Bathrooms are some of the hardest-working spaces in a home. A well-designed bathroom isn’t just about pretty finishes or fixtures. How the space functions, how it feels, and how it supports everyday routines is equally important.
And powder rooms? They’re often the smallest room in the house, but they can make one of the biggest impressions.
Over the years, we’ve noticed that clients tend to approach bathroom design in one of two ways: they either want it to feel like a calm retreat, or they want it to feel like an experience. The best spaces often do both.
When a Powder Bath Needs to Become More
One of the most impactful bathroom changes we’ve made was in our Home Away From Home project, where we converted an existing powder bath into a full bathroom with a shower.
This is something we see more and more homeowners considering, especially when:
- Aging parents, kids, or guests visit frequently
- A downstairs guest room doesn’t have easy access to a shower
- Families want more flexibility for long-term living
- Homeowners are thinking about future resale value
Sometimes adding functionality doesn’t mean adding square footage — it means rethinking how the space is being used.
The key with conversions like this is making the new shower feel intentional, not squeezed in as an afterthought. Proper layout planning, lighting, tile scale, and storage all play a huge role in making a formerly small powder room feel like a complete, comfortable bathroom.
Wet Rooms: Beautiful, Functional, and Growing in Popularity
Wet rooms have become increasingly popular, and for good reason. In our Exposed Turquoise project, we designed a true wet room where the shower and surrounding bathroom area function together as one cohesive waterproofed space.
There’s something incredibly luxurious about the openness of a wet room. Without bulky shower curbs or visual barriers, the entire bathroom feels larger, cleaner, and more spa-like.
But beyond aesthetics, wet rooms can also be incredibly practical:
- Easier accessibility and aging-in-place functionality
- Simplified cleaning
- Maximizes smaller spaces
- A seamless visual flow
That said, wet rooms require careful planning behind the walls and beneath the floors. Proper waterproofing, drainage slopes, ventilation, and material selection are critical. When done poorly, they become maintenance nightmares. With a trusted design and build team, everything will be done correctly and feel effortless.
Not Quite a Wet Room, but Close
For clients who love the openness of a wet room but still want a more traditional separation, we often design layouts where the shower and tub live within the same enclosed glass space.
Both our Bent Tree Baths and Long Time Coming projects used this concept beautifully.
This layout creates a similar airy, luxurious feel while still helping contain steam and water. It also allows the bathtub to become more integrated into the overall design rather than feeling like a separate feature tucked into a corner.
Visually, these spaces tend to feel larger and calmer because there are fewer interruptions in the layout.
Take Risks in the Powder Room
One of our favorite things to tell clients: your powder room does not have to match the rest of your house.
In fact, sometimes it shouldn’t.
In our Goodbye Grandma’s House project, we designed a dramatic, dark, moody powder room that intentionally stood apart from the rest of the home. It became a statement and a conversation piece.
Powder rooms are the perfect place to:
- Try darker paint colors
- Use bold wallpaper
- Incorporate dramatic stone or tile
- Experiment with unique lighting
- Lean into personality and contrast
Because powder rooms are smaller and used differently than primary bathrooms, they can handle a little more drama. Guests remember these spaces. They’re one of the few rooms in a home where people are temporarily alone and fully immersed in the design.
Sometimes the most memorable design moments happen in the smallest rooms.
Double Vanities: Worth It If You Have the Space
If there’s enough room for separate vanities in a primary bathroom, we almost always recommend it. In Home Away From Home, separate vanities helped create a more balanced, functional routine for daily life. There’s more storage, more elbow room, and less competition for counter space during busy mornings.
Separate vanities can also make a bathroom feel more custom and architectural, especially when paired with thoughtful lighting and mirrors. But realistically, not every bathroom has the square footage for two full vanities, and that’s okay.
When Two Vanities Don’t Fit, Consider a Makeup Counter
In our Long Time Coming project, instead of forcing two cramped vanities into the space, we opted for one vanity paired with a dedicated makeup counter.
A makeup counter gives homeowners:
- Better seated functionality
- More useful, purposeful, and separated counter space
- Dedicated task lighting for makeup and skincare
We especially love pairing these areas with upgraded mirrors and layered lighting. Good lighting in a bathroom is not only good for brightness, but also for color accuracy, shadow reduction, and creating a comfortable experience for getting ready every day.
Bathroom Design Is About More Than Finishes
It’s easy to get caught up in tile selections, plumbing fixtures, and paint colors, but great bathroom design goes deeper than aesthetics.
The best bathrooms consider:
- How someone moves through the space
- What routines happen there daily
- Storage needs
- Lighting at different times of day
- Longevity and accessibility
- Emotional experience
Do you want the room to energize you in the morning? Help you unwind at night? Impress guests? Feel calming? Feel bold?
Good design answers those questions before a single tile is selected.
At the end of the day, bathrooms may be utilitarian spaces, but they’re also deeply personal ones. And when designed thoughtfully, they can completely change how a home feels to live in.