Rental bathrooms. *sighs* They can often be small, inconveniently laid out, and lacking storage options. And bathroom items, though obviously essential for hygiene purposes, personal upkeep, and general beautification, aren’t always the prettiest to look at. Time to get creative! Apart from the cabinets under the vanity, this bathroom has no closed storage at all; so I’ve had to get quite clever with my own storage solutions. Keep reading to see what you too can implement to keep your rental bathroom looking like an Urban Outfitters catalog.
1. Open Shelving Above the Toilet
Open shelves are the ultimate solution to add storage *and* style to a room. With a big blank open wall above the toilet, this was my personal perfect solution. Mine houses things like my dry brush, bathroom cleaning solution (in an amber bottle, of course), a little orange ceramic pitcher that hides and stores elastics, and a small basket for more discreet storage. Take a purposeful look at this photo and apply it to your own space: fill your open shelf with your own personal items, plants for some greenery, a candle, bath salts, a little bowl to hold your rings, and a Dopp kit. All practical items, but also specifically selected because they look good and cohesive, intentional and styled.
2. Low-Profile IKEA Cabinet
Did you even notice this sneaky little cabinet until I pointed it out? Didn’t think so. This low-profile cabinet is from IKEA and is incredibly slim and discreet. It measures only 4 inches deep and fits perfectly into this awkward gap between the window and the wall. I love that it offers loads of vertical storage, while taking up a minimal footprint. This is where all the not so pretty items go, as you can see. Not everything can be beautiful, but at the very least, we can keep the eyesores concealed from view.
3. IKEA Spice Shelves for More Open Wall Storage
These spice organizers from IKEA are about $6 each and come in unfinished wood so you can stain or paint them whatever colour you like to suit your space. They are the perfect depth for my skincare items, they allow easy access to my morning and night time skin care routines, and they are right in my face next to the sink so I have no excuse skipping out on them. Fortunately, the packaging on them all is cute, so this solution really lent itself to making the bathroom look like a trendy skin care boutique.
4. The Tension Rod Shower Caddy
This caddy is key. I lived very inconveniently before getting married because I didn’t care if all of my soaps and scrubs were falling all over the place, collecting soap scum, and getting spluttered in each available corner of my bathtub. But when we got married… Chris deserved better, haha. And I did too! Enter: the shower caddy. Super sturdy, rust-proof, under $35, and extendable in length for whenever we move and need to use it in a full shower instead of a bathtub. This allows for all of our shower items to have a place without knocking things over off all the corners of the bathtub. Everything is able to dry really well between showers because of the open wire design and it sits nice and tightly in a corner of the shower. Big time recommend.
5. Baskets. Baskets. Baskets.
Baskets categorize and conceal all the clutter. You’re welcome. If you need suggestions on how to effectively use a basket without just dumping things in all willy nilly, this is how we use ours: one is dedicated to overflow hair tools, body care, and general bathroom items; one dedicated to all of our laundry supplies (detergents, dryer balls, handheld steamer, sweater de-fuzz-er, stain removers); and one is dedicated to extra bath towels).
6. The Lazy Susan
If you’re like me: your overflow skin care, hair care, and body care, is overwhelming and impossible to access. At least for me, it was — before getting this Lazy Susan. It’s a game changer. It spins around so I don’t have to dig for things and it is it tall, modular, and tiered in order to make use of vertical space. Brilliant.
Which one of these solutions would you implement in your own small bathroom? Let me know in the comments!
If you’re looking for more help with your tiny rental bathroom, these posts will also be of use to you:
