Christmas Bathroom Decor for a Small, Rented Bathroom: 7 Ideas

Change the shower curtain. It's the biggest surface in a small bathroom, so it's the one change that reads as Christmas from the doorway. A white background with holly keeps the room bright.

• The holly curtain is 72 by 72 inches, the standard size. The listing says it comes with 12 hooks and a weighted hem, so it hangs straight
• It's polyester and machine washable in cold water, so it goes in the January wash
• It hangs on the rod you already have. Nothing to install, nothing to patch at move-out
• Will it make the room feel smaller? Not with this one. The pattern sits at the top and thins out toward the floor, so the bottom half stays clear and light

Pick the hooks if you already own a plain curtain. Twelve small resin trees with gold stars fit a standard rod, and a white or grey curtain behind them is all the pattern the room needs.

Don't combine them with the holly curtain. Two busy things fight each other, so one of them has to stay quiet.

Put the color where hands and feet go. The towel at the sink and the mat by the tub are the two things every guest touches or steps on, so they carry the holiday for almost no space.

• The tree towels are 16 by 25 inches, 100% cotton and heavy enough (500 GSM) to dry your hands properly
• Hang one on the ring and keep the second in the drawer, so there's a dry one when the first is damp
• The checkered mat is 32 by 20 inches, plush microfiber about 0.6 inches thick, with a non-slip backing
• The listing warns against putting it on a wet floor, so dry the tiles before you lay it down

Will a plush mat stay damp? If the bathroom has no window, yes, and that's the one case to skip it. Otherwise hang it over the tub edge each morning so it dries. It's a six-week mat.

Our small bathroom decor ideas guide picks a stone mat for the same reason, and that's the right call for the other ten months.

Pick the towels if you only buy one thing for the sink. Pick the mat if your floor is bare tile and you want one big patch of red.

Two things, and one of them is soap. A counter this small has room for a pump bottle and one decoration. Make the pump bottle the decoration.

• The gingerbread dispenser is ceramic, about 7.6 inches tall and 3.2 inches wide, and takes liquid soap or lotion
• It replaces the bottle that's already there, so it adds charm without adding clutter
• The mini tree is 2 feet tall and up to 18 inches across at the base, so measure the counter before you order
• It plugs in, and a reviewer measured the cord at about 3 feet. Set it at the end of the counter nearest the outlet
• Is a plug-in tree safe in a bathroom? Only in a GFCI outlet (the one with two small buttons), on the dry side of the sink, and unplugged when you leave. If your outlet isn't a GFCI, skip the tree

Pick the dispenser first. The tree only works if the counter can spare a foot and a half.

If the living room already has a tree on a console, this is the small second one for a different room. Our small apartment Christmas decor guide covers the console tree.

Put snowflakes on the glass. A bathroom window has no wall around it to nail into and no sill worth decorating. The glass is the only surface left, and it's the brightest thing in the room at dusk.

• The film is a static cling sheet, 17.7 by 78.7 inches, so measure your window against it before you open it
• It sticks with water, not glue. The listing says it leaves no residue and can be reused
• Apply it to clean, smooth glass only, and skip textured panes
• It frosts the glass, so you get privacy as well as snow, which a bathroom window can always use
• The listing says it works in bathrooms, but check the corners after the first hot shower and press down any that lift

Pick this if the window faces a neighbor. You wanted the frosted look anyway, and now it comes with snow. Loose snowflake clings, like the ones in our Christmas kitchen decor guide, leave the glass clear instead.

Green and white, with one patch of red. Most small bathrooms are white or grey tile, and green on white reads as Christmas without fighting the room. Red is the accent, so give it one spot only.

• The holly curtain, the tree towels and the tree hooks are all green on white, so they sit together without trying
• The red checkered mat is the one red patch, and the gingerbread dispenser adds a warm brown
• Gold shows up on the hook stars and the tree base, which is plenty
• What if the tile is warm beige? Lean on the red mat and the brown gingerbread. Cool grey tile takes the green and white better

Pick one loud item. If the curtain is busy, let the towel and the dispenser carry one color each.

Anything that burns, plugs in near water or sticks with glue. A bathroom is wet half the day, so the rules are stricter here than in the living room.

• Skip real candles. Steam, a tiny room and an open flame are a bad mix, and flameless ones look just as warm by the mirror
• Keep plug-in lights on the dry side of the sink, never near the tub
• Skip adhesive hooks on tile. Steam works most of them loose, and the tile can come with them
• Keep paper, dried fruit and anything fabric out of the splash zone
• How many Christmas things does a small bathroom need? Three: one big (the curtain), one at the sink (the towel or the dispenser) and one at the window. Everything past that is clutter you'll wipe around

Why not buy a full matching set? The shopping results for this keyword are mostly sets of four to eight pieces, with a seat cover, a rug and a tank lid. In a small bathroom that's a lot of matching for one room, so buy the three pieces you'll use.