One Cozy Paint Swap Made This Tiny Bathroom Feel Anything But Small
“The idea of starting fresh and taking on a project I’d never done before felt both terrifying and exciting in the best way,” Sarah Ingle shares about her 325-square-foot apartment in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn.
After living in Williamsburg for six years, Sarah wanted to start a new chapter in a neighborhood that she could call home. “The apartment needed a lot of work, truly,” Sarah explains. “But the moment I stepped inside, I could feel its potential.” She instantly fell in love with the crown molding and original stone fireplace. While it was a small apartment, the historic charm made Sarah want to call this space her home.
Embracing the Small Space with Bold, Curated Details
“I embraced the smallness of the bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom by going bolder, using deeper tones, texture, and more curated details to make each space feel cozy, distinct, and full of personality,” Sarah describes.
Because the bathroom was so small, there weren’t many changes she could make, and she learned to “pick her battles” when renovating. But one thing she wouldn’t compromise on was having a personality-filled home.
“Choose Your Battles” When You Renovate an Older Rental
With older rental apartments, you might not have a choice of what fixtures and amenities are included, and sometimes, they’re easier to keep rather than replace, especially if you don’t want the hassle of storing the original fixtures to put them back when you eventually move out.
For Sarah, the two items in her bathroom that she didn’t like were the shower’s frosted glass doors and the overhead bulb lights that weren’t centered above the vanity, which she found “very bizarre.”
“It is a frosted glass moment, which I’m absolutely not crazy about,” Sarah says of the shower. “But pick your battles, [and] this was not one I was willing to fight.”
Plus, the bathroom was simply too small to add a shower curtain to hide the frosted glass, so Sarah was forced to leave it and accept that it was a battle she wasn’t willing to fight. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to make adjustments to other aspects she didn’t love.
The Tiny Gallery Wall is a Fan Favorite
The square footage was what it was, so Sarah took her decorating vertically by adding a small gallery wall that’s now her favorite part of the space.
She added unique plaster reliefs and a vintage candlestick sconce to add charm to the bathroom. Above those are sketches that her grandmother did in charcoal, now showcased in Framebridge’s Cairo Burlwood Frames.
“Right before [my grandmother] died, I noticed that her art wasn’t signed,” Sarah explains. “So I had her sign her name, Patsy Lee, on all of her sketches that I had.”
The nude sketches are appropriate for a bathroom, but they also tell part of Sarah’s story and add sentimental detail because of how special Sarah’s grandmother was to her.
Texture and Practical Decor
“I wanted to lean into the space being tiny,” Sarah says. In the kitchen and bedroom, she picked bold paint colors. But for the bathroom, Sarah wanted to “lean into that cottage feel because [it’s] an incredibly tight space.”
This meant that Sarah chose Sherwin-Williams’ “Liveable Green” for the walls and added texture throughout to add coziness. She added a “100% linen, super fun” Canvas Sink Skirt from Etsy, a striped bath mat from Parachute, with matching towels.
Sarah also added a vintage silver tray that rests on top of the toilet, holding fresh flowers and her favorite scents, along with a wooden shelf near the ceiling with baskets to hold extra towels.
The last piece in the tiny bathroom is a “Gem Natural Shade” from Tulip Shade. “There is no overhead light in here. I just thought it looked cool, so I put it up,” Sarah shares. Plus, it distracts from the off-center vanity light.
Instead of making the obviously tiny space feel smaller, the details made the room cozy and intentionally personalized.
Check out more of Sarah Ingle’s home! Inspired? Submit your own project here.
