Small Bathroom Remodel Ideas for Minneapolis Homes (That Actually Work)

Most Minneapolis hall bathrooms — especially in pre-1960s homes — are tiny by modern standards. A 30–50 sq ft bathroom (often 5' x 7' or 5' x 8') is the norm in 1920s bungalows, post-war ramblers, and Saint Paul cape cods. Here's how to remodel a small Twin Cities bathroom to feel twice the size — and what we'd skip.

1. Pick the Right Layout Before Anything Else

Most small Minneapolis bathrooms have three usable layout patterns:

• Three-in-a-row:Toilet, sink, tub/shower along one wall. Best for very narrow bathrooms (5' wide). Maximum floor space, simple plumbing.
• Galley (split):Sink/vanity on one wall, toilet and tub on the opposite. Best for 5'6"+ wide rooms.
• L-shape:Vanity adjacent to toilet, tub/shower on the opposite wall. Most common in 5' x 8' spaces.

Moving the toilet costs $1,500–$4,000 (drain relocation). If the existing layout works at all, it's usually worth keeping the toilet in place and reorganizing the vanity and shower around it.

2. Convert the Tub to a Walk-In Shower

The single biggest small-bathroom upgrade is removing the tub-shower combo and replacing it with a walk-in shower. You gain visual space immediately, the room reads bigger, and the shower experience is better.

Counter-intuitive note: this can hurt resale if it's the only tub in the house. Families with young kids strongly prefer at least one tub. If you have a second full bath with a tub, do the conversion. If this is your only bathroom, keep a tub.

Budget: $8,000–$15,000 for a tub-to-shower with tile and proper Schluter waterproofing. See our bathroom remodel cost guide for full pricing.

3. Pick Large-Format Tile Floors

Counterintuitive: in a small bathroom, larger tiles make the room feel bigger. Fewer grout lines, less visual clutter. 12"×24" porcelain laid in a third-offset pattern is the sweet spot for a small Minneapolis hall bath floor.

Skip: 2"×2" mosaic floors and busy patterned cement tile. They're great for accent walls but visually shrink a small floor.

4. Wall-Hung or Floating Vanity

Wall-hung vanities expose more floor — which makes a small bathroom feel measurably larger. A 30" floating vanity in a small bath reads as significantly more spacious than a 30" floor-mounted one because your eye sees more floor area.

Budget: $1,500–$5,000 for a quality wall-hung vanity. The plumbing rough-in needs to be set lower in the wall — easier during a remodel, harder as a retrofit.

5. Mirror Bigger Than the Vanity

Run the mirror full-width of the wall (or close to it) rather than a small mirror centered over the sink. The reflection visually doubles the room. Pair with a single horizontal light bar over the mirror rather than two side sconces.

6. Pocket Doors or Out-Swing Doors

Standard in-swing bathroom doors steal 12 sq ft of usable space — which is 25%+ of a small bathroom. A pocket door (slides into the wall) or an out-swing door recovers that floor area for storage, walking space, or a slightly bigger vanity.

Pocket door retrofits cost $1,200–$2,500 plus drywall repair on the opening side. Out-swing is essentially free during a remodel.

7. Linear Drain in the Shower

If you're doing a tile shower, use a linear drain at the back wall instead of a center drain. The floor needs only a single slope (front-to-back) instead of four-way slope to a center point — which means you can use larger format floor tiles in the shower itself, and the shower visually flows into the rest of the floor.

8. Built-In Niches Instead of Shelves

Wall niches recessed into the framing add significant storage without taking up floor space. In a small bathroom, one tall niche in the shower (24–36" high) handles shampoo, conditioner, soap, and razors without any external shelving.

9. Pedestal Sink (in Powder Rooms Only)

A pedestal sink in a half-bath/powder room dramatically opens up the visual space. But for hall baths or primary baths — you need the storage. Stick with a vanity in any bathroom that serves daily use.

10. Lighting: Layered, Not Flush

• Ambient: ceiling light or recessed cans (LED, daylight 4000K)
• Task: light bar over the mirror (warmer 3000K) or sconces flanking the mirror at face height
• Accent: LED strip under the floating vanity (creates a glow that makes the floor read bigger at night)

11. Storage Above the Toilet

The 18" of wall above the toilet is dead space in most bathrooms. Add a built-in recessed cabinet (8"–10" deep) between the studs — gains 6 cubic feet of medicine-cabinet storage without taking floor space.

What to Skip in a Small Bathroom

• Two sinks.A 60" double vanity in a small bath is cramped at both sinks and worse for storage than a 36" single.
• Heavy crown molding. Visual weight at the top of the room makes a small space feel shorter.
• Dark wall colors. Can look stunning in professionally-lit photos, but feels cave-like in a 30 sq ft bathroom with one small window.
• Glass shower enclosure framed in black. Trendy but visually divides the room — clear frameless reads bigger.

Realistic Budget for a Small Minneapolis Bath

A complete small-bathroom remodel following the principles above (tub-to-shower conversion, large-format tile floor, floating vanity, full-width mirror, pocket door, niche, layered lighting) runs $25,000–$40,000 in the Twin Cities for a quality build. Budget another 10–15% contingency for older homes where you may find galvanized pipes or knob-and-tube wiring.

Planning a small-bath remodel? See our bathroom remodeling page or request a free in-home quote.