15 Over-the-Toilet Storage Solutions

Decorate the Top of the Toilet

Install floating over-the-toilet shelves to hold large items, such as a potted plant or framed artwork. Just be sure they're mounted high enough to avoid hitting your head. For additional storage, use the top of the tank, too. Find a small tray that fits the length and width of your toilet tank, then use it to hold a candle, room spray, or extra toilet paper for a quick restock.

Stack Storage as High as Possible

When dealing with a narrow bathroom, utilize the height of the ceiling to your advantage. Space out as many floating shelves as possible over the toilet bowl to truly maximize storage. This allows you to fit more things that tend to take up substantial room, such as bath towels, or to store a handful of baskets that can conceal visual clutter. Keep the things you reach for and replace often closer to eye level; the things you rarely need can have a home on the highest shelf.

Corral Clutter in a Cabinet

A vintage glass cabinet with multiple shelves can provide both style and storage space in the bathroom. Once it's attached securely to the wall, put heavier or most-used items, such as bottles of body lotion or washcloths, on the bottom. Lightweight or less used products can be tucked higher up. As a bonus, cabinets with doors help keep items dust free. If you opt to use the top of the cabinet for additional storage, make it a habit to clean the surface often as it can get grimy over time.

Lean Items on a Picture Ledge

Perhaps you don't have a lot of bath or beauty products to store above the toilet but you want to infuse some personal style into the space. Install floating picture ledges and add your favorite art, photos, and small accessories. You can even include reading materials such as books and magazines for guests. Be careful not to overload pitcutre ledges as they're not meant to withstand heavy items. However, they can make a perfect over-the-toilet display area without taking up too much space.

Create a Mini Storage Closet

Go all out with your over-the-toilet storage by creating a floor-to-ceiling built-ins that surround the bowl. Drawers flanking each side disguise less aesthetically pleasing products. Abundant open shelving on top provides a spot to style and organize to your heart's content. Display fancy perfume bottles, acrylic makeup organizers, and beautiful jewelry boxes. With this much storage above the toilet, you might even be able to store all of the household towels, especially helpful if you lack a linen closet.

Repurpose a Bookcase

With some creativity, you can save that unused bookshelf from the curb or your local donation center. Give the furniture piece a fresh paint job in a color that matches the bathroom's palette, then mount it to the wall over the toilet. Use a decorative tray to hold apothecary jars filled with decanted items like cotton balls, showcase antique jars that keep bath salts sorted, or a incorporate a family heirloom bowl to contain hair ties.

Create DIY Over-the-Toilet Shelving

Not sure what to do with branches that fell in a recent storm? Broken tree limbs make adorable accents for plain white shelves. Start by cutting the branches into foot-long pieces. Measure two inches from the end on each shelf, mark the spot with a pencil, and drill through the mark into the bottom of one of your cut branches. Repeat on both ends of the board. Use a wood screw to attach the branches. Place the second shelf on top of the first, then drill and screw down into the attached branches. Repeat for however many over-the-toilet shelves you'd like. Mount the shelves on wall-anchored screws.

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Incorporate a Ladder

A ladder shelf adjacent to the toilet is an easy bathroom storage solution. Use it as a spot to stash magazines, a few extra rolls of toilet paper, wipes, and other bathroom needs. Look for a ladder at a flea market or thrift store, then paint it a fun color to match your bathroom's decor.

Keep It Simple

Towel racks are a bathroom necessity, but hanging one on a vanity can make it look cluttered. Try installing a rack above the toilet. It's a convenient spot, and decorative towels add style to the space. Consider installing a towel rack and shelf hybrid to maximize storage above the toilet.

Hang Storage Cabinets

Wall cabinets are often designed to be attached vertically so they open like a door—but who says they can't be modified? When hung horizontally, cabinets open from the top down, kind of like an oven. Plus, they double as shelves to display your favorite decor.

Build Custom Storage

Tiny bathrooms often lack storage. To make the most of your square footage, consider adding built-in shelves or drawers next time you remodel. Or, for a more budget-friendly option, install floating shelves above your commode, and flank it with vertical storage cubes. These industrial DIY shelves utilize inexpensive lumber and iron pipe fittings for an inexpensive over-the-toilet storage solution.

Add Texture with Tile

Medicine cabinets are a bathroom staple. Dress one up with a modern stain or paint color and intricate tile details Here, sheets of mosaic tile update floating glass shelves. If you don't have a medicine cabinet, install one yourself in only a few hours.

Let in Light

If your bathroom has an existing feature above the toilet—like this room's charming window—build your storage solution around it. Walnut casework spruces up the area and adds bountiful space to stash bath linens. When adding casework, be prepared to shell out extra money for a custom-built piece—especially if you have an awkward-size space above the toilet.

Pay Attention to Scale

Sometimes the smallest items are the hardest to store. Keep cotton swabs, cotton balls, bandages, and more in tiny decorative boxes perched on floating shelves. Installing shelves on tile takes more effort than drilling into drywall, so be sure to choose the right size and type of tile bit for your drill. And make sure your hole is exactly where you want it before drilling—tile is not easily patched!

Add Contrast

Floating shelves look cool on their own, but a vertical trio is a pretty approach to over-the-toilet storage. Paint them a color that contrasts your bathroom walls for standout style, then fill them with surplus toilet paper or hand towels.