Living Large in A Small House - Bathroom Storage Ideas

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Living Large Organizers

If you’re one of my Living Large Organizers, Welcome to Week #3. This week if you are following my schedule (totally fine if your not) we are organizing our bathrooms.

I’ve actually added another level to my organizing as I’m painting my cabinets, vanity, mirror frames, base boards, crown molding, door frame and door!

So let’s talk about small bathrooms spaces and small space organizing!

Best Small Bathroom Design

We remodeled our upstairs tiny bathroom about 23 years ago and using white subway tile, a white tub, white cabinetry, and a marble countertop has been timeless.

Other than needing a new coat of paint, the room still works well for us.

It’s actually pretty amazing as this bathroom has served as the master bathroom as well as the bathroom for two girls. The fact that it still looks great is a miracle.

Being Practical in a Small Bathroom

While a pedestal sink may give a small bathroom the illusion of more square footage in a tight space, it’s not practical at all.

Opt for a bathroom vanity with storage. We chose the one-door, two-drawer option vs. two cabinet doors.

The drawers provide great additional storage.

You can also hide toilet paper and the garbage can behind the cabinet door portion.

Small Bathroom Storage Ideas

If you’ve been around for a while, you know that I’m all about using vertical space.

One of the first things I did in the upstairs bathroom was to have “Handy” build me a linen closet-type cabinet.

It goes from floor to ceiling (using that vertical space). It’s directly across from the toilet and close to the tub.

It’s not terribly deep or wide. It doesn’t take up much floor space but it is a great way to add lots of extra storage to a small bathroom space.

There are doors on the top and the bottom and then open shelves in between. The door area on the top is where we store extra clean towels and extra toiletry items. The bottom door houses two dollar tree caddy’s with bathroom necessities and below that is extra toilet paper.

The shelves are made of glass, which makes the space feel more open and it’s the perfect spot for hand towels, decorative items, cotton balls, and makeup brushes.

Using pretty glass jars makes it feel elegant. Glass jars are perfect for any number of small items.

If you don’t have a “Handy” or the space for a full cabinet, you know how much I like rolling carts. *

Other Small Bathroom Storage Solutions

• A Medicine Cabinet – This fits into the wall between the wall studs to take advantage of dead space.
• Towel Racks, hooks, or a floating shelf works well on open bathroom walls for more storage.
• Banjo Countertop – This type of countertop works well when your toilet is right next to your vanity. You can have a countertop made that extends over the top of the toilet area and give you more valuable counter space.
• Additional cabinet space over the toilet – we have a large cabinet over the toilet in both of our bathrooms for additional storage. This is where we keep beauty products, medicine, first-aid, etc. I’ve seen some very attractive free-standing units *
• “Handy” made the mirror in our upstairs bathroom. It’s a white frame that has a cute shelf at the bottom and you would be surprised how much space that shelf gives you when you have limited counter space.
• Again, using vertical space, put a shelve above the door closer to the ceiling. This is a great place to put extra things like toilet paper or towels in baskets.
• Use the back of the door – We have hooks on the back of our bathroom door for our current towels and robes but you can also use over-the-door hangers for toiletry and hair products and hair tools including curling irons and hair dryers. *

Apartments & Dorms

In both of these situations, the bathrooms are small or you have a very small personal space. In most, you can’t mount anything permanent to the walls. Some of my organization ideas are apartment and dorm friendly. I’ve designated them with a *

Bathroom Organization

Plastic drawer organizers are great storage solutions for bathroom drawers and shelves. It’s one of the best ways to keep items neatly together.

• Command Hooks – I have a command hook on the inside of my vanity door to hand my hair dryer *
• Shower Caddy – A Shower Caddy is a perfect place to contain your shampoo, conditioner, and soaps. *
• Basket Storage – I’m also a big fan of baskets. They can organize and hide things that aren’t very pretty on a shelf or in a cabinet. *
• Wall Mount Storage Bins – I recently discovered wall mount storage bins. You can get things off the counter top but still have easy access to them. *

Tricks to Make a Space Look Bigger

I love a dark moody powder room but when it comes to bathrooms; the place where I have to put on make-up.

I like it to be light and bright which also makes the space look bigger. Using a lighter colors on both your walls and cabinet is smart, in my opinion.

In our upstairs bathroom, we added a raised skylight to bring in more light and to make the space feel so much bigger and airier.

The only think I don’t like about it is cleaning the window and walls that are probably 13 – 14 ft., up.

Keeping your space neat and organized also helps to give the looks and feel of a larger space.

It’s true in every room in your home!

For my organizing tribe, keep up the great work. Head over to the private Facebook Group if you have any questions or want to share your progress. I would love to see it!

Happy Organizing!

Peace,

Lynn

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