Italian bathrooms are all about comfort and relaxation, with the focus usually on the bathtub as the center of the room. Pick a scheme that best reflects your personal space and a sense of peacefulness, whether it be a sunny Mediterranean beach, a Tuscan garden or an Italianate villa.
Colors
Painting can go a long way toward redesigning your bathroom to give it an Italian feel. Pick warm, earthy colors like greens, browns and reds for an Italian countryside look, or go for Milan high style with gold, black and deep purple. A popular Italian interior design theme is the simple whites, blues, yellows and reds of Tuscan living, but your bathroom can incorporate whichever of these schemes you like best. Whatever is the most eye-catching of the colors, use that one the most sparingly, just in accents like rugs, frames and trim. Use a more neutral color on large areas like walls and ceilings, and fill in the empty spaces with a medium color. Since bathrooms tend to be small, avoid very dark .
Tiling
A high-impact way to make your bathroom feel Italian is to add marble or tile to it. Lay terra-cotta, slate or travertine-look tile on the floors, or if that is too costly and time consuming, find vinyl flooring that gives the same look in press-together tiles. If redoing the floor is not an option, you can still add Italian stone décor sense to your bathroom by adding mosaic-style tile around a mirror, tub surround or behind a toilet for a wall accent. Place one scenic, hand-painted tile in your color scheme in a location in which it will draw attention, such as above the bath or opposite a mirror, and use small coordinating tiles throughout the rest of the room to pull the whole look together. No matter how little, ceramic or stone tiling is a hallmark of Italian bathrooms and should be added somewhere in yours for an authentic feel.
Fabrics
You may find the perfect Italian-look shower curtain at your local mass retailer, or you may want to create your own cloth curtain if you have the perfect fabric already in mind. With this option, you can increase the height of the curtain for an elegant look, and even add a cornice at the top of the ceiling to hide your curtain rod behind, if you like. A molded or carved cornice of wood or stone would be very Italian feeling. Add a pretty rug that complements your colors, such as dusty purple, olive green or even a lush black. If you have windows in your bathroom, that's a wonderful place to add color to your room with a fabric that compliments your . For instance, cream-washed walls will be a great backdrop to pale blue or yellow curtains, while a warmer, coppery color on the walls would be good with medium green fabrics. If you have a pedestal sink to work with, skirt it in a matching fabric for added elegance and an out-of-the-way storage spot.
Accents
Reframe mirrors with ornate golden wood for an elegant Italian villa look, or use a weathered wood frame for a Tuscan peasant sensibility. Add a chandelier light fixture, or rustic iron lanterns if you want a more Italian garden-style bathroom. Use high-humidity plants like ferns and tropical plants to add life and oxygen to the bathroom, and place them in pretty painted clay pots for a rustic look, or high-gloss square metal containers for a sharper-edged look. To make the lighting in your bathroom rich and warm, add Italian-inspired candlesticks mounted on walls, and use candlelight in several places around the room, as appropriate.
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