8 FunHaus Inspired Bathroom Designs

Bathroom design has been beige for a long time. Subway tiles, chrome fixtures, white everything. It's safe, it photographs well, it resells fine. It's also sort of boring. FunHaus design — a maximalist, personality-first approach to residential interiors that's been picking up traction on design platforms — pushes back hard on all of that. In the bathroom specifically, where the room is small and you spend maybe fifteen minutes a day, it asks the obvious question: if this room doesn't need to impress anyone, why not make it feel like something? These eight ideas are the answer.

1. Checkerboard or Bold Geometric Tile Floors

The floor is the easiest starting point for a FunHaus bathroom because it's where the most visual surface area sits and where tile is already expected. A classic black-and-white checkerboard tile is the most referenced version of this idea, but the style has moved well beyond that. Oversized irregular geometric tiles in terracotta and cream, graphic cement tiles in an abstract pattern, or checkerboard in an unexpected color combination (sage and white, navy and blush) all work.

Small mosaic tile in a bold pattern is another direction that suits small bathroom floors particularly well. The scale of mosaic tile is proportional to the space in a way that larger tiles can't always be, and the repeat pattern gives you a lot of visual interest without requiring a bold wall color to compete with it.

A boring bathroom floor is such an easy problem to solve. There's really no excuse.

2. Painted Ceilings in a Contrasting Color

FunHaus design uses the ceiling in ways that conventional interior design tends to ignore. A painted ceiling in a bathroom — particularly in a deep saturated color — creates a quality of enclosure and drama that makes the room feel intentional rather than like a leftover space. Deep teal, dusty terracotta, saturated lilac, and warm burgundy are all current colors being used this way.

If painting the ceiling sounds too permanent, wallpaper on the ceiling is a less-committed version of the same idea. A small-scale pattern on a white background feels graphic without being heavy. A large-scale botanical or abstract on a colored background is a full commitment. Both are valid, and both are recoverable if you change your mind in two years.

3. Vintage or Freestanding Bathtubs in Unexpected Colors

The freestanding tub had its peak popularity moment in all-white and has been slowly moving toward color. FunHaus bathrooms are where it arrives fully formed: a cast iron clawfoot painted in deep green, an acrylic slipper tub in matte black, or a rolled-rim tub in sage or dusty rose. The shape is classic; the color is what puts it in this aesthetic.

Exterior painting is more common than people realize for cast iron tubs — the inside remains glossy white while the outside gets whatever color is right for the room. If you're renovating or replacing a tub anyway, this is worth considering before defaulting to white. A colored tub doesn't need much else in the room to make a strong impression.

4. Mixed Metal Fixtures That Don't Try to Coordinate

The conventional rule is to match all your hardware and fixtures. FunHaus design ignores that. Mixing brass, matte black, and brushed nickel in the same bathroom is now intentional, not sloppy, if you do it with some logic. The key is that at least two of the three metals should appear in enough places to feel like choices rather than accidents. Brass faucets with matte black towel bars and brushed nickel light fixtures works. One random brushed nickel towel hook among otherwise brass everything just looks like you forgot.

Sculptural fixtures are part of this approach too. A cross-handle faucet in unlacquered brass that will patina over time, an articulated wall-mounted faucet, or an unusual spout shape signals that somebody thought about what the hardware looks like. In a maximalist bathroom, those details become part of the room's visual argument.

5. Wallpaper on Every Wall, Including Behind the Toilet

FunHaus bathrooms use wallpaper more aggressively than most interior styles, and they tend to apply it to walls that traditionally get ignored. The wall behind the toilet is often the first test — if you can wallpaper that wall with something that genuinely makes you happy to look at, you're committed to the bit. Large-scale botanical prints, graphic abstract patterns, comic-inspired illustration, vintage-style repeat prints — any of these are fair game.

Moisture-resistant or vinyl-coated wallpaper is essential in bathrooms, particularly near showers and sinks. Most wallpaper brands have bathroom-specific lines now that are designed for high-humidity environments. Installation in a small bathroom is a manageable DIY project if you've done it before — if you haven't, paying for professional installation is worth it because a bad seam in a small room is very visible.

6. A Colorful Vanity Cabinet

Painting or replacing a vanity cabinet is one of the highest-impact, lowest-cost changes available in a bathroom renovation. A vanity in deep forest green, warm terracotta, cobalt blue, or a classic navy is a decade-long statement that still looks considered rather than dated. The top doesn't need to match — white marble, patterned cement tile, or butcher block all work with a colored cabinet in ways they don't always work with white.

If you're painting an existing vanity, preparation is everything. Proper sanding, primer designed for cabinetry, and a semi-gloss or satin topcoat will hold up to bathroom moisture. Cabinet paint from specialist brands tends to be more durable than standard wall paint, and the difference shows after six months of daily use.

The fastest way to change a bathroom is the vanity. The second fastest is the mirror.

7. Oversized or Unusual Mirror Shapes

Bathroom mirrors are almost always the most boring part of the room by default. FunHaus design fixes this by treating the mirror as a design object rather than a utility. Oversized round mirrors with a warm brass or terracotta frame, irregular organic shapes, arched mirrors that echo a window, or a single full-height leaned mirror in a simple wooden frame — all of these change the room's visual logic in a way that a standard rectangular medicine cabinet simply cannot.

The trick with an unusual mirror in a small bathroom is placement. A round mirror above a rectangular sink creates a nice tension between shapes. A very large mirror on a narrow wall makes the room feel wider than it is. If the mirror competes with a patterned wallpaper behind it, consider a simpler frame or leaving a wider margin of wall between them.

8. Art on the Walls — Actual Art, Not Bathroom Quotes

FunHaus design treats the bathroom like any other room in the house when it comes to art. Not prints about relaxing or bathing. Actual artwork — photography, illustration, painting — that you'd hang in a living room. A single large print in a simple frame above the toilet, a small gallery cluster on the wall opposite the shower, or a framed textile piece near the towel hooks all work.

The concern is always moisture and humidity affecting the art. For anything you care about, framing behind glass protects it adequately for most bathrooms. If you have a particularly wet bathroom with poor ventilation, limit good art to the walls farthest from the shower, or use high-quality prints rather than originals. The visual effect is worth solving the practical problem. A bathroom with good art is a room that takes itself seriously, which is the whole point of FunHaus design.

The bathroom is a small room, which means every choice reads at close range. You're looking at the tile from two feet away. You're looking at the mirror every morning. The FunHaus argument is that this proximity is a reason to care more, not less. Start with one element — the floor, or the vanity, or the mirror — and build from there. You'll know when you've gone far enough.