Small Bathrooms – Storage Solutions
Bathrooms are not often the largest of rooms, and yet they often contain many products, from beauty products to cleaning products to towels to toilet rolls, to even washers and dryers. What, you may think, can be done to maximize bathroom storage? Well, here are some good ideas that may serve as a starting point.
1. What can I store under my bathroom sink?
Narrow minded
When it comes to most bathrooms, they’re often a little smaller than other rooms in your house; therefore, having narrower baskets and shelving will help you to store accessories and bottles in a convenient way, on top of the toilet, on top of your mirror bathroom storage cabinet, or down and around your sink area where there is often unused space, including a tiled step. This will also allow you to see your wares without having to open up lots of irritating and bulky cupboards which take up far too much space. You’ll also be able to see if you’re running low on something, easily and effortlessly.
Under the sink
Your sink is actually taking up a lot of bathroom space, so it’s worthwhile trying to take advantage of all of the unused space under its main bowl. Cabinets can easily be installed or placed in that ‘dead’ area, so things like hair-straighteners, make-up brushes, and surplus toothbrushes can be stowed away. You could even devote one half of it to a concealed trash bag dispenser with a flap so that you’re not wasting valuable space on an unattractive and bulky item that sucks up valuable floor space.
Behind doors
As well as ‘dead’ space which is found behind your main bathroom door, there is more dead space inside vanity cabinets, above or beneath your bathroom sink. Sturdy hooks can be screwed in behind you main bathroom door, to hang a range of towel. A sturdy shelf can be installed above this door to store clean towels. Meanwhile, smaller adhesive hooks in your under the sink or above sink cabinets can help store things like hairdryers and electric shavers, which you won’t want to get wet.
2. What about other areas?
In the shower
Your shower can easily be modified with shower shelving; either permanent or over the top hook-based models should suffice. Onto these leaning shelves should go all your shampoos, conditioners, shower gels, scrubs, soaps, and anything else which is in constant use. There is no reason for you to be carrying anything in and out of the shower.
Stationery
There is no law against upcycling a magazine rack or wall-mounted file folder, attaching it to the side of a closet door or vanity cabinet. Lighter items like sponges, cleaners, brushes, and combs and be stored therein, thus taking the burden off other areas of storage in your bathroom.
3. How do you store extra towels in a small bathroom?
Think up
Vertical space can be a great way of using space, seeing that there is limited floor space in a bathroom taken up with toilet, sink, shower and possibly bath. Extra towels can be stored in a storage unit with open cubbies, or perhaps a wall-mounted rack. If you install shelving which is higher up, a small footstool or even your toilet lid can help you to reach it. There is no reason why towels should need to be occupying more prominent, easy-to-reach areas in your small bathroom.
Basket case
Baskets of varying sizes can be installed around the walls of your bathroom. They could even become a design feature in their own right, creating a rustic or a nautical feel, as you wish. Smaller towels and other beauty products can easily be stored in such baskets – all you need is a hammer and nail to secure them in place.
Repurpose
Furniture that was never designed to go on your bathroom can go in your bathroom; there’s no law against it. A triangular CD rack, for example, can neatly fit into a corner or crevice in your bathroom, with levels instantly created through the use of old cd cases. A spice rack could be ideal in terms of allowing you to suspend towels in an interesting and unusual way, with other beauty products neatly slotting in.
Broad minded
As well as being narrow on some things, you can think out of the box on others. Do your towels need to be stored in your bathroom at all? Can’t you store them in your bedroom? You can take the burden off your small bathroom be re-distributing towels in other areas, such as your bedroom or airing cupboard if you have one. Other than a hand-towel, there is no absolute need for towels to be stored in your bathroom per se.
Overall, these are some initial tips for bathroom storage, although they may inspire you to come up with some other great variations and alternatives. The best piece of advice is to be creative and flexible. Other than that, consider re-assigning non-essential items from your bathroom, which aren’t in use on a daily basis.
Sources:
- Hacks For Small Bathrooms – Decoholic
- 15 Most Effective Small Bathroom Design Ideas – Remodeling Calculator