Lucky enough to have a downstairs loo? It might be time to think about its potential. Often the smallest room in a home, downstairs toilets are commonly relegated to cupboard status, with nothing more than a sink and a toilet to show. But compact cloakrooms can be a great place to experiment with adventurous decor. Plus, a quirky downstairs toilet is the perfect place to show off your style to visitors. Check out this list of smart ideas for wondrous WCs.
1. Go Bold or Go Home
Fallen in love with a bold wallpaper, but feel like it’s ‘too much’ for your living room? It happens to the best of us. Sneak it into your home via the downstairs loo, where you won’t need to worry about it being too dark or busy. This tropical design is a feast for the eyes, especially pitted against that rich, navy paintwork.
2. Animal Magic
Wallpaper isn’t the only place in a bathroom with pattern potential. Just look at this amazing vanity unit, in a kitsch pink leopard print. Soft textures bring warmth to those minty fresh walls; you might not think of putting faux fur or pampas grass in a toilet, but here they really work. We love all the plants, but especially that one trailing from the brass planter.
3. Mirror, Mirror
Mirrors are a clever tool for making small rooms appear more spacious. This one has the added bonus of enabling visitors to check their full outfit, rather than just their face. There’s an eclectic mix of prints here, too, from the monochrome flooring to the grey herringbone tiles – and of course, that statement swan wallpaper.
4. Clever Clad Cupboard
Few colour combinations are as classy as black and gold, but there aren’t many rooms where you can get away with painting all walls black. Enter the small bathroom. Our customer couldn’t find a wall cabinet stylish enough for their sleek colour scheme, so they bought a plain white one and clad it in our Wiltshire finish aged brass. Clever and luxurious.
5. Club Tropicana
Proving again that contrasting textures can work in perfect harmony is this bijou loo. Pink and green are a colour match made in heaven, and real plants bring the tropical wallpaper into the room in 3D. We’re big fans of that aged brass mirror and the delicate natural brass touches, like the photo frame and hanging planter bracket.
6. Cool, Calm and Collected
The current trend for quirky downstairs toilets focuses on loud, complex wallpapers, but there are other ways to decorate. This calming room uses a muted shade of blue to pick up the seaside vibes of the framed print on the wall. Pale, wooden accents allude to sandy beaches to complete the coastal aesthetic. A great lesson in how to theme a room around your wall art.
7. On the Tiles
This narrow space takes timeless monochrome tiles and makes them a glossy focal point. A framed vintage shoe ad extends the vogueish, Parisian feel. There’s carefully considered use of colour here, too: the banana yellow cosmetics box, the poster girl’s hair, and an ornate antique brass mirror (complete with lamps). Très chic!
8. Dolly Mixture
Of all the quirky little bathrooms on this list, this one has to take the crown. Like so many others, it has a jungle-themed wallpaper, but it comes in a popping coral instead of the usual green shades. The most kitsch thing about this loo, though, is the collection of dolls sitting atop the cistern. Dolls might not be for everyone, but it shows how sentimental items can be used as ornaments, rather than packed away in the attic.
9. Pick & Mix
Yes, that bird paper is stunning, but as metal specialists our eyes are on the finer details here. The towel holder, cupboard door knobs, mirror frame and taps are patinated brass, but the exposed pipework is aged copper. Meanwhile, the chain and pipe on that beautiful vintage toilet are a silver metal, possibly chrome or steel. It’s an unusual combination, but against that vivid cobalt paintwork, it really works.
10. Stone Cold Classic
OK, we’ve established it: showy wallpapers are all over quirky downstairs toilets right now. If you’re more of a minimalist, though, consider experimenting with natural materials for a more tranquil look. This soothing space takes a mix of natural stones and textures and adds in understated, copper accents for a high-end, spa-like feel.
