Savvy Bathroom Storage Ideas
Last week, I wrote about cleaning glass showers. I was prompted to write after staying in a hotel room with a gorgeous glass shower in the bathroom. However, while I was there I also was pleasantly surprised with good storage. There were drawers to hold toiletry items, a wall-mounted make-up mirror, and a blow dryer with a retractable cord that begged to be put away. Hotel bathrooms usually resemble the ones at home – woefully short on storage space -- making the counters a jumble of bathroom items.
When the counters are loaded with personal products, it’s not just an eyesore, it’s also hard to clean. If clutter and over-accumulation in the bathroom is a problem at your house, try adding some storage to contain the mess. You’ll find that you’re less stressed by the visual clutter, it’ll be faster to get dressed and cleaning will be simpler.
1. Contain it. If you don’t have a medicine cabinet, use a storage box with a hinged lid to corral your bathroom essentials crowding your counter space. The box should be used only for those products that you use every day. For daily prescriptions, try placing these in a small decorative box or container of the bathroom. It keeps your prescriptions private and pretty at the same time.
2. Go to the wall. Walls provide a variety of storage options. Add a wall-mounted magazine holder for bathroom items. Or, hang display boxes to hold items artfully. There are even some hinged storage boxes that can be wall-mounted. Wall-mounted storage shelves are another space saver and counter-clearing helper. Wall-mounted towel holders keep towels orderly and at the ready.
3. Buy space savers. Trade up and trade in your lighted make-up mirror and blow-dryer with their tangle of cords for neat and easy wall-mounted models. There are now blow dryers with retractable cords that keep the wires on the counter in control.
4. Furnish the bath. If space permits there are a number of storage cabinets ranging from tall and thin to corner models to antique cabinets that can give you more storage in the bathroom. Furniture in the bathroom is also very trendy and makes the room feel cozier.
5. Build in space. There is space waiting in the bathroom between the wall studs. If you’re handy, consider utilizing this area for some storage shelves. These can be added in showers, next to mirrors, over the toilet or anywhere there’s an open wall area. All homes under construction should include shower boxes for shampoo and shower items. There’s no reason not to build in storage space when you have the chance.
6. Knee space. Some bathrooms have knee spaces for make-up areas that can be put to work. Mount a storage box or basket to a side of the knee space to hide curling irons, brushes, or blow dryers out of sight. I saw this recently done at a chic spa in Las Vegas and I thought it was a great idea. All the blow dryers and curling irons were out of sight – and more importantly – out of the way.
7. Get a medicine cabinet. Though old-fashioned, these bathroom work-horses make as much sense today as they did back in the day. A medicine cabinet can be installed on a side wall or can replace large mirrored walls with a little elbow-grease. The value of the traditional medicine cabinet is that they provide eye-level storage and don’t require the stooping and bending that under-cabinet storage does. If you’re building or renovating, re-think the medicine cabinet. They can be made over-sized and don’t have to be the tiny things they once were.
