Go Bold in Your Powder Room

Courtesy of Homes and Gardens

While you may be tempted to play it safe when decorating your home, it can be fun to go bold. By playing with color, patterns, shapes and textures, you can inject some personality into your home. Maybe the idea makes you a little nervous. After all, neutral is “in” this year. Not only that, it takes talent to pull off an over-the-top look.

It feels great to express yourself, even if means taking a design risk. The easiest way is to start small. Ask any interior designer which is the best room to go bold in, and you will invariably be told it’s the powder room, because of its small size and scaled-down proportions.

In this article, we invite you to take a walk on the wild side, and learn more about why and how to use the powder room as a mini-lab for your design experiment.

Reasons to Go Bold

There are many good reasons to be bold. As Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote in his journal, “All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.” In other words, “Out with the old. In with the bold.”    

Get Out of Your Comfort Zone   

Maybe it’s been a while since you’ve expressed yourself creatively. A great way to do it is by pushing the design boundary in a space where you can’t go wrong. The powder room is a blank canvas that you can use to experiment with color, texture and different styles. When you take a design risk with the right frame of mind, the result can be a room that is not only unique, but will also elevate your mood each time you walk in.

Have Fun and Let Yourself Go

If you have a whimsical streak, or just like quirky design, this is your chance to express yourself. That’s when the fun begins. Whether it’s with a funky wallpaper, a psychedelic tile pattern on the floor, or a big, bold light fixture that caught your eye in an antique store, this is the opportunity to go for it. Once you take that big step of expressing yourself personally in your home, you’ll never look back. Go ahead, break the rules! We bet it will make you feel fantastic.

It’s Really Not That Big of a Risk

From a practical point of view, the powder room is a small space, and no one spends that much time in it anyway. If you go out on a limb, but are not happy with the results of your interior design experiment, it can be easily remedied. It’s simple to replace a mirror or light fixture, or repaint or re-wallpaper a wall. Don’t forget, it’s your house, so go ahead and be happy.

How to Go Bold in Your Powder Room

Use Wallcovering to Make a Bold Btatement

Expressive wallpaper is a great way to transform your powder room in a jiffy. If you choose a more modest one without a large pattern, combine it with a striking paint color. We love the sea-blue wallpaper in this room. Although the pattern is large scale, the blossoms are small and delicate, so it's not a visual assault. The flowers' tinge of metallic picks up on the gold fixtures and vanity legs.

Change it Up With Tiles  

Detailed and beautiful wall tiles, such as the Artistic Tile floral pattern seen here, can function like artwork, creating an element of interest that draws the eye to it. Adhesive, or peel-and-stick tiles in an unusual color are a wonderful way to all a dash of vibrancy or playfulness. They're also practical, because if you decide to make a change, they are simple to switch out. If you choose a daring wallpaper, you may want to balance it with neutral subway tiles.

Image Courtesy of Artistic Tile

Incorporate Your Personality

Your powder room, just like every other room in your house, reflects you. This whimsical Au Fil Des Couleurs black-and-white wallpaper adds a touch of humor to your space. The panoramic wallcovering creates the ambience of a classic Parisian theater, with you on the stage. You'll smile every time you step into this space.

Courtesy of: Au Fil Des Couleurs

Bring in Luxurious Textures and Materials

The powder room gives you the opportunity to create high-end accents with extraordinary materials such as marble, brass, and textured woods. This elegant powder room incorporates dark wood panels, marble flooring and gold accents to create an atmosphere of ultimate luxury.

Courtesy of Covet House

Add Unique Shapes  

Bold is not just about color. Unique patterns and shapes can make a striking statement in your bathroom.  If you're afraid of taking a wrong step, there are lots of high-impact, temporary options, such as the geometric tiles, hectagonal mirror and round sink shown here.

Courtesy of Dylan Farrell Design

Rita Naffas Designs is a full-service interior design studio in Los Angeles, specializing in mid- to high-end residential, commercial, and hospitality interiors.   

Interested in trying out something new? We can take the guesswork out of creating a bold new design in any room. With an interior designer as your guide, you can let your imagination run wild.