Modern Bathroom Ideas: Bold Colours and Sleek Design

I've been specifying colours and finishes for bathrooms for nearly 30 years, and if there's one discussion that arises more than any other at the design consultation table, it's this one: how do you achieve a modern bathroom that doesn't date after five years? In my experience, there are two places to start: colour and fixtures. Here are the modern bathroom ideas that stand the test of time.

Colour as the Foundation of a Modern Bathroom

Colour is always the best place to begin with a bathroom. Not the tiles. Not the tapware. Not the vanity. Colour. The reason for this is that every material selection you make will stem from your colour palette, and if you get that wrong at the outset, you'll be chasing your tail for the rest of the project. Grey is a colour that endures for a reason. It traverses both warm and cool, and is just as successfully paired with natural stone as it is with engineered surfaces. It also provides a clean backdrop without appearing clinical. If you're after grey bathroom ideas that work, the trick is to select a mid-tone grey for your largest surface area (which will usually be either your floor tile or a feature wall), then play other lighter and darker tones off that. A soft grey vanity top and a charcoal grey floor tile, for example, is a surprisingly effective combination, because the two tones don't compete. Tonal variation, rather than a single note of grey applied across every surface (which can make a bathroom appear cold and institutional), is the best way to go. One of the biggest mistakes I see when it comes to modern bathroom ideas is the tendency to treat colour as decor rather than architecture. In a bathroom, the colour is the architecture. It governs how we perceive the space, where the eye is drawn, which planes appear to advance and which recede, and how the proportions of the room appear in relation to its actual footprint.

Working With Black and White

A monochrome scheme is one of the most dramatic, and effective, looks you can create in a bathroom, but it requires rigour to pull off. Too often, I see it applied in a way that's heavy handed and overly contrasting, a black wall here, a white wall there, a black vanity and a white basin, for example. The effect is one of visual dissonance rather than considered sophistication. If you're after black and white bathroom ideas that actually work, the key is to consider the proportions of your space, and the relative weight you want to assign to each colour. I usually favour either a 70/30 or 60/40 relationship rather than an equal split, and suggest that one of the colours should clearly dominate while the other punctuates. In one of my most recent bathroom projects, for example, I applied large format white porcelain floor and wall tiles across three walls and the floor of the space, then introduced a single black feature wall behind the vanity, which I finished in a textured stone. The texture is important here, an unadorned black surface in a bathroom can make the space feel like a commercial washroom. Where a monochrome scheme can get really interesting is in its application of different textures and materials. Flat and gloss, natural stone and engineered quartz, brushed metallic tapware and smooth ceramic, all these contrasts will keep the eye engaged even when your colour palette is deliberately muted.

Paint, Tile, and Surface Decisions

One of the most frequently asked questions on my bathroom projects is where to paint and where to tile. My position on this is simple: anything that is likely to be regularly exposed to water should be tiled, and everything else should be painted. That might sound obvious, but the devil is in the detail when it comes to bathroom paint ideas. For areas that are regularly exposed to water but can't be tiled (such as a plasterboard ceiling above a shower, for example) it's essential to select a paint finish that's capable of withstanding both moisture and cleaning. In this instance, a semi-gloss or satin finish is the best option. Benjamin Moore's Aura Bath Spa range is my go-to for bathroom projects, although I've also found Dulux Wash Wear low sheen to be a good performer in Australian conditions. The actual colour of the paint isn't as important as the tone. A warm white with yellow overtones will look totally different in a bathroom lit with downlights than a cool white with blue overtones and I've had clients who didn't like a colour on the wall that they'd loved on a swatch because they'd forgotten about this.

A trick I use often is to use a different colour on the ceiling to the walls, either a shade lighter or a half-tone warmer. This is something most people won't notice consciously, but it makes the space feel deeper and stops it looking like the builders-standard finish.

Selecting Fixtures That Complete the Design

The fixtures you select are where modern bathroom ideas either come together or fall apart. A gorgeous tile selection can be ruined by the wrong toilets, basins and tapware, or even the poorly considered addition of a urinal in a residential setting where it doesn’t align with the overall layout or user needs. One of the defining features of modern bathroom design is wall-hung fixtures. A floating toilet, for instance, creates clean lines and make the floor appear larger, which is really helpful in a small bathroom. The pan is mounted onto a frame that's hidden inside the wall so there's nothing on the floor. If you're thinking of doing this, you'll need to check with your plumber to see if your waste pipe will accommodate a wall-mounted fixture or if it will need to be moved. While we're talking toilets, it's worth knowing what type of trap you need before you purchase one. A pea trap toilet has a waste pipe that goes out through the wall, while an s trap toilet connects through the floor. This isn't a design choice, it's a practical one, and it's surprisingly easy (and expensive) to get this wrong. The finish on your tapware should be the same throughout the bathroom and throughout your home. I talked about this in a recent article on choosing tapware, but it's worth repeating. Having the same finish on your taps, shower head, toilet button and accessories will make the space feel designed, rather than cobbled together.