If you’re fortunate enough to live in a secluded area with a view, why not let it stand out? If privacy isn’t an issue, open your blinds and let the natural light pour in. Designing your bathroom in a minimalist style will allow the gorgeous scenery to take center stage in the overall design. Keep things simple with white walls and clean lines to give your eyes a place to rest.
30 Minimalist Bathroom Ideas for Creating a Spa-Like Retreat
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Published: May 10, 2025
Updated: January 22, 2025
A bathroom is a place for rejuvenation. It’s where you get ready to take on the day and unwind at night. However, clutter and bright bursts of pattern and color can impact your mood and actually make you feel drained rather than recharged. When drawing up the décor plans for your bathroom, look no further than a spa for inspiration. Spas often feature neutral color palettes, a few beautiful accent pieces, and clear surfaces. These distraction-free zones are typically pretty minimal.
A minimalist approach when decorating and organizing your bathroom can help you cultivate a sanctuary within your home. We’ve compiled this gallery of minimalist bathroom inspiration to help get your ideas flowing. You’ll find tips on how to stow away your toiletries, choose tile, and add just the right amount of decor and accessories. If you’re ready to design your own zen retreat, read on for our best ideas!
02 of Decant Your Soap
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When it comes to achieving a minimalist look in your bathroom, even the smallest details matter. For example, an amber-colored soap pump fits a minimalist aesthetic much more than a bright pink bottle meant to catch your eye at the store. You can also take this approach to other decor, such as a sleek, black-framed mirror that adds just a hint of contrast.
03 of Stow Away Toiletries
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Say goodbye to cluttered, messy vanity tops and open bathroom shelving. Keeping your brightly-colored toiletries out of sight will go a long way in terms of honing a minimalist look. Opting for a double vanity with ample storage will give you plenty of room to store your toothpaste, skincare, and hair products out of sight.
04 of Natural Wood Adds an Organic Touch
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Contrary to popular belief, a minimalist home doesn’t have to feel industrial or sterile. Adding a few wood touches to the space via a bathtub tray and small stool will offer a sense of warmth. Wood accents are also great for giving a minimalist bathroom a modern, organic flair.
05 of Choose a Neutral Color Palette
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While bright colors can look lovely in other rooms in your home, a neutral approach in your bathroom will create a more relaxing environment. Think neutrals with warm undertones, such as creamy whites and tan. Natural materials such as wood and marble are also good materials to work with in a minimalist space.
06 of Decorate With Greenery
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Who says you can’t add decor to a minimalist bathroom? While keeping accessories to a minimum is certainly ideal for smaller bathrooms, we say plants are an exception to this rule. You can place a few sprigs of eucalyptus on your vanity, a vining plant trailing down your windowsill, and a small potted plant on the back of your toilet while still maintaining a minimalist look.
07 of Install a Floating Vanity
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Your bathroom’s vanity sets the tone for the entire space. Consider installing a vanity with simple and clean lines to lean into the minimalist aesthetic. A floating vanity will offer a sleek and airy look, and you should be able to find models that include storage drawers.
08 of Make a Subtle Statement Wall
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Minimalist design often features a limited color palette, which can appear bland to certain tastes. Thankfully, other ways exist to add interest to the space without throwing in bold hues and patterns. One way to do so is through texture. Rather than opting for a bold statement wall with busy wallpaper, go with a tile wall featuring stacked white subway tile installed vertically.
09 of Install Sleek Vanity Hardware
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Swapping out your vanity pulls is an affordable and relatively easy DIY project that makes a big impact. Black pulls and knobs tend to match nearly any vanity and are readily available at big box hardware stores. Just be sure to measure the distance between the screw holes on the vanity pulls to make sure you purchase the correct size.
10 of Match the Floor and Wall Tile
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Tile helps protect your bathroom walls from humidity and water damage. However, you don’t want the tile on your walls to compete with the tile on your floors if you want a minimalist look. Opt for matching tiles for both surfaces to create a cohesive design that doesn’t read as too busy. You can always add a small section of statement tile in one area, such as your shower, for a small design element that incorporates more contrast.
11 of Hang Eucalyptus in Your Shower
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Channeling a minimalist look and a spa-like vibe in your bathroom often go hand-in-hand. One small detail that will set a zen-like mood is adding a bundle of eucalyptus to your shower. The leaves will release a relaxing aroma as the steam fills the air when you shower. Add a hint of luxury by selecting gold fixtures that will gleam against a soft white design.
12 of Mirrors as Functional Décor
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Mirrors can be just as beautiful as they are functional. They double as decor and add visual space to the room, which any minimalist bathroom could use. If you have an empty corner in your bathroom that you aren’t quite sure what to do with, consider adding a sleek floor-length mirror.
13 of Opt for a Freestanding Tub
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Tubs attached to the side of a wall with an overhead shower are great options for smaller bathrooms. However, if you have the space, a freestanding tub will add more of a light-and-airy vibe to your bathroom. Certain models, like clawfoot tubs, add a more vintage element with their ornate feet. Consider choosing a freestanding tub with clean lines and no feet instead.
14 of Get Creative With Lighting
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There are ways to show a little design creativity that don’t involve lots of art and tchotchkes. One way to do so is through lighting. Think of where you can add a little light strip to give your bathroom a high-end flair, such as in your shower niche or at the base of your vanity.
15 of Add in Soft Textures
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Don’t limit yourself too much when decorating your bathroom. If your space feels a bit uninviting and cold, all that might be missing is a few soft textures. For example, a vintage rug can add warmth to the space, and so can a jute light fixture. If you have windows with natural light, a few well-placed plants can easily liven up a space.
16 of Choose Simple Towels
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Whether you realize it or not, bathroom towels make a design statement. You can’t go wrong with classic white versions (there’s a reason you always see those at hotels and spas). However, if you want to opt for towels that add visual interest to your bathroom, choose ones with a simple, neutral pattern.
17 of Hide Toiletries in Baskets
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Open shelving can still work in a minimalist bathroom, but you’ll need to be strategic with displaying your toiletries. Baskets with lids are perfect for hiding a bit of visual clutter. However, items like a stack of towels or a jar of cotton pads can stay on display. Most of all, only display a few items on each shelf to avoid the appearance of clutter.
18 of Match Your Metals
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Mixing metals can certainly look beautiful in eclectic spaces. But if you’re aiming to hone a minimalist aesthetic, consider sticking to one type of metal for a more streamlined vibe. This goes for your shower faucet, shower curtain hooks and rod, door handle, towel hooks, and sink faucet. This creates cohesion, while still appearing sleek and modern.
19 of When in Doubt, Choose Marble
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Marble tile adds a lovely organic texture and pattern to an otherwise sterile bathroom. White and gray marble, such as Carrara marble, is always a safe bet. To create a little contrast, you can choose marble tile in different shapes for your flooring and walls. For example, marble hexagon tile always looks great for flooring, and marble subway tile lends itself well to walls.
20 of Go Gray in Your Minimalist Bathroom
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Warm-toned neutrals like beige and tan always add an inviting appeal to a minimalist design. However, gray is an excellent neutral if you’re going for a more minimalist-modern style. Gray stone countertops, light gray walls, and stone accents pair well with black and white accessories, especially this uniquely shaped mirror that adds a contemporary flair to this bathroom.
21 of Think Outside the Box With Wall Treatments
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Rather than installing a full-on gallery wall in your bathroom, create a unique art installation via woodwork. For example, a row of vertical strips of wood will create a stunning piece that looks like it belongs in a luxury hotel. Select wood with a light, natural stain for a calming look.
22 of Keep Vanity Décor to a Minimum
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Clean and clear surfaces are a hallmark feature of minimalist bathrooms. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t add a few accessories to the top of your vanity. Feel free to stage a mini still-life scene on this surface. A couple of candle sticks, an earthenware vase with greenery, and a marble tray for placing your glasses and jewelry at night would make a lovely vignette.
23 of Install Matching Storage
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A vanity might be big enough to store toiletries for a family of two. However, if you have a few kids thrown into the mix, you might need to look into additional storage. A tall built-in shelf that matches your vanity can help you hide all of those bath toys and colorful kid towels. Select a back-lit mirror ideal for your morning make-up routine for a truly high-end look.
24 of Choose a Frameless Mirror
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Just like vanities set the tone for a bathroom, so do the mirrors that hang above them. If you want to keep things minimal, choose a frameless mirror. A round version will look slightly more elevated than a typical rectangular one. Round mirrors also break up the monotony of straight lines commonly found in bathrooms.
25 of Choose Art With a Common Thread
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Art certainly has its place in your bathroom. However, the key is to select pieces with a simple color palette that works well together. Bonus points if the art is part of the same body of work or goes together in a set. Look for modern art with simple lines.
26 of Go for Dark Grout
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An all-white bathroom can certainly look stunning. However, working with a bit of contrast will create an interesting sense of depth in the space. One way to incorporate a darker color into a bathroom is by choosing a dark grout color. As an extra little perk, dark grout is typically much easier to keep looking fresh than light-colored grout.
27 of Work in Just a Few Pops of Color
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We’ve spent quite a bit of time discussing the importance of a neutral color palette so far. However, we haven’t talked about the best way to work in a hint of color. If you want to add some color to your minimalist bathroom, we suggest opting for soft hues that can double as neutrals in a sense, such as muted pink and green. These colors don’t command your attention as much as primary colors like red and yellow. Try adding these neutral-adjacent colors in small quantities, such as through a pink vase with a stem of greenery.
28 of Install a Skylight
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When you picture a minimalist bathroom, a clean and bright space with ample natural light probably comes to mind. Depending on where your bathroom is located (and where the water pipes rest), installing a window on a wall might not be a possibility. One option to consider in this case would be to install a skylight above your shower.
29 of Ditch the Open Concept
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If you’re working on a bathroom remodel, consider adding a dividing wall between your bathing area and your toilet area. This will create little sub-sections that give your eyes more places to rest. At the end of the day, that is the main goal of a minimalist interior.
30 of Choose Classic Materials
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Bathroom trends tend to cycle fast. One perk of the minimalist aesthetic is that it never goes out of style, and you’re far less likely to grow tired of white tile than an emerald green tile. Classic materials such as subway tile, shiplap or beadboard, and marble flooring will still look modern and beautiful for years to come.
