Bathroom designs and decorating ideas that reflect children's imaginative worlds.
Start the design process by recognising that every child has an imaginative world of their own. Allowing them to experience that world in their living spaces helps them feel happier and more confident. Focus on the walls: add stickers of their favourite comic-book characters. Invent stories about them during bath time, and bring them into toilet training and toothbrushing too.
Bathroom furniture that meets European child safety standards prioritises children's safety through its materials and forms. Make sure materials are harmless to health and paints are odourless, lead-free and water-based. Choose furniture without sharp corners, non-slip surfaces and accessories that will not break. Alongside helping your child feel comfortable, aim to meet their needs and protect their physical safety in a way suited to their age.
Bathroom décor is an important part of toilet training. Familiar comic-book characters in pictures and figures can help children feel safer and more relaxed. Make sure any seat fitted to the toilet is suitable for your child. A step beneath their feet provides support while sitting and gradually helps them manage independently.
Experts advise establishing handwashing and toothbrushing habits at a very young age, as these routines become harder to introduce later. Put a step that helps your child reach the basin at the top of your shopping list. Choose a stable, non-slip model at the right height. In modern bathroom designs, covered pull-out drawers beneath the basin are another useful way to help children reach it.
Keeping bath toys beside the bathtub makes life easier. Use a plastic bucket with drainage holes or a mesh bag so the toys do not remain wet. A non-slip mat inside the bath helps your child play safely in the water.
While seeking solutions for your child, remember your own comfort. Bending over beside the bath to wash them can strain your arm and lower-back muscles over time. Keep a stool at a suitable height close at hand.
If you are creating a new bathroom, choose coloured ceramic tiles that suit both you and your child. Sweet shades such as lilac or yellow can complement a girl's imagined princess bathroom. Blue tiles suited to a nautical theme, with pirate wall stickers dotted among them, can provide a playful backdrop for your son.
Children learn through play, and colourful bathrooms provide an ideal setting. As bath time is when water features most prominently in their lives, we suggest a bathtub rather than a shower. With a safe amount of water, bubbles, boats, water wheels and mermaids, you can create an enjoyable bath-time world they will not want to leave.
You can use every surface when creating a bathroom for children, so do not overlook the shower curtain, bath mat and towels. Curtains with animals or playful patterns, towels that are clearly their own, and a rug printed with a favourite cartoon character or superhero beneath little feet will help them feel the bathroom belongs to them.
Bathroom hygiene is even more important for families with children. Easy-to-clean toilets, bathtubs and basins that do not harbour bacteria, and hygienic toilet seats make life easier in busy shared bathrooms. Tiling the areas beside wet surfaces also makes cleaning much simpler.
