Let's say that you have a four-by-four bathroom and no custom content. Or maybe you don't want to use any CC because you're planning to upload your house to the Exchange. All you need now is some inspiration.

This guide was written to help you design, build, and decorate the perfect bathroom for your house.

Where does inspiration come from? In my case, it was this room. Sure, it works. The floor is interesting. There's plenty of light. But it's downright boring and it feels cold.

I took out everything, leaving just the bare walls and foundation to create a magic box where I could play with ideas. "Now what?", I asked myself.
Form follows function.

OK. I wanted a room that two sims can use at the same time without having to watch them "Shoo!" each other while the carpool waits.

To do that, I separated the shower room from the toilet area by building a 2x1 box.

Every room needs a door and some light.

I added the fixtures and a mirror so my sims can brush their teeth in the morning. The room is now functional, but it's even colder than before with all the stainless steel and glass. It needs warmth and a focal point - something that will automatically draw the eye.

The tub is the biggest thing in the room, so I used it as the basis for decorating. It will also become the focal point, so I used the design tool to recolor it in a finish that looks more touchable.

What was the first thing you saw? The tub. More specifically, you saw the wall behind the tub. It's the brightest spot in a very dark room. The tiny spotlight above helps to draw your eye. If not for the stone or the light, the rug would become the focal point in here.

Heavy use of textures is one way to warm up an otherwise cold room. But I like color.

Returning to my magic 4x4 box, I drew a wall just one tile down the center.

There's a single girl in my 'hood who wants a place where she can not only take care of business, but where she can try on different hairstyles and makeup. With the toilet behind us, this bathroom will satisfy her needs. For my young friend, I chose a reversed island counter and barstool. The matching counter holds the sink.

I like this wall so much that I'm going to use it to design the rest of the room. Without one particular focal point, your eye is going to wander all over the bathroom, making it seem larger than 4x4.

See? The design tool does its job and your eyes can't find a place to settle. They come to rest on the center of the photo - the stool. The swatch of yellow carpet in the middle of the floor visually pushes the walls back further, making it seem bigger.

But there are still too many angles and corners.

Since our eyes are already stuck to the stool, why don't we echo it with a pair of arched windows? They also break up the long dead wall between the sink and toilet and provide light in the daytime.

All we need now are the details, those little bits of decor that make a room a sim's personal space.

A central ceiling light is enough for this little room. I hung it using boolprop snapObjectsToGrid false. I used the double door that matches the windows and added a little end table with a vase of sunflowers in the empty corner. Except for the table, everything was chosen to provide more curves. Curves are feminine.

Full-length mirrors give my young friend a place to gussy up before calling the Matchmaker and also reflect more light from the windows and a wall sconce.

Be careful about what you're reflecting. These mirrors were the main reason why I changed the rectangular door to the Colonial Tract.

The design tool is your friend. I was lucky, in this case, to find a shower curtain that looked good with the wall I wanted to use. Experiment with the objects and build mode items in your game's catalog until you hit upon the right combination.

All of them. Sometimes ideas come from lucky accidents, like installing a window backwards. We've all done this at some point, right? And then we "fixed" it.

This time, I didn't fix it. I left it backwards and used the shutters to design the rest of the room. That's right - my little building mistake has become the focal point for this bathroom. Point and laugh if you want.

The beadboard wainscot, louvered cabinet doors, and railed half-wall make it work.

As you can see, the window looks fine from outside the house.

It lets in enough light for my purposes, too, so I continued building. First, a square of stage foundation in the corner...

...cut diagonally so that I could angle the bathtub.

And then I added my railed half-wall far enough away that my sims can still reach the functional objects.

I needed three cheats to install the tub:
boolprop snapObjectsToGrid false
boolprop allow45degreeAngleOfRotation true
moveobjects on
Then I turned them off and continued furnishing the room.

Installing a toilet and a pair of sinks finished the functional part of the room's design.

Still without a decorating idea in mind, I browsed the catalog for a floor with diagonal lines to emphasize the angled tub. The lines also direct your gaze toward the corners, visually widening the tight space. "Dungaree" gave me what I was looking for.

It also gave me a color to work with, and I was ready to use the design tool on the counters and fixtures.

Crisp blue and white with the louvered doors says "seashore" to me. I'll go with it, but first I need to think about the thing that is so very wrong here, and which is about to get worse.

Once I added a pair of mirrors with a fishy design, the room started to look like a cell. The tall mirrors, rail, beadboard, and stripes were just too many vertical lines. I had to find ways to drag the eye back down, so I opened the catalog again.

With most of the floor space in use by the functional objects, I chose a pendant lamp for this bathroom. The color is dark and it hangs low enough to form a kind of roadblock for the eye, lowering the ceiling visually and cutting the verticals in half.

Other dark objects - the chair and decor - help to keep the gaze down and further break up the long expanses of white beadboard. I used the decorating cheats again to place the bonsai, lamp, towels, and chair.

You will have to be careful when you place the tub. My bathroom failed testing until I managed to find the exact spot where my sim could use it. You can see by the blue carpet swatch that it's almost outside the invisible square where I cut the stage foundation.

There's still plenty of room for her to get past and use the toilet, though. And she likes it! Her Environment meter is nearly all green.

Please be sure to test your houses before uploading them. Can you imagine how angry you'd be to find out after moving in a family that the bathroom doesn't work?

A lot of the time, one single object appeals so much that we just have to use it. That was the case with this painting and a 4x4 bathroom for a set of twins.

The toybox is actually in their adjoining bedroom, but I took down the wall for this photo. Bold primary colors work well in both rooms.

This is a very simple project. Let's go back to the magic box so I can show you how I built it.

I started with the shower room, a 1x2 area that will separate two active, dirty kids while they take care of their hygiene.

To make the tub platform, I drew a block of stage foundation the width of the remaining rear wall and even with the shower room - a 3x2 stage.

I then added the connecting stairs and a railing.

A double window and arch made up the remaining architectural details. A door would work, but I wanted to leave it open so that the floor would show and balance the colors. The kids still think it's a different room.

Working from the gnome painting, I colored the walls and floor. Because there's no red toilet in my catalog, I used blue wall tiles inside the shower room and below the tub platform along the same wall to help balance things. Stars from the Holiday pack in matching colors help even more to pull the room together.

You'll need to use your decorating cheats again if you want this little guy indoors. Standing here in the corner, he can't be stolen because kidnappers need to get behind him. That won't stop them, though, from screaming about blocked routes and clogging your bathroom. It's best to leave him outside.

By the way, this design also works well as a bedroom. The door leads to a one-tile dresser, making it a closet.

Install the door first, then use moveobjects on to place the dresser inside.

The game will tell you "no" if you don't use the cheat, but Mom will have no trouble putting away your laundry.

You can use stage foundation for other things, as well. In this bathroom, I used it to surround the tub. Even with the other fixtures in, though, the room was still too square.

So... I angled the walls. We're not losing much space here - just making it look nicer.

When you're planning to cut the stage foundation, it's important to build your walls first. I could have placed squares of staging inside the room before cutting the shape, but then I'd end up with...

...this. Cutting the stage foundation leaves some very sharp edges!

You need to work the staging into the shape of your room. In this case, I used the diagonal foundation to build a pair of diamond shapes.

I then cut out the center to make room for the tub.

And removed the unnecessary edge in front.

And there you have it - a very simple tub enclosure.

The tub fits nicely between the bits of staging. High windows on the diagonal walls provide a little privacy and daylight. The windows, sink, and toilet have rounded edges to help offset the angles.

Because the tub has some purple in it, I opened my catalog again to look for inspiration...

...and found purple. It's used as an accent color in this triptych and in the bathtub, so I used it the same way. There's also a bit of yellow so I made sure to include that too. Purple and yellow are at opposite sides of the color wheel. Using opposing colors gives your rooms a lot of drama.

But who really wants drama in the bathroom?

When you're working with this many colors, balance is critical. The wall behind the triptych is yellow because that color is presented in all three pictures. I brought the purple and yellow into the room by using colored carpet squares on the floor.

You'll have to paint your stage foundation before edging it or the game won't let you do it. The light, sign and objects from the Holiday Pack were placed using the decorating cheats.

Ideas can come from anywhere. Sometimes your sims will subtly let you know what they'd like to see in their bathrooms, like my favorite bathtub pirate, Jack.

"That's Cap'n Jack. Arrrrr!"

Sorry, Cap'n.

Rather than spoil Cap'n Jack's fun every time another sim needs to use the toilet, I built him his own little fantasy area. I used another arch to separate the rooms because a door's swing might trap someone on the toilet or where Cap'n Jack's First Mate is sitting.

Family Fun Stuff owners could do more for Cap'n Jack, but I don't have any stuff packs.

You say you only decided to read this guide because you liked the bathroom on the cover? Let's return to the magic box and see how I built it. If you've read the rest of this, you'll know how easy it was.

Empty box...

Stage foundation, 4x2...

Connecting stairs...

Walls on either side of the steps to hold the toilet and mirror...

And windows for daylight. The rest of it just involves playing with colors and patterns, but you know how to do that now.

I'll show you the part of the room that wasn't in the cover photo.

Upstairs is the bathtub with a sconce for evening bathing.

The slender version of this dresser doesn't seem to take up nearly as much space as the older one does - and you can put things on it. You'll need to use moveobjects on to place it because the game thinks it'll block the stairs, but it will work just fine.

How does it look without the stage? Let's ask the magic box.

Hmm... the curtain looks better. This design would actually work better in the game because I added an arch between the toilet and dressing/bathing areas. I can always change one of the floors so they match.

Standing at the sink, though, the mismatched bathtub looks a little odd. Since there isn't one to match the other fixtures, I think I'll keep it on the stage. I like the lower sconce too.

Meanwhile, I still have a boring green bathroom to renovate. I kept a couple of things when I dismantled the old one.

I like the way this looks. The wall could be warmer, but I think I'll stick with the fern and botanical print and work with them.

I'd like to surround the tub again because I like the way it looks. You can see that I also angled the walls to give the room some shape.

I started with the double diagonal stage foundation pieces.

I filled in with square staging in order to create a shelf behind the tub.

Two more pieces of square staging evened up the front of the tub surround.

And then I cut a rectangle to fit the bathtub.

I'm going to ignore the purple paw prints this time. But here's my basic, functional bathroom - a tub, a toilet, a sink, and a mirror.

Now to see where those two reserved decorative objects take me...

...after another quick glimpse at the original bathroom. I'll bet you could tell me now why the lady of the house hated it.

What do you think she'll say about this one? Warm colors, light texturing, and soft lighting fill the room without crowding it. This photo was taken at night. There are no windows, so the only light is provided by four wall sconces. It's just enough.

But it's still a one-sim-at-a-time bathroom.

I guess I'll have to go back to the magic box and browse through the catalog again.

Have fun with your own bathrooms and remember to think inside the box - it costs less, especially when you use the Undo tool. Thanks for reading! ~ Polly