The bathroom in our previous apartment was so small even *I* had a hard time organizing it. The real challenge was that it didn’t have cabinets so toilet paper and towel storage solutions were desperately needed!
Here are over 20 small bathroom storage ideas that will make you fall in love with the smallest room in your home.
Small Bathroom Storage Ideas That Will Help You Maximize Every Inch Of Space
Make your small bathroom feel larger by keeping clutter to a minimum. Ideally, you should only keep the necessities in a small bathroom such as:
- towels
- toilet paper
- personal hygiene items (soaps, shampoo & conditioner, toothpaste, toothbrushes, floss, etc.)
- feminine products
- hair styling tools
The following items should NOT be stored in your bathroom (even if it’s not small):
- makeup
- perfume & cologne
- facial moisturizers, creams, and serums
- sunscreen
- medicines
- cleaning supplies
The excess humidity, light, and lack of ventilation in the bathroom can dry out, age, and change the chemical composition of these items, so it’s best to store them in a cool, dry, dark place if possible.
Small Bathroom Storage Ideas-Best Affordable Products
Wondering which products I recommend for organizing a small bathroom? Of course you are! Here’s a quick list of my absolute favorite economical bathroom storage solutions:
- Command hooks-they even make waterproof command hooks for the shower
- Acrylic wall-mount toothbrush organizer
- Drawer organizers
- Acrylic spice rack (for organizing toiletries-seriously!)
- Stackable acrylic drawers
- Command corner shelf for tub and shower
- Cabinet door organizer
- Under-sink organizer
- Apothecary jars
Storing towels in a small bathroom
Some ‘experts’ recommend that you do not store towels in the bathroom. Obviously, they’ve never been left standing in the middle of their bathroom butt-naked, dripping wet, screaming for their husband (who’s jamming out to 80’s rock in the next room) to bring them a clean towel.
It’s for this reason (and a few others) that I recommend you keep at least a handful of clean towels, washcloths, and hand towels stored in your small bathroom.
But, where do you store towels in a small bathroom?
Well, in our apartment’s small bathroom (the one without cabinets), I stored our bath towels rolled up in a large wire basket like so:
You can also install a shelf above the bathroom door and stash a few towels there. Just make sure you have an easy way to get to them nearby or you may find yourself jumping up and down butt-naked, and dripping wet to get them.
In our current small bathroom, we are blessed to have two under sink cabinets, so I store a stack of neatly-folded towels under one of the sinks. We have managed to whittle down our family’s towel supply to about 2 per person, so they fit comfortably in the space under the sink.
You can also mount a couple of extra towel bars to the back of the bathroom door like so:
Or, add a few floating shelves to the wall for a decorative towel storage idea.
Similarly, you can DIY a few ‘shelves’ out of rectangle-shaped wicker baskets.
Did you know you can transform a hanging wine rack into low-profile towel storage?
Over the toilet storage in a small bathroom
Unfortunately, we were renting, so we couldn’t hang shelves, so here’s what we ended up going with for storage over the toilet in our small apartment bathroom:
Look how cute this next above toilet storage setup is! The perfect functional solution for a small space.
Copy the look below with this bathroom ladder shelf.
Organize a small bathroom without cabinets
The only way to organize a small bathroom without built-in cabinets is either 1.) install your own built-in cabinets (not possible in a rental) or 2.) add some free-standing cabinets.
Since our bathroom was so small, I searched high and low for a tall but narrow free-standing bathroom storage cabinet. I decided on this one from Amazon because it not only matched the cabinet behind the toilet, but it fit perfectly beside the bathtub.
If your bathroom is so tiny that you can’t even fit a small cabinet, make sure to use ALL the walls. Hang command hooks, narrow shelves, medicine cabinets, towel bars, baskets, and/or cubbies to increase storage space.
Storing toilet paper in a small bathroom
Ah, the age-old question Where do I store the toilet paper in a small bathroom?
Ask my husband this question and he will have some strong opinions! For example, he doesn’t like to store the toilet paper under the sink because if there’s a leak, there goes the toilet paper. He also doesn’t like to store it out in the open. I’ll admit, he’s got a point here. After all, no one wants to be faced with a mountain of toilet paper upon walking into their bathroom. He’s also convinced that the humidity in the bathroom makes the toilet paper ‘sticky’. I’ve yet to notice this phenomenon.
So, where do we store our toilet paper? Well, we’ve made a compromise. We store four rolls of toilet paper under the bathroom sink next to the toilet. Then, we store the remaining toilet paper (which we buy in bulk) in the linen closet just outside the bathroom door.
Here are a few more attractive yet practical ways to ‘organize’ toilet paper:
Organizing toothbrushes
For the love of Pete, PLEASE do not store your toothbrushes on the bathroom counter! Studies have shown that bacteria from every flush can travel up to 6 feet in all directions! Do you really want to risk it? Eww!
According to Time.com:
The germiest spot in your bathroom isn’t your toilet…it’s your toothbrush
BTW, you’ll also want to avoid storing your toothbrush in a closed container. This doesn’t allow your toothbrush to dry properly and will breed mold and bacteria.
Here’s how I store our family’s toothbrushes inside of a small medicine cabinet:
You may want to store your toothbrushes inside of a bathroom cabinet with this handy acrylic toothbrush/toothpaste organizer instead.
Organizing bathroom cabinets
Speaking of organizing the bathroom cabinets, here are some clever ideas to inspire you!
I love the way she uses a variety of textures to organize under the bathroom sink. And those labels!
I am amazed at how much stuff she was able to neatly organize in a small space. Also, note the smart use of command hooks on the door to organize headbands.
Another great use of the cabinet doors to organize hair tools.
I’m a sucker for acrylic organizers. I also love the brilliant use of a lazy susan to keep everything within reach.
Organizing the shower and bathtub
Unless you’re Marie Kondo (who dries her bath products and puts them away after every shower), you NEED a way to organize your tub and shower area!
Here are a few more clever small bathroom storage ideas to help you out.
The first is a photo of how I organize our shower area. We are a family of (4) and yes, these are ALL of our bath products in one handy place. It helps that two of us use the same brand of shampoo and conditioner, one has no hair, and all but one of us use Aveeno body wash due to sensitive skin.
In case you were wondering, I hung this shower caddy with a waterproof command hook.
Below is a genius way to store all the bath things (especially if you have young children) by using an extra shower curtain rod along with some carabiner clips and dollar store baskets.
In our previous tiny bathroom, I used a couple of corner shower caddies with suction cups to contain our bath products, however, in our new (small) bathroom, the suction cups would not hold to the texture of the tiles.
Another way you can organize your shower area is with a mesh organizer that hangs on your existing shower rod. These types of organizers are especially handy in campers.
There you have it, over 20 ways to increase storage in a small bathroom. If you eliminate bathroom clutter and keep only the essentials, I’m sure you’ll find that organizing a small bathroom is a breeze!
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