Bathroom Layout Ideas and How to Plan Them

When visualising your dream bathroom, settling on a solid bathroom layout idea is the best place to start.

We’ve all been there. Whether you’ve seen a gorgeous freestanding bath on our site or a spacious shower in a showroom, you may have found it difficult to visualise how it would look in your own space.

Fortunately, there’s a simple and effective way to bring your ideas to life. By drawing up a bathroom floor plan you can quickly see how all the different elements of your bathroom layout idea work together in a space. All it takes is a few measurements and a simple sketch.

Not a confident artist? Not to worry. Even the most simple doodle can give you a bit of clarity and tell you how individual items would look, and how much floor space they’ll take up.

So, to help out, we’ve assembled a list of things to remember when making those initial bathroom floor plans, as well as a handful of bathroom layout ideas that could spark your creativity.

Making Bathroom Floor Plans - Tips

A great bathroom layout idea should always be the starting point for a renovation, but make sure to do the following before you begin:

1. Accurately Measure Your Space

Grab your tape measure and get to work, this step crucial. Totalling up the dimensions of your bathroom may even shock you. You could find that your space is more limited than expected, leading you to scrap plans for that grand freestanding bath. Or, you could find that your previous small bathroom layout was poorly organised and that you can get much more out of your space!

2. Think About What’s Important to You

First, take a look at your current bathroom and work out what components you prioritise the most and which you rarely use at all. Then, think about what the essential things that would make you bathroom that bit better. Make a note of any other little luxuries you’d love to incorporate if only you had the space, too.

3. Choose Suitable Components

Now that you know the precise size of your bathroom and what your bathroom layout idea will need, it’s time for the fun part. Picking out a brand new bath, shower enclosure, or vanity unit is always exciting but remember to choose suitable components. This means checking the size of everything you choose to make sure it’s sensible. Sadly, huge shower cabins are a no-go in tiny cloakroom bathrooms! On the other hand, a compact enclosure could look out of place in a larger room.

4. Place Components to Maximise Space

Once you’ve got a rough idea of what you’d like in your new bathroom, you can start to draw up some bathroom floor plans. When doing so, try to place each of your items to carefully in a way that maximises your space. Be careful to avoid common pitfalls, such as forgetting which way your shower door needs to open. Another thing to be wary of is the current placement of your bathroom’s plumbing. Moving pipes, drains and soil stacks can be costly.

3 Inspiring Bathroom Layout Ideas for Different Sized Bathrooms

To help stimulate your imagination, we thought it’d be best for us to provide a handful of our own bathroom layout ideas. Hopefully, these can help you see just how easy it for a helpful bathroom floor plan to come to fruition; all you need is a pencil, a ruler, some paper - and your own fresh ideas!

1. A Practical Small Bathroom Layout

British bathrooms aren’t known for being particularly big. If you’re anything like us, you’ll likely have had to deal with a cramped bathroom at some point. To combat this, we’ve learned to use clever bathroom floor plans that truly get the most out of smaller spaces.

This small bathroom layout utilises the small amount of available space by using stylish slimline alternatives to all of the essentials. The bath, tucked away at the back of the room, can be a standard bath or, alternatively, a compact shower bath giving you multiple options with a small footprint. Adjacent to this and facing each other you’ll find a compact sink and a back to wall toilet; both will work to free up floor space without sacrificing any functionality.

A Comfortable Family-Sized Bathroom Layout

Every good family bathroom needs to be functional while also packing in a lot of storage space. With younger children, it’s also good to keep as much of the floor as clear as possible by keeping components back to the wall and minimising clutter.

This family bathroom layout idea is all about simplicity and organisation. Upon entering you’ll find a tonne of open floor space; great for avoiding any trips and falls. Again, you’ll also find a compact back to wall toilet and a basin. However, this time the sink is a slimline vanity that doubles up as handy storage space. Above it is a standard bathroom mirror, but we'd recommend switching to a mirror cabinet; the best way to keep medicines and other potentially harmful items out of reach of children. A P-shaped shower bath finishes the space with aplomb.

2. An Indulgent Freestanding Bathroom Layout

For some of us, it’s not just about practicality. A bathroom should also be a tranquil place for rest and relaxation. A place used for long baths as well as those energising morning showers. When creating an exciting indulgent space such as this, a freestanding bath is simply a must.

In this example of a freestanding bathroom layout, we’ve made the most of the room’s depth by placing the extravagant bath at the back of the space. This will work to make whichever bath you choose feel like a true focal point. The traditional sink and toilet are then placed opposite each other at different intervals to give each component breathing room to standout.

3. 3-D Bathroom Layouts?

If a bird’s-eye view pencil sketch isn’t quite enough to give you a clear impression, there are other ways to give your imagination a boost.

3-D Design software, if you have the patience to learn how to use it, can give you the power to mock-up your bathroom renovation complete with exact models of the furniture and fittings you want to use.

There are tonnes of options to choose from, but free and paid examples of this software include SketchUp, Floorplanner, and RoomSketcher.

Found our guide to bathroom layout ideas helpful? Want some inspiration for your own? Try our all-encompassing range of bathroom suites. For all sorts of other bathroom style guides, stick with us on the Victorian Plumbing blog.