4 of the best bathroom trends you'll be loving in 2024

Once just seen as a functional space, the humble bathroom is increasingly becoming an oasis for relaxation and solitude. As we enter a new year, interior designers are looking to the latest home trends, and this time the bathroom is no exception.

Quiet luxury, organic shapes and plants galore are some of the things we have to look forward to in 2024.

1. Low-key luxury

With the cost of everything creeping up, spa days may seem like a rare treat, but in 2024 many of us will try to recreate the wellness effect at home instead. Sometimes referred to as “quiet luxury”, this trend is all about creating a sanctuary or spa-like vibe at home.

“Gone are the days where the bathroom was just a practical room,” says Tina Nettlefold, an interior stylist, home renovator and founder of homeware brand T.House. “Now I think people want bathrooms which have luxury. You’ll see more frameless, doorless showers [in 2024], and things like a separate tub, rain showers, a handheld shower, and extras like built-in seating and steam showers.”

Nettlefold says you can add a sense of luxury by moving away from small tiles to larger ones with a natural finish, such as marble, porcelain or quartz.

“One thing coming into trend at the moment – and I’m really loving – is large-format tiles,” she says. “Quartz is making a huge comeback. I think the trend is moving away from small-format tiles like finger tiles or square tiles, for example. Large-format tiles mean fewer grout lines and a more luxurious finish.”

If you can’t renovate or make big changes, a touch of luxury can be added with small details, such as investing in high-end accessories or filling the space with the kind of thoughtful details you’d find at a spa.

Nettlefold suggests wall sconces, beautiful towels, a lush bathmat, flowers, a tray, candles and body sprays, adding: “Things like that create a beautiful story in your bathroom that automatically says luxury.”

2. Biophilic influence

Biophilic influence, or the concept of bringing the outside inside, has been popular in the past couple of years and experts think the trend will continue to gain popularity in 2024.

“We live in a very digital world, and sometimes that connection with nature doesn’t come as easily as it might have in the past,” says Kirsten Radford, interior designer and owner of Arquette Interiors.

“We’re seeing this [biophilic] approach in colour selections with green, terracotta and warm whites as well as materials such as solid timber and natural stone, and living finishes in tapware that develop patina over time. More natural stone – anything that’s really connecting us with nature and the more natural elements. Solid timber rather than laminate, those sorts of those choices.”

Bringing plenty of plants into the bathroom via the use of floating shelves or hanging baskets will be popular, as well as using as much natural light as possible either via windows overlooking green spaces or by adding skylights.

3. Creative use of LED lighting

With utility bills creeping up, creative ways to embed LED lighting around the bathroom will grow in popularity, not only for the lighting’s practicality and cost but for the ambience and cosy vibes it can bring to a bathroom. Finding new and creative ways to incorporate this, rather than just basic overhead lights, will be big in 2024.

“A lot of designers embody LED lighting from an aesthetic [and] functional perspective in bathrooms,” says Andrea Lucena-Orr, who manages the colour forecast for DuluxGroup. “There’s so much you can do with LED lighting, embedded or underneath cabinetry, or at the base of your vanity unit, and around or underneath mirrors.

“You can leave soft LED lighting on, which obviously doesn’t drain energy too much, but it also helps that you don’t have to turn the big light on at night,” she says.

“It helps with a decorative aesthetic because it gives you a really soft, subtle look, and wayfinding at night, but also it is one of the most cost-effective lighting materials with the increased utility costs as well.”

4. Curved shapes

Whether for mirrors, basins or vanities, straight lines and sharp corners are out in 2024, and softer edges are in. Taking inspiration from the natural world, shapes such as circles, ovals, waves and curves will gain popularity.

“People are going for a lot more of the organic-shaped styles,” Radford says. “Shifting away from very straight linear designs towards more organic shapes, embracing a bit more of the ‘imperfection’. That’s the same for taps, where people are choosing more curved, rounded-off shapes, rather than just straight shapes.”

Radford feels these softer and more rounded profiles may be becoming increasingly popular as they evoke feelings of comfort.

“We have been spending much more time indoors over the past few years, and this is a way of softening our interior environment,” she says.