My bathroom was the very last room in my apartment I worked up the courage to decorate boldly. For years I genuinely believed bathrooms needed to stay safely neutral, because that is what every renovation show and every real estate agent I had ever encountered insisted upon. Resale value, they all said, as though I was planning to sell my rented apartment any time soon.
Then, on a trip a few years ago, I stayed one night in a small boutique hotel with a deep emerald green bathroom covered in richly patterned tile from floor to ceiling. I remember standing in that bathroom thinking I genuinely did not want to leave it, brushing my teeth slower than necessary just to spend a few more minutes surrounded by all that color and pattern. I came home from that trip with a new conviction that my own bathroom, however small and however rented, deserved the same kind of joy.
It took me several months, working gradually and mostly on weekends, to transform my own bathroom from a forgettable white box into what is now genuinely the most joyful room in my entire apartment. Here is everything I learned along the way, in as much detail as I can manage, because I want this to actually be useful rather than just inspiring.
1. Maximalist Bathroom Ideas Require Genuine Color Commitment
The first and most important lesson I learned, often the hard way, is that half-measures simply do not work in a maximalist bathroom. I initially tried tiling just one small accent wall in a bold pattern while leaving the rest plain white, and the result looked unfinished and slightly apologetic rather than intentional and bold.
What eventually worked: I painted every single wall in my bathroom a deep, rich emerald green, floor to ceiling, with absolutely no exceptions or accent walls left plain. The full, uncompromising commitment to that one color across every surface is precisely what made it read as a deliberate, confident design choice rather than a tentative experiment that lost its nerve halfway through.
Why partial commitment fails so consistently: A small patch of boldness surrounded by safety reads as incomplete to the eye, almost like a half-finished sentence. A full, generous application of color, even in a tiny bathroom, reads as confident and considered. The visual weight genuinely needs enough surface area to feel like an actual decision rather than an accident.
Pro Tip: Use a paint specifically formulated for bathrooms, with built-in moisture and mold resistance, when committing to a bold color in a small humid space — standard wall paint can bubble and peel far faster than you would expect in a room with regular hot showers. For more on choosing bold colors confidently check our guide on color schemes for small rooms.
2. Install a Richly Patterned Floor Tile
The floor turned out to be my single biggest opportunity for pattern, since it is the largest uninterrupted surface in most small bathrooms and yet the one most people leave as an afterthought.
What I chose specifically: A richly patterned encaustic-style tile in deep blues and warm terracotta tones, covering the entire bathroom floor from wall to wall. The pattern is busy enough that it genuinely anchors the whole room and gives my eyes somewhere endlessly interesting to land every single time I walk in.
Why the floor works so well as a maximalist anchor: Because you are looking down at it constantly, in a way you simply do not look constantly at a single wall, a patterned floor becomes a kind of quiet, ever-present centerpiece. It also means I could keep my walls a single solid color without the room feeling flat, because the floor was already doing significant visual work on its own.
The installation reality: Tiling a small bathroom floor took a professional installer about a day and a half, and cost considerably less than I expected, simply because the total square footage of a typical small bathroom floor is genuinely modest compared to wall tiling.
Pro Tip: A patterned floor paired with plain, solid-colored walls is often far more achievable on a realistic renovation budget than the reverse combination, since floor tile typically covers significantly less total surface area than wall tile would in the same room. For more tile inspiration check our guide on bathroom decor ideas.
3. Build a Deliberately Mismatched Towel Collection
I now own bathroom towels in five distinctly different colors, none of them purchased as part of a matching set, and I genuinely rotate which ones I hang based purely on my mood that week.
How this collection developed: It started with one mustard yellow towel I bought somewhat impulsively, followed a few months later by a deep terracotta one, then a dusty blue, then a forest green, then finally a warm burgundy. Each one was chosen individually, at different times, often from different shops, with no plan to coordinate them into a set.
Why this approach suits maximalism so naturally: Genuine maximalism celebrates accumulated, personal choices made over time rather than a single coordinated purchase made all at once. My mismatched towel collection carries a sense of history and personality that a matching three-piece set, however nice, simply could not replicate.
Pro Tip: Choose new towels that each share at least one color with your existing walls or floor tile, even while embracing variety, so the overall rotation always feels cohesive and intentional rather than genuinely random. For more textile ideas check our guide on bathroom decor ideas.
4. Hang an Oversized Vintage Mirror
A large, ornately carved vintage mirror, found at an estate sale for considerably less than any new mirror of comparable size, became the genuine focal point above my sink almost by accident.
The story behind finding it: I had been searching for a simple round mirror for months when I stumbled across this one, slightly too large for the wall by conventional design rules, with an elaborately carved gilt frame that felt almost theatrical. I hesitated for about a week before buying it, worried it might be too much for the space.
Why it works so well despite being oversized: In a maximalist bathroom, an oversized, characterful mirror does more visual work than almost any other single object you could add. It catches and reflects the bold wall color and floor pattern, effectively doubling their visual presence in the room, while also being a genuinely beautiful object in its own right.
Pro Tip: Do not be afraid of a mirror that feels slightly too large for your bathroom wall — in a maximalist space, generous scale on a single statement piece almost always reads as confident rather than cramped. For more mirror ideas check our guide on small bathroom makeover ideas.
5. Mix Multiple Patterns Through Soft Accessories
My shower curtain carries a bold botanical print, my bath mat is a completely different geometric pattern, and my toiletry containers are patterned ceramic in yet another design entirely, and somehow all three genuinely work together in the same small room.
The rule that makes this possible: Every single patterned accessory I own for this bathroom shares at least two colors with my overall palette of emerald green, terracotta, and warm gold. The patterns themselves are allowed to be completely unrelated in style, but the consistent underlying color thread is what creates harmony across what would otherwise be a genuinely chaotic mix.
My actual shopping process now: I keep a photograph of my bathroom on my phone and reference it every single time I am tempted by a new patterned item anywhere, checking honestly whether at least two of its colors genuinely match before adding it to my cart.
Pro Tip: Buy your single boldest, most dominant patterned item first, whichever piece you love the most, and then deliberately build every other accessory choice around its specific color palette rather than trying to coordinate several new patterns simultaneously from a blank slate. For more pattern mixing ideas check our guide on grandmillennial decor ideas.
6. Fill Every Available Surface With Plants
My bathroom now holds six separate plants at genuinely varying heights, taking full advantage of the humidity that most houseplants actively love and that most other rooms in my apartment simply cannot offer.
Where each one lives: A trailing pothos cascades from a high shelf above my bath. Two ferns sit at either end of my windowsill. A snake plant stands in the corner beside the toilet. A small collection of air plants rests in a shallow dish on the edge of my sink, requiring no soil and almost no attention. A single peace lily sits beside the bath, its white flowers a quiet contrast against the deep green walls.
Why plants matter so much even in an already richly decorated room: Living greenery adds a layer of genuine, ever-changing color and texture that no painted wall or patterned tile can fully replicate, and it softens what could otherwise feel like an overwhelming amount of pattern and color into something that instead feels lush and alive.
Pro Tip: Trailing pothos and ferns specifically thrive in bathroom humidity better than almost any other common houseplant, making a maximalist bathroom one of the easiest rooms in your entire home to keep plants genuinely happy and thriving. For more plant ideas check our guide on small space plants ideas.
7. Add a Statement Brass or Gold Light Fixture
A pair of vintage brass wall sconces, one mounted on either side of my large mirror, replaced a single harsh overhead bulb and transformed both the lighting quality and the overall atmosphere of the room simultaneously.
Why I chose sconces over a single overhead fixture: Light coming from either side of a mirror, at roughly face height, is dramatically more flattering than a single source directly overhead, which tends to cast unflattering shadows. The warm brass finish also catches and reflects beautifully against my deep green walls in a way that feels genuinely glamorous rather than purely functional.
The atmosphere this created in the evenings: With both sconces switched on and the overhead light left off, my bathroom now has an almost speakeasy quality in the evenings, warm and golden and considerably more luxurious feeling than the harsh, flat lighting I lived with for years before this change.
Pro Tip: Warm brass or aged gold fixtures complement deep jewel-toned walls particularly beautifully, reflecting and amplifying the richness of the color in a way that cooler metal finishes like chrome or stainless steel simply cannot achieve. For more lighting ideas check our guide on small space lighting ideas.
8. Collect Vintage Apothecary Bottles for Display
A small open shelf beside my sink now holds a growing collection of mismatched amber and cobalt blue glass apothecary bottles, found gradually over many months at various secondhand shops and flea markets, repurposed to hold cotton rounds, bath salts, and small everyday items.
How the collection started: The very first bottle was a deep cobalt blue one I found for almost nothing at a flea market, originally intended for some old medicine I will never know the name of. I bought it purely because the color caught my eye in the afternoon light, with no real plan for what it would hold.
Why colored glass works so well in a maximalist bathroom specifically: Glass bottles catch and refract natural light beautifully on an open shelf, creating small, ever-shifting patches of color on the wall behind them throughout the day as the sun moves. They add a layer of genuine history and texture that nothing new and mass-produced could replicate.
Pro Tip: Position a collection of colored glass bottles somewhere they will catch direct or indirect natural light during at least part of the day, ideally on a windowsill or a shelf near a window, to take full advantage of the way colored glass interacts with changing light. For more display ideas check our guide on how to style bookshelves in small spaces.
9. Use a Bold Wallpaper on at Least One Wall
A densely patterned botanical wallpaper, covering the single wall behind my bath, became without question the most photographed and most commented-upon feature in my entire apartment, let alone just my bathroom.
What made me finally commit to it: I had been collecting images of densely patterned botanical wallpapers for well over a year before actually buying any, partly out of genuine hesitation and partly because the patterns I loved most always seemed slightly too bold for the rest of my apartment. The bathroom, being a smaller, more contained space, felt like the right place to finally take that particular risk.
The peel-and-stick reality: Because I rent my apartment, I used a high quality peel-and-stick version rather than traditional wallpaper, which meant I could test it, live with it, and know with confidence that I could remove it cleanly whenever I eventually move out, without any of the usual rental anxiety around permanent wall treatments.
Pro Tip: Peel-and-stick wallpaper makes genuinely bold, busy patterns accessible to renters without any permanent commitment or risk to a security deposit, and modern versions are considerably more convincing and durable than the peel-and-stick wallpapers available even just a few years ago. For more wallpaper ideas check our guide on cottagecore living room ideas.
10. Trust Your Own Joy Over Hypothetical Resale Advice
The final and genuinely most important lesson from this entire bathroom journey has very little to do with any specific product or technique, and everything to do with a shift in mindset that took me embarrassingly long to make.
What I eventually had to confront honestly: I had spent years avoiding bold bathroom choices specifically because of advice aimed at homeowners preparing to sell, despite the fact that I rent my apartment and have no plans to sell anything, ever, to anyone. I was making decorating decisions based on a hypothetical future buyer who does not exist and likely never will.
What changed once I let that anxiety go: The emerald walls, the patterned floor, the oversized vintage mirror, all of it came together far more easily and far more joyfully once I stopped second-guessing every choice against some imagined critical future viewpoint and started simply asking whether each decision made me happy right now, today, in the life I am actually living.
My only genuine regret: Not doing any of this years sooner. Every single morning I spend in this bathroom now feels like a small, genuine pleasure rather than a neutral, forgettable routine, and I cannot get back the years I spent in a bathroom that asked nothing of me and gave nothing back in return.
Pro Tip: Decorate every room, but a bathroom especially, for how it makes you feel during the actual daily life you are currently living in it, not for an imagined future sale or a hypothetical critical visitor who may never even exist. For more on trusting personal expression over convention check our guide on maximalist bedroom ideas.
My Final Thoughts
That one night in a boutique hotel bathroom changed something in how I think about what a bathroom is allowed to be, and it took me embarrassingly long afterward to actually act on that shift in my own home. My bathroom is now bold, richly colored, full of pattern and collected objects, and completely, unmistakably mine.
The full commitment to my wall color and the patterned floor tile made the single biggest difference for me personally, but it was the slow accumulation of vintage finds and mismatched towels that ultimately made the room feel genuinely lived in rather than just boldly decorated.
Start with one wall of genuine, fully committed color this month, and let everything else build gradually and joyfully from there.
Which of these maximalist bathroom ideas would make the biggest difference in your own space? Tell me in the comments, I would genuinely love to know.
For more small space inspiration explore all our articles on Tiny Room Style!