Transforming a tiny bathroom: how thoughtful material choices brought luxury to a 3-square-meter space

A large beige-toned wall tile caught Petriina Kerkkonen’s eye as she browsed hardware stores looking for inspiration for the bathroom renovation of her investment property.

“I felt that I absolutely wanted to try this tile on a large surface. It had exactly the warm beige and greige shades that I wanted for the entire apartment,” she says.

The bathroom of the two-room apartment, located in Tampere in a building constructed in 1920, had last been renovated decades ago, and it was in urgent need of an update.

This is how the bathroom looked before the renovation:

Petriina began planning the renovation around the wall tile. For the faucets, shower, and sink cabinet handles, she chose brass. For the floor, she wanted a hexagonal tile, which goes well with the spirit of the old house.

“I wondered if the light floor tile I found would stand out too much next to the walls, but I decided to take the risk. The end result was a success. The wall is quite dark, so the floor gives the small bathroom a refreshing look,” Petriina notes.

The bathroom is only about three square meters in size, so due to the lack of space, the shower, the toilet, and the sink cabinet had to remain in their original positions.

The bathroom is 2.3 meters long and 1.3 meters wide, which posed its own challenges for the design. The shower wall is only 50 centimeters deep, so it doesn’t take up too much space in the narrow bathroom. The partition is placed very close to the toilet, but it folds toward the shower, so you can slightly move it when using the toilet if you wish.

Petriina ordered the simple white sink cabinet from Charmia. It is 60 centimeters wide, so there’s still room for a washing machine next to it. The sink cabinet’s brass-colored knobs match the shade of the Damixa Silhouet faucet.

Petriina and Anttoni Kerkkonen are flippers, meaning they buy, renovate, and sell apartments for a living. The couple aims to make solutions that appeal to many tastes but are still modern, stylish, and definitely practical. The brass-colored Damixa Silhouet shower adds a touch of luxury to the bathroom.

The light floor refreshes the boldly patterned wall. The Turenne floor tiles by RTV are in the shade ivory. The wall is made of glazed porcelain tile, Cello Carácter, which is made from 40% recycled material. The tile is 60 × 60 centimeters in size and in the shade mix beige. The walls of the old house were not straight, so Petriina asked the contractor to pay extra attention to the groundwork to avoid problems when installing the large tiles.

The bathroom of the two-room apartment in Tampere had last been renovated decades ago, so it had to be completely remodeled. The rest of the apartment was also fully refurbished.

You can follow Petriina and Anttoni’s projects on their Instagram @remppaprojekteja.