Practical Bathroom Storage Tips

Regularly sort through the contents of bath cabinetry to ease congestion during your morning routine. Discard expired items and products you've stopped using. Group the remaining items in categories. Things you use every day should reside in a medicine cabinet or another place within easy reach.

Label shelves and baskets to simplify matters. "You want everyone who opens the door to know exactly what everything is and where it is," says Meryl Starr, author of The Personal Organizing Workbook. Use shelf dividers and stackable sweater shelves to create stable piles of sheets and towels. Store backup grooming supplies in totes or bins personalized for each family member.

Prevent small items from becoming a jumbled mess inside a drawer by dividing the contents. Cutlery trays or the removable tray from a toolbox are ideal for keeping little pieces, such as manicure tools, separated. Plus, trays and baskets are easy to pull out and set on a countertop. If you have narrow but deep drawers, use stacking trays designed for jewelry.

Simplify bath storage with pieces intended for other rooms. Hang a paper-towel holder to keep a backup roll of toilet paper handy. Employ a lazy Susan so you can find lotions without having to empty the shelf. And keep hair-primping tools and accessories contained and portable inside a toolbox.

Install a push-button, battery-powered light inside a linen closet to make reading medicine labels and discerning sheet and towel colors a breeze.

Create handy holders for glasses by drilling holes in a shelf. To cut perfect circles up to 3 inches in diameter, pair a hole saw with a power drill. Drill the center of each hole with a standard bit, and then switch to the hole saw. When the cutout is complete, drop in decorative glasses and fill them with toothbrushes or other frequently used toiletries. When it's time for a wash, simply pop the glasses out of the shelf and into the dishwasher. Expect to pay between $10 and $30 for a hole saw, depending on the size.

Get more out of the back of the closet door by hanging freshly pressed hand towels and other linens from rods until they're needed.

Limit the number of linens you own to two sets per bed, or four if you rotate seasonally between cotton and flannel. "Put aside for donation anything you're not using, and discard anything that is faded, torn, or stained," author Lorie Marrero says in The Clutter Diet.

Stow heavy items, such as cleaning supplies, toward the bottom of your closet. If you have young children, however, these items should be stored high on a shelf or in a locked cabinet.

Position a bench with terry cloth upholstery or an upholstered ottoman one step from the shower to provide a convenient place to dry off. Look for a bench with a low drawer for easy access to extra towels, shampoo, and shower gel, even from the shower stall.

If your bathroom has limited wall space, take a cue from your entry and employ a coat rack to create a versatile area for hanging towels, robes, and clothing

A bamboo tub caddy is an ideal catchall for spa accessories, and it keeps reading materials dry and at eye level.

Make storage a bit prettier by lining the back of a medicine cabinet with decorative paper.

Twin medicine cabinets store toothpaste, mouthwash, and aspirin above the pedestal sinks, while often-used items, such as soap, lotion, and perfume, find homes in the double niches. A storage cabinet between the sinks holds towels and washcloths.

A wall niche is another good way to squeeze out extra space in a bath. Whether used for decorative display or functional storage, a niche also adds depth and interest to a wall area.

Console sinks may be a hot decorating trend, but they often limit storage space. Look for models that have at least one shelf underneath so towels, baskets, or boxes can be displayed.

Take a cue from this bath's use of space at the end of the countertop. An awkward area between the wall and the edge of the vanity was filled with a narrow cabinet that's recessed into the wall. Open shelves store linens, and drawers below store other bath necessities.

Consider hidden storage possibilities whenever you build walls in a bathroom. For example, you can fit ready-made medicine chests between studs near a sink, or create a custom shelf unit to hold all of the tiny bottles and jars used in a bath.

For a bathroom used by multiple people, nix the towel bars in favor of hooks. By using hooks, you can give each person a designated spot for a towel, rather than compete for limited space on a towel bar.

Fill a narrow sliver of space next to a vanity with a slender etagere. Because these units often come with multiple shelves, they offer more storage real estate, even within a confined space.

Employ the wall space above your toilet for storage. Hang a cabinet above the toilet and use it to store extra toilet paper, linens or toiletries. Pick up a single cabinet at an architectural salvage or building materials salvage store, such as Habitat for Humanity's ReStore. Paint or refinish the cabinet to match your decor, and mount it on the wall using hardware designed for that purpose.