10 Living Room Touches to Bring to the Bath

When you’re designing a bathroom, there are many decisions to be made — marble or ceramic, shower or tub, vessel or pedestal sink, brass or chrome? The list goes on. Not to stress you out, but there’s yet another design option to consider when designing your bath: the living room.

Stay with me here. By borrowing furniture, lighting, rugs, architectural elements and even plants from the rest of the house, you can add incredible interest to your bathroom. I’m talking an antique chest for linen storage, a crystal chandelier for romantic lighting over the tub or a built-in window seat for relaxing. Borrowing elements is a good way to add a personal touch and set your bath apart from the rest. Here’s are 10 ideas guaranteed to pique your interest.

According to the designers, this artfully distressed antique chest was the inspiration for this dreamy bathroom. It provides just the right touch of warmth to the pristine surroundings as well as excellent storage for towels and toiletries. The sparkly chandelier ($80 at The Home Depot) is a nice touch.


You expect to see Oriental rugs in traditional spaces — and usually in living areas, not bathrooms. In this Boston bath a Bokhara runner, purchased by the owners in India, melds beautifully with the natural travertine tile floor and contemporary surroundings.

See how to choose an awesome area rug no matter what your space


Chandeliers, long known for brightening up formal living spaces, are quickly becoming commonplace in bathrooms. But these homeowners upped the ante with this glamorous Fortuny fixture. Also enviable: the curvy tub and vessel sink and the dressing table with a view.



Nothing like catching up on your reading while luxuriating in the tub. To those skeptics who think it’s crazy to put bookcases next to the tub, designer Skip Sroka defends his decision this way: “I have had bookcases built into my bathrooms for the last 14 years, and I haven’t had any damage to the books in them. Good ventilation and the scale of the room takes care of the issue.”


Looking more like a living room than a bath, this English bathroom has lovely wooden floors and a crystal chandelier as well as spacious windows. And to continue the theme, there’s even a cushy easy chair next to the tub. From here parents can supervise the children’s baths, and bathers can chat with nonbathers (as long as they’re not shy).


Even a small bathroom can benefit from a piece of furniture. This antique Chinese bench fits well against an open wall. Set a plant on it or just leave your clothes there while you shower. That appealing gray hue on the wall is Cinder from Benjamin Moore.


Window seats, with their view of the outdoors, are often found in living and dining rooms. But why not consider one in the bath? This seat, built over handy storage drawers, is a good spot to perch on while pulling on clothes, drying off or even just relaxing.


Not only does greenery thrive in the moist confines of a bathroom (try an aloe vera or spider plant if you don’t have a lot of natural light), but plants also add a touch of color and purify the air. The flourishing specimen here is a fiddle leaf fig tree. The tub is from Waterworks.

See more on fiddle leaf fig trees


Forget sconces; these pretty candlestick lamps are a clever solution to lighting this square double-wide vanity. Their cords run through a hole in the Carrara marble top to outlets underneath. It’s a seamless and out-of-the-ordinary way to provide lighting — and it looks great too!


This latticed screen would fit right into a traditional living room. But in this powder room, it makes a design statement paired with an antique table that’s been retrofitted with a vessel sink. Extravagant, bird-festooned, hand-drawn wallpaper completes the look.

More:
12 Ways to Get a Luxe Bathroom Look for Less

Bathroom Workbook: 12 Things to Consider for Your Remodel

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