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Bathrooms are by default smaller than the rest of our rooms, and that’s perfectly OK for a place where we hardly spend any time. Yet, saving space on our bath’s expense often turns it into a busy and messy room, and maintenance takes its toll.
The good news is – it happens to all of us! We all struggle to organize things within such a small place, especially knowing how important the hygiene is. Believe it or not, a cramped bathroom can still be appealing and functional, and there are several tricks that can make that happen. Looking for storage ideas for small bathrooms? Let’s begin:
Here are some creative small bathroom storage ideas you should try:
A basket case
Image source: Lisette Voute Designs
Why not replacing the bunch of old and dusty bathroom shelves with a nice set of baskets? With them, you can have all of your bath salts, scented oils, care creams, and of course towels at your fingertips. Plus, basket cases are stylish and come in all shapes and sizes, which means that you can place them literally anywhere in the bathroom.
A great idea, for instance, is to place a basket under the sink and use it to store hair care and beauty supplies. If you have some extra time to spend, you can even paint or decorate the baskets until they fit the theme of your bathroom.
Shadow boxes for toilet paper
Image source: Yiangou Architects
Here comes one of the most obvious bathroom storage solutions. If tired of looking at a sore-thumb-like and ugly paper holder, you can close it within a shadow box, and ensure some extra space for additional roles. This is particularly handy for very small bathrooms, as it keeps the holder in plain sight, and still keeps it out of the way. Basically, there is no bathroom that couldn’t use one.
Floating cases for creative displaying
Despite of our small bathroom organization challenges, we still find it hard to resist displaying our little treasures. This is where we could use a pair of simple floating cases which occupy little space, but still accommodate all important stock supplies.
While it is absolutely fine to decorate with potted plantsandnautical motifs, you should try to avoid a busy look, and display only the things that are absolutely necessary. Even the cases themselves should be simple – to avoid a funhouse effect, work with simple shapes, moderate sizes, and materials alike steel, wood, or even transparent glass.
Practical and cost-effective storage
Image source: W Staging and Design
We can all agree that the best small bathroom storage ideas are the ones we don’t really have to invest in.
For instance, we all use mason jars to prepare and store food (or eventually have a drink in them somewhere across the Southern states). But did it cross your mind that transparent jars are excellent tools for decorating a small bathroom?
Jars make it incredibly easy to introduce a rustic vibe to the bathroom, and you don’t have to spend a fortune on them. At the same time, they are very practical and hygienic solutions, as whatever you place in them stays clean and neat.
You can also turn jars into decorative vases, seashells storage accessories or even beauty supply holders. In short, they are the most flexible very small bathroom storage ideas.
DIY bathroom storage ideas for pedestal sinks
One of the hottest trends in bathroom design is pedestal sinks. Yet, many people choose to skip them, as they don’t have enough space to place the soap bar on them. Yet, they can easily hide a small bathroom shelf with all of your beauty products on it.
Here are some ideas:
Dress up the pedestal sink with a skirt, and place the baskets behind it
A very creative DIY trick (and one of our best small bathroom storage ideas!) is sewing unique sink skirts that match the color and theme of the bathroom. Alongside their good looks, these skirts can also be practical and hide a couple of storage bins behind them.
Create toothbrush holders from bottle caps
Search through you recycling, and save the plastic cup of a 20L bottle. Use a box cutter to make a tiny notch in it, and use it to store your toothbrush.
Store your beauty supplies on an IKEA picture lodge
Image source: Dawna Jones Design
One of our favorite bathroom shelving ideas is using IKEA picture ledges. Instead of framing photos, you can place the ledge between the sink and the mirror, and fill it with soaps, lotions, candles, perfumes, hair care products, and much more.
Store your beauty supplies in a divided box
With too many products around, you may need more storage space than the one an IKEA ledge can provide. Itsy Bits and Pieces suggest replacing the ledge with a slotted storage box placed right above the sink. That’s one hell of a storage idea, isn’t it?
Store your makeup on magnetic boards
The ladies out there will agree that a single medicine cabinet can’t accommodate all of their cosmetic products. To help them out, Allie Grace recommends DIY magnetic boards made of metal sheets and old photo frames, and covered with creative fabrics. This DIY trick is easy and relatively cheap to execute, as you probably already have all of the necessary supplies.
Installing an additional shower rods
Image source: CARNEMARK design + build
No place to store your shampoo? No worries!
A second shower rod with hooks will ensure additional space for your cosmetics, caddies, and much more.
Make your own recessed shelves on the shower wall
Bathroom storage cabinet ideas are a natural choice, but aren’t they kind of boring?
With the help of a circular saw, you can carve unique recessed shelves within the shower to place all necessary toiletries and have them by hand while showering.
Store your shampoo, shower gel, shaving cream, and conditioner in suction caps
Here comes another piece-of-cake DIY trick that won’t cost a lot:
- Lace some ties around and through the suction caps
- Stick the cups on any of the shower’s walls
- Slip the products insideand access them easily
Perfect DIY razor holsters you can attach to the shower caddy
Who doesn’t hate having to ‘chase’ his razor as it slips off the caddy? Such situations are not only annoying, but also very dangerous for our feet.
The good news is we can store razors in a much safer way. Here’s what we should do:
- Get an old PVC pipe (ideally with a 1 inch diameter), and cut off a 3 inch long piece
- Make two small notches inside it (1/8 inch each)
- Strap it on the side of the shower caddy, and fasten it with durable tie straps.
Use cake stands to store your cosmetic products
Since we don’t really use cake stands that often, we can consider giving these beautiful kitchen appliances a different role.
An idea would be to repurpose them into cool shower accessories, and have them complement our modern and stylish bathroom.
In case you don’t have a cake stand, you can join two plates on a candle stick and make it.
Add more towel racks at the back of the door
Yup – it is annoying to have a pair of hooks on the door and wonder where to hang the rest of the towels! Why not maximizing our storage space with a towel bar trio?
Create your own mini storage units using old drawers
Instead of throwing discarded drawers away, you can easily turn them into creative shelves for your bathroom. You will be surprised how great they can look!
Upgrade to a large mirror medicine cabinet
Image source: Lauren Rubin Architecture
If you find your storage case old and boring, think of replacing it with a beautiful, full-length mirror medicine cabinet.
In such way, you will have the perfect mirror to check your outfit in the morning, and a batch of well hidden shelves to store your accessories.
Consider the principle of storing shoes
The biggest storage challenge of every household is organizing shoes. If you’ve mastered that skill, storing beauty products will literally be a walk in the park.
As an example, you can get a new shoe organizer and hang it inside the shower. Camping World, for instance, offers top notch six-pocket organizers to get the job done.
DIY racks made out of rope
Elegant towel racks look great, but they’re just not the right cut for small and rustic bathrooms. In order to save some space, you can replace them with DIY ones made of nothing but rope.
Get some eye bolts and lay the racks flat against the wall, so that the shower looks cozy and rugged, and you still have enough free space.
Store towels inside an old wine rack
Did you know that wine racks are the perfect DIY storage cases for towels and washcloths? If willing to do some DIY decorating around them, you’ve got yourself a winner!
Built-in alcoves have a great storage capacity
Built-in niches are not just perfect for renovation – they are also sophisticated design elements that add up storage space within the shower. Plus, they can easily replace your not-that-small bathroom stand you’ve been planning to take out.
The cheapest DIY shelving solution
Image source: Gilbert Design Group
Instead of standard shelves, you can mount your spice racks on the wall and lay all of your cosmetics over them. With these creative shelves, you may even skip buying a medical cabinet altogether.
More DIY towel racks
Wine racks can easily become stylish towel racks when you mount them on the shower wall. In fact, they’ll be the perfect place for you to hang decorative towels.
Functional and open boxes for modern homeowners
Thick boxes may be an unusual storage solution, but they’ll certainly look better than you expect them. They also look good enough to solve the problem of accessorizing small bathrooms – with their artistic qualities; you’ll be all good to go.
A hanging jewelry organizer
Image source: Margot Hartford Photography
The best way to protect your accessories and to have them by hand is to hang them on a classy wall holder. You can also use suction caps for smaller pieces.
Stylish, three-tiered holders for all of your belongings
Image source: Big Bean Construction ltd
Here are some more vanity storage ideas:
If willing to go a bit over budget, we recommend you to get a three-tiered stand holder and arrange your accessories and towels inside it. These holders are usually made of wood, and they therefore help your vanity look elegant and rustic.
Ideas for knick-knack storage
Our tiny everyday items can easily create mess in the bathroom, and there’s little with can do to store them decoratively. That’s unless we arrange them in artistic glass canisters.
Using contrasting colors to add some depth
Image source: BFDO Architects pllc
Painting the back of our shelves with contrasting colors is a very good visual trick, as it helps add depth to small and poorly illuminated bathrooms.
You can also attach your shelves within a large photo frame to make it look like an elegant storage box.
Say hello to minimalism
Minimalism is all about cleanness and functionality, and that’s exactly what your small bathroom needs. Sometimes, all you should do to solve your storage problem is to hang small hooks here and there, or replace your old cabinets with narrower ones.
A classic bathroom is always in
Perhaps, the best small bathroom storage ideas are the ones most homeowners choose to work with.
When deciding how to organize small bathrooms, we should think practically. For instance, common solutions such as shower caddies and corner baskets are to be found in any small bathroom, and for a good reason. They are flexible and easy to move, trouble-free to clean, durable, and able to store all sorts of items and beauty products. With them, you just can’t go wrong!
If you liked this article about small bathroom storage ideas, you should check out these articles as well:
- Traditional Bathroom Ideas To Use For A Neat Look
- Contemporary Bathroom Ideas To Modernize This Room
- Best Plants for Bathroom: Which is the right one for you?
- Bathroom fixtures: Tips on how to get the best bathroom vanities
- How to frame a bathroom mirror to look good
- Bathroom remodeling cost: How much you’ll need to spend