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Dark Bathroom Ideas and Decor Inspiration

Date: 29/11/2022

Written By: Henry Blose

Looking for a little inspiration for your next bathroom redesign? Why not consider taking things down a tone with a darker design?

Darker bathrooms are becoming increasingly favoured.

More and more homeowners are moving away from the classic gleaming bright white tiled look and setting their sights on something moodier and mystifying.

Flipping things on their head and turning the tone down a notch takes careful planning, and sometimes, it’s not always easy to know where to start.

If you’re considering moving towards the darker end of the colour wheel, you may be struggling to grapple with just how you’re going to create your own unique look.

Follow these dark bathroom design tips and ideas to create a stunning, yet functional bathroom that you’ll love for years to come.


Are dark colours a good idea in a bathroom?

dark bathroom

Previously, there was this grand misconception that dark colours were only for large bathrooms in stately homes or city centre five-storey townhouses.

Naturally, many people worry that bringing shadier tints and tones into their smaller space will only make the room feel cramped and dingy.

However, there are so many different style and colour composition variations across modern and traditional bathroom designs that any bathroom, regardless of size and shape, can pull off this alluring look.

Darker bathrooms have so much to give.

Dimming the spotlights and turning the brightness down a notch can be a superb way to breathe more character and romance into the ambience of your bathroom.

Moving down the colour wheel opens the door to exploring an array of beautiful bold and soulful colours such as grey and black as well as dark blues, greens, burnt orange and even rustic and worn woody hues.

What’s more, you can incorporate new styles, features and accessories that you may not have previously explored, making this a fun and refreshing redesign experience.

 

A few ways to bring darkness into your bathroom

Most people immediately think that creating a dark bathroom means painting the walls black, or choosing dark tiles. However, there are so many different ways to bring darkness into your wash space.

You don’t necessarily have to go all-out dark. You may choose to dim things down across distinguished features and accessories, a section of the room, or even across just one wall, whilst keeping other areas light and bright.

When designing a dark bathroom, it’s important to consider how you’ll use lighting to construct highlights and shadows, to enhance the feel of depth and texture.

 

Play with lighting composition

dark bathroom shelves
As strange as it may sound, lighting is a great way to create darkness in a bathroom.

You can use both natural light and ambient lighting to cast pockets of shadow and definition throughout the space.

Shelving is one great way to do this. Recessed shelving saves space and creates a moody shadowed effect.

Where you place lighting will also influence how dark and light play out across the room. For a more intimate feel, use a pendant light with a warm glow.

To highlight walls and cast shadows, use up lighters. Or to bring things closer together, use downlighters.

Opt for brushed brass light fittings to keep things soothingly warm and vibrant. These can also be matched with brushed brass fixtures and fittings such as taps, hooks and handles to emphasise highlights and shadows.

Illuminate a patch of wall with glowy mirror lights. This look always works so well when contrasted against a dark wall backdrop.

 

Choose dark furniture

Not every dark colour has to come from the walls and floors. Instead, you can build out or enhance upon the darkness through bathroom furniture.

From bath panels and storage cabinets to vanity units and WC units, bathroom furniture is available in a huge range of dark and enriching colours.

Make black furniture stand out when contrasted against white or grey walls to build out a monochrome look. Alternatively, get colourful and creative when bringing pinks, greens or other eye-popping coloured walls to the mix.

For a more natural look, choose dark wood-effect grey. The woody look can work well with other natural materials such as stony concrete grey or even marble.

For a classic bout of colour, you could consider dark blue. For a traditional look, choose dark navy shaker-style furniture. Or if you’re keeping things up to date, choose furniture with a satin blue finish.

 

Create contrast with black features

If you’re looking for a more subdued way to darken your bathroom, instead of saturating the room with darker colours, dabble splodges of dark across the room.

This is a great approach if you lack natural light, have a smaller space to work with, or simply want to keep the room feeling lighter.

Choose matte black taps, hooks and handles, shower fixings, shelving and accessories such as soap dishes and dispensers. You could also include a matte black towel rail or a large floor-to-ceiling radiator.

If you choose to tile or panel your floor or walls, opt for black grout, rather than white grout for a stand-out effect.

Swap out white shower doors for a door with a matte black frame. And, if there’s room for more, why not change your white basin for a black basin, or choose a black shower tray?


Colour the walls in with dark colours

Finally, the most obvious choice; use the walls to build darkness in the bathroom.

From black and grey to punchy blues and gracious greens, there are a plethora of darker colour choices to choose from.

How you place them across the walls is up to you. You could choose large profile granite wall panels, a mix and match of tiles, or for a solid colour, pick paint.

To keep the texture alive, use an eclectic mix of materials. And, don’t forget to choose a floor colour that accentuates the walls, to make the room feel bigger and more capacious.


Dark bathroom design ideas


There are so many different ways to express character and build ambience with darker decor. Here are a few ideas that you might want to try.

A ruggedly rustic bathroom


Not everyone wants the shiny new and modern polished bathroom look. If you’re after something a little more weathered, yet classically charming, you might want to consider this ruggedly rustic dark bathroom design.

Splendid in older buildings where you want to accentuate its historical charm and vintage character, this bathroom style mixes between light and dark across almost every feature. And whilst there are lots of dark accents, these are naturally lifted, giving the best of both.

The use of grey and light satin blue chipped and splattered across the walls will transport you to a shabby chic Grecian retreat, echoing natural light across the wall whilst deepening the tone across the darker splatters.

Match the lighter greys with a soft grey shaker vanity unit, topped off with a black countertop. If you have the room, choose a double basin style furnished with classic chrome four-spindle taps.

For added storage and to bounce more natural light around the room, choose a matching grey mirrored cabinet that can be placed above the basin. Choose a classic freestanding bath tap to finish the look.

Complete the classic style with a white roll-top bath, placed in the centre of the room on top of dark grey or black herringbone tiles.


A traditionally charming dark design

Want to stick with the classic look but after something a little more refined and polished? We’ve got the perfect look for you.

This stunning country manor house bathroom design incorporates a luxurious mixture of deep blues, greys and white.

The blue is brought to life through a glamorous blue vanity unit with a coaly grey marble worktop. The look is completed with the help of some brushed brass door handles and a tap.


The brushed brass is carried through the walk-in wet room shower, where a 2-outlet brassy shower is mounted onto a bougie black marble panelled wall.

A clear wet room screen allows the shower to do all the talking as the core room-centralising feature.

Cover the floor with classic white, blue and grey geometric floor patterns. To tie the floor in with the walls, opt for wood panelling along the bottom half of the wall. Paint the panels grey, and the unpanelled section of the wall white to draw emphasis to the darker tones across the bathroom.

Finish the look with a brushed brass towel hook and light fittings to warm the room up a few extra degrees.


A bat cave blue interior

Turn down the tone another level with deep and mysterious blue. This glamorous, hidden home retreat merges together modern design with cosy exclusivity.

This space will truly feel like your own bat cave, but with the added benefit of more light and cosmopolitan charm.


Starting with the floor and ceiling, choose an exquisite industrial concrete finish with a smooth yet robust complexion.

Paint the walls a dark and enriching deep sea blue. Keep the blue running through to the wall-hung vanity unit and WC unit, choosing a colour that is just a few shades lighter than the walls.

Trickle light white into the space via the vanity unit worktop, toilet, luxury freestanding bath and a white shower tray.

Let the colours do the talking and opt for chrome taps for your basin, bath and shower.

Use mirror lighting and a cool pendant light to extract the highlights and shadows across the walls and floors.

And finally, bring a spruce of nature into your underground-style space, and add some plants and greenery to the all-blue mix.


A dark soulful spa design

If you like the idea of using the deeper and darker shades of blue, but worry that it may be a little heavy for your bathroom, you can take a different spin on this stunning colour when remixing with white.

The use of white tiles, instead of an all-blue look, will soak the room with natural light to gently lift the tone.

Whilst the bathroom will still have a dark demeanour, it will be more subtle when balanced with white.

To create this refreshing space, paint two parallel walls dark deep sea blue, and cover the other two walls and floor with modern fresh white large profile wall panels of varying sizes.

Use dark grout to show off the use of pattern and texture through your panel choice.

To add an additional element of darkness to the space, opt for modern grey bathroom furniture. To elongate the room, choose floating vanity units that keep the floor clear and breezy.

Cash in on extra storage when you choose a vanity unit, slimline storage cabinet and mirror bathroom cabinet.

And for the final layer of darkness, opt for a black wet room tray, taps and a black towel rail as well as a recessed shelf set inside the walk-in shower.

Keep your wet room light and open by choosing a large clear wet room screen.

When it comes to lighting, be sure to keep your window seal as clear as possible to allow light to bounce around the room and radiate the blue tones. Opt for cool, crispy ceiling lighting such as spotlights that tie together the minimalistic look.

 

A grey and evergreen haven


You don't have to stick with all dark colours when designing a dark bathroom. This evergreen bathroom taps into light greys, dark greys, black and as it says on the tin, fresh green.

Because of the use of the different shades of grey and black, the green pops from the wall as the standout feature creating an organic spa feel.

To recreate this look opt for a robust concrete wall finish and an exquisite natural marble floor. Use long vertical enriching green tiles on the shortest end of the room before mounting a black vanity unit and two light-up mirrors to the wall.


Mimic the use of green tiles in the recessed shelf within a walk-in shower. Use a black shower tray that will blend effortlessly with the flooring, and a clear screen to enhance the feel of a more open and organic layout.

Complete this wonderful in-the-wild look by sprucing up the space with some indoor plants to bring greenery into the 3rd dimension.

 


Modern meets classic


If green doesn't float your boat, opt for a classic bathroom aqua blue mixed with industrial greys and black.

Start by creating a feature wall by using blue tiles placed on the wall in a herringbone style.

Balance out this bright pigment with grainy grey painted wall. Bring the two contrasting tones together across your flooring design choice by choosing a stunning blue, white and grey mosaic design.

Choose a bluey-grey vanity unit with an alluring round black countertop basin. Replicate the round shape across other bathroom features such as mirrors and lighting fixtures.

Add definition and body by choosing a black shower door as well as black taps, shower fittings and a black shower tray.

 

Simply classic grey


Simplicity can go a long way when using darker colours. Grey is one of the most popular bathroom colours at the moment.

There are many different tones and shades to choose from, making it the perfect choice if a darker bathroom is on your design bucket list.

There is lots to be said about this no-frills approach, particularly if you love the minimalistic look, and would rather let the colours and features do all of the talking.

Use dark-painted grey wall panels at the bottom half of your wall, contrasted against a lighter grey-painted top section of the wall. Incorporate a classic full pedestal basin and a closed couple toilet.

When it comes to fixtures and fittings choose modest chrome taps, hooks and handles. Bring your own personal finishing touches to your dark bathroom with artwork or black-and-white printouts of your favourite family pictures.


The darkest of all


Mirror mirror on the wall, why not choose the darkest bathroom of them all?

Of course, the darkest colours you can bring into a bathroom is black. This is a fantastic bathroom colour choice, but one that needs careful consideration.

Overdoing it, or using it in the wrong way can end in a design disaster. Instead, take inspiration from this beautiful modern black bathroom.

Start with the walls and build out the texture with floor-to-ceiling herringbone panels on three walls. Paint them matte black. Paint the 4th wall, where your window is placed, a warm stony, oatmeally white. This homely hint of colour will soften the look of darker walls.

Choose a warm woody oak floor to elevate the warmth and cosiness.

Next, add an alluring marble grey feature wall behind your walk-in shower. Using a clear wet room screen will allow this bold and lavish shower backdrop to shine as the main star of the show.

Choose a luxury rainfall showerhead that will give you all the spa feels as you wash the day away.

Recessed shelving will also dramatise shadows and dark colours to build body and character through the space.

And finally, turn this dark luxurious bathroom into the ultimate home spa hideaway with a deep and soothing free-standing bath.



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