How am I going to decorate a bathroom with no windows to create a stylish space I love, that’s bright, and doesn’t feel dark? It’s a question you may find yourself asking when you think about decorating a bathroom without windows. Finding the right lighting is crucial to decorating your bathroom and getting the stylish finish you love. With clever design choices and décor ideas you’ll be able to turn your bathroom with no windows into a beautiful, bright, and stylish space.
1: Focus on the Right Lighting
Artificial lighting is as essential as the bathroom furniture in a bathroom with no windows. You need to choose lighting that works on two levels. Firstly, to help you with grooming and being able to see what your doing in your bathroom. Secondly, your lightning needs to work to add character and life to your bathroom, working to stylishly enhance areas while creating a welcoming feeling.
Our top tip for bathrooms with no windows is to fit LED lights that mimic natural daylight, so look for options that give you 4000-5000K on the Kelvin scale. This will simulate sunlight in your windowless bathroom and brighten your space so it doesn’t feel dark and enclosed.
Ambient Lighting
This is going to be the lighting that providing brightness and mimicking the missing daylight. Overhead lighting options are the key focus with ambient lighting in a bathroom with no windows. The style of lighting you choose should fit with the overall style of décor you are going for in your bathroom.
Think about having a chandelier for a luxury bathroom or flush modern LED lighting for a minimalist clean and modern bathroom look. Pendant lighting is a popular choice too as you can easily adapt it on a smaller budget for any size or style of windowless bathroom. Recessed lights are a popular choice in bathrooms and can provide a great way to capture the sense of morning and evening daylight creeping in.
Task Lighting
This type of lighting will help with your personal grooming tasks, which can be tricky to do in a bathroom with no windows due to lack of brightness. Incorporate lighting into your mirror design either by adding sconces to both sides of your mirror or opting for a vanity mirror with LED lighting built in.
Accent Lighting
Use this type of lighting to give your room depth and highlight specific features of your bathroom. Adding in LED strip lighting to mirrors or along shelves highlights décor choices and brings depth to your lighting scheme. It also adds the much need brightness to your space too.
This kind of lighting helps you to create different moods with your bathroom lighting, which is great for creating a cozy and relaxing vibe in your bathroom. You can also use your accent lighting if you head to the bathroom at night, so it isn’t so bright and you don’t end up squinting as your eyes adjust.
2: Add Mirrors to Reflect Light
Mirrors not only enhance light in a bathroom with no windows, they also make the space feel larger so you don’t get that enclosed feeling. Strategically placing your mirrors to reflect the light from your artificial lighting is the best way to achieve this.
Placing a large mirror above the vanity or sink maximizes light reflection. Hanging a large mirror here is perfect as this mirror is not only in the right spot for personal grooming, it also makes your space feel brighter.
Opting for a frameless mirror when working out how to decorate a bathroom with no windows may help to make your space feel even larger. The frameless sides can feel less cluttered especially in a small windowless bathroom were the clean lines work well with a minimalist design.
Placing mirrored cabinets or extra small mirrors on walls opposite your light sources is another way to add extra brightness when decorating your bathroom with no windows. Choose a mirror with built in LED lighting to bring more light to your space. These options can be however be more expensive. If you are looking to add a mirror on a budget, consider opting for a thick metallic frame as the reflective surface adds light. Make sure your mirror and frame is coated for bathroom use to prevent unwanted marks appearing. Avoid dark or matte frames, as they can make your room feel darker, even though they look stylish.
3. Choose Light and Bright Colors
When decorating a bathroom with no windows, your color scheme plays a vital role in making the space feel airy. Lighter shades are traditionally more reflective, helping your bathroom appear brighter and more spacious. Opting for a satin finish for your neutral or pastel color scheme is also best when decorating a bathroom with no windows.
Neutral and natural pastels like white, cream, or soft grey for walls create that airy feel, especially when paired with pale blues, mint greens, or blush tones for accents. Using high-gloss paint or tiles can also help reflect light around the room, enhancing the brightness and creating a sleek finish.
Gloss and reflective surfaces can be used with deeper, darker colors and still add light. If you want to create a luxury boutique bathroom characterised by a dark color palette it is possible.
“Oftentimes I like to paint small bathrooms [typically windowless rooms] a dark color, like black. It gives depth and creates an illusion of a larger space,”[1] says Jenny Wolf when discussing décor choices with Architectural Digest.
4. Install Glass Shower Doors
Transparent fixtures are a big part of answering the question of how are you going to decorate a bathroom with no windows? Not only do they give the illusion of more space, they also help to keep a windowless bathroom feeling light and airy. Glass shower doors prevent you adding darker shadowy areas, they may feel enclosed or need further lighting solutions, as the light passes through the structure.
Creating a modern look, a glass shower door is easy to clean and if you’re looking for privacy you can get textured or frosted glass options to still keep the room feeling bright.
5. Patterns, texture and color
Don’t be afraid to add patterns, texture and color pops when decorating a bathroom without windows. You want the space to feel bright and having visually attractive statement pieces can help to achieve this.
Choosing to include textures in your tiles. Or add texture to your walls with panelling to personalise your bathroom and make it feel your own. It’s important to have a bathroom that is not only functional but personal. Décor and design helps you create a home you love.
Patterned walls or walls that make use of color pops attract the eye and help you to forget about not having a window in your bathroom. Decorate only one wall or area of your bathroom with a pattern, color, or texture to create this effective look.
6. Welcoming wall art
Decorating a bathroom with no windows with wall art will make the space feel more inviting. Having images to look at will make your bathroom feel welcoming and homely. Whether you choose vintage art, decorative landscapes, or a combination of artworks, this will help make your bathroom feel brighter. It also draws the eye and distracts from not having a window if it is something that bothers you.
7. Plants
Adding plants that thrive in low light conditions when you decorate a bathroom with no windows is a great way to bring a natural feel to your space. Plants tend to give bathrooms a relaxing spa like quality, whilst also helping with air quality, which is perfect for a bathroom without a window.
By adding one or two air-purifying plants to your space will not only improve your air quality but also the feel of your bathroom. Consider a Boston Fern or a Spider Plant, both of which thrive in low light, humid conditions.
8. Use Reflective or Glossy Décor
Reflective materials like chrome, stainless steel, high gloss, or glass décor for soap dispensers, candle holders, or ceramic plant pots helps bounce light around your windowless bathroom. This is key to answering the question how to decorate a bathroom with no windows. By picking décor with reflective surfaces, you can significantly brighten your bathroom giving it a modern and stylish look.
9. Avoid clutter
When you decorate your windowless bathroom be sure to include storage in your design. This is important as clutter not only makes a place feel smaller, it is a dense pile of stuff which feels dark and frustrating. Clutter in a bathroom can also go mouldy quickly due to high humidity.
Installing floating shelves to store toiletries and display select decorative items will help you keep essentials easy to reach. Using baskets for under the sink storage is a great way to store cleaning supplies and keep your bathroom looking neat. Multi-functional furniture is also another way to build storage into your design. Furniture with a high gloss finish or reflective surface will help keep your bathroom feeling bright.
10. Use a Dehumidifier to Control Moisture
Bathrooms without windows often suffer from poor ventilation, which can lead to mould and mildew building up. When decorating your bathroom without a window it is important to make sure you don’t block your ventilation. Although not glamorous, consider leaving space for a small dehumidifier in your bathroom design to help control humidity levels. This will help to make your bathroom more comfortable, fresh, and reducing the risk of moisture damage.
Final Thoughts
By focusing on lighting and blending reflective surfaces into your design, you can create a bright, stylish, and inviting space. Adding a few personal touches to your windowless bathroom will help you to create a fresh, airy, and welcoming bathroom that never feels dark or dreary. Now you know how to decorate a bathroom with no windows, you can get started creating your ideal bathroom.
FAQs
Q: Can you put plants in a windowless bathroom?
A: Yes. Choosing plants that thrive in low light and high humidity environments is key when choosing a plant to your windowless bathroom. Plants are perfect for windowless rooms as they make spaces feel more connected with outdoor space even when you can’t see it.
Q: How can I brighten a bathroom with no windows?
A: Layered lighting and reflective surfaces are two key design components for brightening a bathroom with no windows. Mirrors help make your bathroom feel lighter, brighter, and bigger.
Q: How do you prevent mould in a bathroom without windows?
A: Install a powerful ventilation fan, use a dehumidifier, and keep the bathroom clean and dry to prevent mould growth.