Is your bathroom cluttered and in need of some serious organizing? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Many times, the bathroom is the smallest room in your house. Even if you’re fortunate enough to have a large bathroom in your home, chances are you’re overrun with too many personal products like toothbrushes, hairdryers, bottles of soap and towels.
The good news is there are plenty of ways to combat the clutter and achieve the bliss that comes with a fully organized bathroom. Whether you need to create more space, install extra-small bathroom storage or just need an organized medicine cabinet, you can rest easy knowing that creating the bathroom you’ve always dreamed of is easy and affordable.
Tips for Creating More Space in Your Bathroom
Since the bathroom is most often the smallest room in your house, creating more space is a great place to start your organizing and storage projects. If you’re building a bathroom from scratch, then some of these tips and ideas will give you a head start on saving space and organizing the area.
- Install a combined shower and tub: If you’re wondering how much space a bathroom needs, the answer is at least 36-40 square feet or a 5’x8′ area. Installing a shower and tub combination will help you maximize every inch of that area. A combined shower and tub is a great way to free up more space for storage, such as a small closet or shelves.
- Install an outward swinging door: This is particularly helpful if you need extra space in a small bathroom. An outward swinging door means exactly what it suggests — a door that swings outward as opposed to inward. This will free up space in your bathroom as you can add extras behind the door whereas with an inward swinging door, you would not be able to.
- Place the shower on the short wall: This is a great way to free up space in a small bathroom because it places the shower in a smaller area and frees up the longer wall. Placing the shower on the short wall will offer more space for adding extra storage or perhaps a closet. Doing this is great to maximize the space in your bathroom.
- Side-by-side sink and toilet: Placing your toilet and sink side-by-side frees up space by streamlining the design of your bathroom. The toilet and sink being placed side-by-side means that they are on the same wall, which in turn frees up the other walls in the bathroom for options such as decor and storage.
It’s hard to install shelves and extra storage when you don’t have adequate space to work. Designing your bathroom using these tips offers you a great canvas to work within your bathroom. Setting up the bathroom of your dreams starts with having a functional, space-saving layout that works for you. True, you may have to consult with a professional builder on some of these projects, but they are a great place to start when organizing and deciding what the best storage options are for your bathroom.
Best Bathroom Storage Solution Ideas
Now that you have your bathroom designed and laid out the way you feel works best for you, it’s time to start adding storage. If you’re not sure where to start, then consider these bathroom storage solution ideas.
1. Medicine Cabinets
Installing a quality wooden medicine cabinet is a great way to add storage and style to your bathroom. There are several different types of medicine cabinets you can consider including:
- Framed and frameless medicine cabinets: Medicine cabinets can be built with a frame or without. You have several options when it comes to style and design. Frameless medicine cabinets offer a great way to save even more space in your bathroom. They are mirrorless cabinets without a frame, so they create a small footprint in your bathroom.
- Mirrored medicine cabinets: These types of medicine cabinets have a mirror and work great for turning your bathroom mirror into a small storage space.
- Recessed medicine cabinets: Recessed medicine cabinets are designed to be built right into your bathroom wall. This does require cutting into the wall in your bathroom but will save you space in the long run as the recessed cabinets are designed to mount flush into walls. Recessed medicine cabinets offer more of a permanent bathroom storage solution.
- On-the-wall medicine cabinets: These types of medicine cabinets are hung on the wall as opposed to their recessed counterparts. On-the-wall medicine cabinets are a great option if you ever want to remodel your bathroom as they can be moved and aren’t permanent.
Choosing the type of medicine cabinet that’s right for your bathroom requires taking a look at your space and assessing your own storage needs. Don’t forget to take measurements and consult with a building professional when you’re installing a recessed cabinet.
2. Recessed Toilet Paper Holder
If you’re looking for extra bathroom storage solutions, don’t forget about the toilet paper holder. You might not think about it, but the toilet paper holder is one of the main storage components of any bathroom. Although they are small, they are essential to have in any bathroom and must be considered when planning and designing your storage solutions. Just like with your medicine cabinet, there are options for installing a recessed toilet paper holder.
Recessed toilet paper holders with extra storage are another option. A combination recessed toilet paper holder with extra storage options for holding additional rolls of paper will create more storage space as well as offer a way to organize your bathroom more efficiently. You won’t have to worry about finding a place for all of those extra rolls of toilet paper, and you can keep it handy. You can also consider double toilet paper holders when designing your bathroom.
It might not sound like much, but a recessed toilet paper holder will save you upwards of a couple of square feet of space in your bathroom. Although this doesn’t sound significant, every square foot counts when working with a small bathroom space that’s only 40-50 square feet.
3. Shelves
You’re probably aware that installing shelves in your bathroom is a common storage solution. What you may not be aware of is the options you have when it comes to adding shelves for bathroom storage.
- Floating shelves: These are shelves mounted to the wall without any visible means of support, hence the name floating. These are great shelving options when you need to save space and not take up any more room on areas such as your vanity and counters. Floating shelves work well for small, lightweight bathroom products such as jars of cotton swabs or extra bottles of hand soap. Floating shelves are also great for decorating your bathroom, and they allow you to customize the space to your liking.
- Corner shelves: These are shelves that are designed to be hung in the corner of your bathroom. Corner shelves help turn unusable areas in small spaces, such as the corners of the room, into a storage option. Corner shelves are typically designed to be mounted to the wall as opposed to built-in or recessed shelves.
- Wall-mounted shelves: Shelves mounted directly to the wall are known as wall-mounted shelves. These are mounted or hung on the wall as opposed to built-in or recessed shelves. Wall-mounted shelves work well if you want to remodel your bathroom, and they can be moved around the room as you see fit.
- Freestanding shelves: These are shelves that sit directly on the floor and aren’t mounted or built into the bathroom wall. You’ll have a lot of different options when it comes to freestanding shelves. Freestanding shelves are easily moved around to best fit your bathroom storage needs.
Including shelves in your bathroom is a great storage solution. Be sure to measure the space before getting started hanging or placing shelves around your bathroom. You don’t want to purchase shelving only to discover that it doesn’t fit in the space you intended for it. You’ll also want to consider the tools and equipment you’ll need to hang or mount the shelves.
4. Over-the-Toilet Storage
Over-the-toilet storage is an excellent bathroom storage solution. Creating extra bathroom storage means utilizing all of the available space at your disposal. There are a few different types of over-the-toilet storage options you can choose from. You can mount storage over your toilet or purchase freestanding storage solutions designed specifically to go over your toilet.
Over-the-toilet racks offer you an easy way to declutter and organize your bathroom without performing costly renovations or breaking out the tools and other equipment. These come in a wide range of shapes, colors and sizes to fit your style and meet your storage needs.
5. Towel Racks or Hooks
Mounting towel racks or hooks is one of the most common ways to add storage solutions to any bathroom. Many people prefer one over the other, either racks or hooks, but you can always add both. Hooks are an excellent option for being placed on your bathroom door. If you struggle with the members of your household always hanging their towels on the door, try installing hooks on the back of the bathroom door.
Towel racks are optimal for the areas directly next to your sink and shower as those are two areas of the bathroom where you’ll need a towel when you’re finished. Placing towel racks and hooks in ideal locations ensures that you’re creating a functional bathroom space.
6. Shower Storage
One underutilized space in nearly every bathroom is the shower. The shower and bath area has its own set of personal supplies and products that members of your household use daily, so installing storage options is just as important there as in the other areas of your bathroom. You can design your shower area with shelves built into the corners, or you can install them afterward.
Shower caddies are sets of small wire shelves that simply hang over your showerhead. Shower caddies are widely available at retail stores and other home improvement stores. They provide you with affordable and durable shower storage options for your personal care products.
Creative Bathroom Storage Ideas
Are you looking for creative storage ideas? There are plenty of innovative storage options aside from basic storage ideas. You can add more storage to your bathroom while getting creative with your designs with these storage ideas.
Baskets
You can incorporate baskets into your bathroom storage solutions. Baskets are a great way to add some style, color and function to your bathroom. Use baskets to hold extra folded towels, magazines and extra rolls of toilet paper. Wicker and wire baskets can be found at large retail stores and home improvement stores. They are a great option for organizing loose items such as toiletries under sinks and in cabinets.
Creative Ladder
A repurposed ladder can be used as a creative towel rack or as shelves for small items. Decorative ladders save space and fit easily into tight corners and next to bathroom fixtures such as sinks and toilets. You can use a decorative ladder to hold extra toiletries, rolls of toilet paper, and magazines in your bathroom. These are an excellent option if you don’t have enough space for shelves or for renters who don’t want to damage the walls by hanging shelves.
Magnets
Placing magnet strips in areas such as inside your cabinet doors and under sinks can help you organize your bathroom and offer more storage. Things like metal clippers, hairpins and hair clips made of metal will all stick to the magnetic strips. Many times, these loose items are incredibly hard to store and organize. Magnetic strips placed in ideal locations solve this problem and help you better organize your bathroom.
Utilizing the Inside of Cabinet Doors
Utilizing the spaces inside of cabinet doors is a creative way to add storage to your bathroom. Just like you installed mounted hooks for hanging towels on the bathroom door, you can mount smaller hooks on the inside of cabinet doors to provide additional storage. You can also use over-the-door hanging hooks on bathroom cabinets doors to help you store items such as hairdryers and pairs of scissors or clippers. Get as creative with this option as you like!
Tips for Organizing Your Bathroom
Now that you have your bathroom storage mounted and set up to meet your needs, it’s time to organize your bathroom. Organizing your bathroom is oftentimes easier said than done. If you’re having a difficult time organizing your bathroom and everything in it, then here are some helpful tips to get you started in the right direction.
Declutter
Start organizing your bathroom products by decluttering. To do this, take everything off your counters and shelves and out of your cabinets and drawers. Now you’ll want to throw away or donate any items you don’t need or use any longer. This will help you whittle down the products in your bathroom to only the essentials.
You probably have several half-used bottles of lotion or other personal products laying around under your bathroom sink and in your drawers and cabinets. Throwing these unnecessary items away or donating them will save you a lot of useful space in your bathroom.
Countertop Storage
Adding some countertop storage in your bathroom will help you organize those loose items and other personal products such as hairpins, toothbrushes and tubes of toothpaste. You don’t want these items simply floating around in your bathroom and on your countertops. Countertop storage will help you secure these loose items and keep your bathroom organized and looking clean.
You can use small clear jars or plastic containers for organizing items like cotton swabs, hair ties and hairpins. Consider using a toothbrush holder for your toothbrushes and other oral care items. This helps keep your oral hygiene items clean as well as organized.
Drawer Dividers
Sharing a bathroom with your children or spouse means you likely have a lot of extra personal items clogging up your drawers. If you have several different people using a bathroom, then drawer dividers will help you organize your space. Drawer dividers work great to help you separate the personal items of different people. You can use drawer dividers to organize toothbrushes, medications, hairbrushes and other personal bathroom products.
You can also use small bathroom caddies as drawer dividers. Assign each caddy to an individual person in your household and that is where their personal products are stored. This way, you can easily find each person’s own bathroom products and transport or move them around if need be. This is also helpful if you have a few different people using the bathroom to get ready each day.
Use Clear Containers
If you want a solution for quickly and easily finding personal items in your drawers, then clear plastic containers are the way to go. Your bathroom drawers and containers will easily become disorganized and cluttered if you’re constantly searching around for personal products. Clear plastic containers allow you to see what’s inside before you open it and start the dreaded search. You can use clear glass jars or plastic containers to hold your personal bathroom products. Clear containers can help you stay organized and keep your bathroom clutter-free.
Label Items
Another great way to organize your bathroom is by labeling containers and drawers or cabinets. Label drawers and containers for things like hair products, oral and dental care or makeup. This will help you stay organized and ensure that every item is kept in its rightful place in your bathroom. You can use a permanent marker or invest in a label maker to print and stick labels around the house. Items can be labeled by product or by individual person. Consider which system would work best for your household and put it into practice. Just be sure to stay consistent with your labeling system.
Color Code Items
Color coding items in your bathroom works great for large families sharing the space. If you have several children using the same bathroom, then consider color coding items. You can use storage containers, hooks and dividers that are color coded for each member of the family. This will help you keep your bathroom decluttered and organized as everything has a designated place and storage destination. You can start by color coding toothbrushes, cups, towels and bath time toys.
Organize Your Bathroom With WG Wood Products
Are you ready to get started organizing your bathroom? WG Wood products has you covered with quality-made wooden medicine cabinets and toilet paper holders for your bathroom. WG Wood offers solid wood storage solutions to organize your bathroom. All of our cabinets and products are made in the USA and come with free shipping.
Looking for customized medicine cabinets? WG Wood offers free customization options on our products that can’t be found anywhere else! Contact us today to get started creating a bathroom to meet your busy lifestyle needs. Have questions regarding our products? We have professionals standing by ready to help you. Request a quote for your new bathroom cabinetry or custom wooden toilet paper holders today!