Start with the room, not the suite

Most small bathrooms in period properties were never designed as bathrooms at all. They began life as box rooms, dressing rooms, or a slice of landing pinched during a twentieth-century refit, which is why so many of them measure barely 1.8m by 2.4m and come with a door that swings into the only usable wall. Before you open a single brochure, spend an evening with a tape measure and a notebook.

Record the width of every wall at floor level and at waist height, where a sloping ceiling or a sash window may interrupt it. Note the door swing, the position of the soil pipe and the chimney breast, and whether the walls are original brick or later studwork you could reasonably move. Establish which floors are original boards over joists, and mark any boxing-in that already conceals pipework.

The layouts that work are almost always the ones that follow the shape of the room rather than fight it. As a rule of thumb, allow 600mm of clear floor in front of the WC and basin, and 760mm minimum for a shower opening. Anything less and the room will feel tight even when it technically complies.

Where to put the shower in a narrow space

A genuinely generous shower usually means giving up the bath. In a household with a second bathroom that has one, this is the trade most people are delighted to make. A 1200 x 800mm tray will often run across the width of a Victorian terraced bathroom, leaving a clear run down one side for the basin and WC. Choose a fixed glass panel rather than a hinged door where space is short, and consider a folding or sliding screen if you must have an enclosure.

Where the room is really narrow, a 900 x 900mm corner tray wastes less floor than a rectangular one and leaves a natural walkway. If you need to keep a bath, a 1700 x 700mm model with a well-chosen screen gives you both, though the showering experience will never match a dedicated enclosure.

A tanked, level-access shower floor is worth the extra cost in a small room: it removes the step, makes the space feel larger and is far easier to clean. It does, however, require sufficient joist depth for the waste and proper tanking beneath the tiles, so bring your builder in early.

Position the shower as far from the door as possible, ideally on the wall you cannot see from the doorway. The eye reads the room as bigger when the far end is open floor rather than a tray.

Basins and WCs that earn their footprint

• Choose a short-projection basin of around 350–400mm deep rather than a full 500mm one. A cloakroom basin, well chosen, can look perfectly at home in a period setting.
• Fit a wall-hung WC on a concealed cistern with a shallow duct. The duct can be as little as 200mm deep and doubles as a shelf or a recess for tiles.
• A back-to-wall pan does the same job without the wall-hung frame, and is often easier to install in an older building.
• Set the basin at 800–850mm to the rim and the WC seat at 400–420mm. Period proportions look best with slightly higher sanitaryware than the originals.
• Keep the basin near the door and the shower at the far end, so the busiest part of the room is not the part you have to squeeze past.

Storage built into the fabric of the room

In a period property you rarely need to buy storage; you need to find it. The recesses either side of a chimney breast, the dead space behind a duct, the shallow alcove above a low ceiling line — all of these will swallow more than a freestanding cabinet ever could.

• Recessed mirror cabinets of 150–200mm depth sit flush with the wall and free up the shelf above the basin.
• Under-basin drawers in a slim vanity give you a home for the everyday clutter without projecting into the room.
• Shallow open shelving in an alcove, 250–300mm deep, handles towels and jars beautifully.
• A tall narrow cupboard of around 400mm wide will fit beside many doors and holds far more than its footprint suggests.

Colour, light and warmth

Cool, soft colours recede and make a small room feel calmer. Period-appropriate choices — off-whites, chalky greys, muted greens and pale blues — work well on panelling and joinery, with a stronger tone used sparingly on a single wall or inside a shower enclosure.

Light matters more than colour. Run two circuits: a soft, dimmable general light and a brighter task light over the basin. Avoid downlights directly over a shower tray, where they will simply silhouette you. A vertical band of tiles or tongue-and-groove panelling draws the eye upward and exaggerates ceiling height.

Underfloor heating frees the wall you would otherwise give to a radiator, and a slim heated towel rail on a narrow return will keep the room warm and dry. Fit an extractor fan with a humidistat and make sure it is ducted to the outside, not into the loft.

Keeping faith with the original architecture

Retain cornicing, picture rails and skirting wherever you can, and avoid boxing in a sash window or chasing pipes through mouldings you cannot replace. Choose brassware in keeping with the age of the house — polished chrome is perfectly acceptable, but unlacquered brass or brushed nickel often sits more comfortably against old plaster and painted timber.

If the floorboards are sound, sand and seal them rather than tiling over; if they are not, reproduction encaustic or geometric tiles in a period pattern will look as though they have always been there. In a listed building, check what consents you need before you begin, particularly for any change to windows, floors or external venting. Get that right, and a small bathroom can feel considered, generous and entirely in keeping with the house around it.