home. Jars, baskets, or any other decorative containers that accent your style can be used to keep anything you need on the countertop organized. A decorative metal tray or hand mirror could be placed next to candles to create a stylish vignette.

Seating

If you have added a makeup vanity to your bathroom remodeling plans, then you already know that seating has its place in the bathroom. A padded bench or chair offers a comfy place to sit while you apply make up or style your hair and enhances your design with complementary colors and textures. In a larger bathroom design, seating can also be added in the form of a comfy chair by a window, wooden bench outside the shower, or a stool where you can rest while getting ready.

bath design with make up vanity and chair

Rugs and Mats

With a new bathroom design, you should have no issue keeping floors clutter free and clean. Since your complete design created storage space for all your needs and included towel bars and hooks for towels and bathrobes, no one in the family has any excuse to leave things on the floor! This means your new tile floor can shine and be accented by the addition of rugs and mats.

Carefully placed bathmats keep your feet warm and dry when you step out of the shower or while standing at the sink brushing teeth. They are also, along with towels, the easiest way to update your room’s style with a pop of color, pattern, or texture over the many years you will live with your bathroom remodel. A bamboo bathmat brings natural texture to a bathroom and leaves you feeling like you’ve stepped into your favorite spa, while fluffy white bathmats evoke the feeling of a luxury hotel. Colorful mats also add visual interest to neutral white or gray floors. Not sure which color is your favorite? Pick out a few and change them to update your look as often as you like!

Plants and Candles

Your bathroom design should be an oasis of calm (unless this is a bathroom for small kids, then all bets are off!). Plants enhance this feeling by bringing an element of nature to your bathroom, since they both enhance your design and improve air quality. Select your plants carefully to find ones that thrive in a humid environment and choose ones that are low maintenance if you know you won’t pay close attention to their care.

Candles are another easy way to bring a sense of relaxation to your bathroom design. Place scented candles on a recessed niche or shelf near your tub to create an oasis of calm. Or include a candle on your vanity to add a moment of mindfulness to your morning routine.

Time to Get Started!

The first step before you even consider accessorizing is to declutter your bathroom. This is an essential step in your remodeling plans anyway, as the entire room must be cleared out before any work starts. Decluttering also helps you envision your room as a blank canvas, lets you see the full scope your footprint can offer, and is essential in understand what items you really need to have in the room (and therefore what needs to be stored).

So, stop binge watching organization videos and start putting your favorite methods into practice. Whether you plan to use the KonMarie or “four box” method, set aside time for this essential step before you plan your accessories. Make sure anything that remains has a home in your storage solutions and then look around to determine where and how you want to incorporate accessories. Remember your accessories should enhance and not overwhelm your space, so choose carefully.

Get inspired for your bathroom design in our remodeling gallery and then contact us to start planning your new bathroom today!

Top 14 Ideas to Accessorize Your Bath Design