In a small bathroom, Thomas often relies on finishes that reflect light, “where you can’t literally see where it starts and ends.” One of his favorite materials for this purpose is frosted mirror. He used it as tile on the walls and ceilings, and also installed whole sheets of it on the wall behind the vanity, just like you would with a slab of marble. “The frosted mirror has that glow, but it doesn’t have a reflection that lets you see where the room begins and ends, like you would with a frosted mirror. [normal] mirror.” Metals can have a similar effect, as can shimmering mosaic tiles, says Thomas.
Designer Julia Miller of Yond Interiors deployed a similar strategy with a 75-square-foot bathroom in Minneapolis, replacing a traditional built-in tub/shower combo with one with a wall of glass. “We made a full glass panel on one side that faces the window, which helped enormously,” she says. So was the choice of a shiny tile. “[It] had a reflective quality,” she says. “The light still moved throughout the space instead of just stopping dead on a matte tile.”
For a more whimsical way to simulate depth, Miller recommends wallpaper, which “can really give a lot of good illusions for the expansion and contraction of space.” To achieve the former, she suggests an all-over pattern such as a floral print, or something picturesque like a mural depicting rolling farmland. “Anything that’s a little busy or doesn’t have visible repetition,” she says, because such options trick the mind into perceiving depth and encourage the eye to move.
