Bathroom guide
Small Bathroom Storage Ideas That Actually Fit
By Homeward Goods ·
A small bathroom has to hold a lot: towels, toilet paper, cleaning supplies and everyone's daily routine, usually with no linen closet nearby. The good news is that most small bathrooms have more usable space than it seems. It's just in places we don't think of as storage, like the narrow gap beside the toilet or the empty wall above it.
This guide walks through how to find that space, measure it properly and choose storage that holds up in a humid room.
Start with a tape measure, not a shopping cart
Most storage that ends up returned didn't fit, or it fit on paper but blocked a door or drawer. Ten minutes with a tape measure saves that trip. Measure the actual spot where the piece will stand, not the room.
- Width at the floor and again about 30 inches up. Baseboards, pipes and the curve of a toilet tank often make a gap narrower in one place than another.
- Depth from the wall to where your knees, the door or the shower curtain swing. Anything deeper than that will get bumped every day.
- The swing of the bathroom door and any cabinet doors nearby, fully open.
- Height to the bottom of the window, towel bar, light switch or outlet you don't want to cover.
Write the numbers down, then mark the footprint on the floor with painter's tape and live with it for a day. If you keep stepping on the tape, the piece is too big for that spot.
Fill the narrow gap beside the toilet or tub
Almost every small bathroom has a strip of floor between the toilet and the wall, the vanity or the tub that holds nothing but a plunger. That strip is often only 7 to 10 inches wide, which is too narrow for a regular cabinet but just right for a slim tower.
A narrow tower works best when it has a mix of open and closed space: open shelves for the things you grab daily, and a closed section at the bottom for cleaning supplies you'd rather not look at. Keep the heaviest things low so the tower stays steady.
Slim Bath Tower
7.1" W x 7.9" D x 31.5" H, with open shelves, a covered toilet paper compartment and a closed lower cabinet. The wood-plastic panels are waterproof and wipe clean.
$49.99$54.99
Go vertical above the toilet
The wall above the toilet is the largest unused surface in most bathrooms. A wall-mounted cabinet there adds a full closet's worth of shelving without taking a single inch of floor, which matters when the floor is where you stand, dry off and clean.
Mount it high enough that you can lift the toilet tank lid and that nobody bumps their head when standing, and low enough that you can reach the top shelf without a step stool. Anchor it into wall studs, especially once it's loaded. If you rent, check your lease before drilling; some landlords are fine with it, others want floor-standing pieces only.
Glass doors are a good middle ground for this spot: things stay dust-free, but you can still see what you have before opening the door.
Arched Wall Cabinet
35.3" W x 7.8" D x 28" H, with two glass-panel doors and open center shelves. Holds up to 150 lb when mounted, 50 lb per shelf, and the wall-mount hardware is included.
$219.99
See detailsOver-the-Toilet Set
The Arched Wall Cabinet and the Slim Bath Tower together: storage above the toilet and beside it.
$249.99$269.98
Decide what should be open and what should be closed
Open shelves make a small room feel lighter, but every bottle on them is visual noise. Closed storage hides that noise but makes things a little slower to reach. The trick is to put each item where its job belongs.
- Open: rolled hand towels, the soap and lotion you use every day, one plant or candle.
- Behind doors: refills, cleaning sprays, spare toilet paper, hair tools and anything in bright packaging.
- In drawers: small loose things like hair ties, razors, nail clippers, makeup and first-aid basics. Give each drawer one category so you never have to dig.
If your bathroom has no vanity cabinet, or only a pedestal sink, a floor cabinet with drawers does the job a vanity would. If you already have drawers but nowhere for bulky things, a two-door cabinet with an adjustable shelf takes towels, paper and backstock.
Four-Drawer Bath Cabinet
21.7" W x 11.8" D x 31.9" H, with four drawers beside a tall cabinet that has an adjustable shelf. Moisture-resistant finish.
$119.99
See details
Double-Door Bath Cabinet
23.6" W x 11.8" D x 31.5" H, two shaker doors with magnetic catches, a shelf with three height positions and water-resistant coated MDF. Holds up to 88 lb.
$149.99
See details
Bathroom Set
The Four-Drawer Bath Cabinet and the Slim Bath Tower together, for drawers by the sink and a tower by the tub.
$159.99$169.98
Choose materials that can handle steam
Bathrooms get humid every time someone showers, and furniture that stays damp wears out sooner. When you shop, look for materials described as waterproof, water-resistant or moisture-resistant, such as wood-plastic composite or coated MDF, rather than bare wood or unsealed board.
A few habits help any piece last longer: run the exhaust fan during and after showers, wipe up splashes instead of letting them sit on edges, keep furniture out of the direct splash zone of the shower, and let towels dry fully before putting them behind a closed door.
Keep it tidy once it's set up
New storage fills up fast. A few simple rules keep it working:
- Store backstock somewhere else if you can. Twelve rolls of toilet paper can live in a hall closet; the bathroom only needs a few.
- Group things by routine (morning, shower, cleaning) so each task needs one door or drawer.
- Give each person in the house one drawer, bin or shelf.
- Check expiration dates on sunscreen, medicine and makeup twice a year and clear out what's old.
Three layouts that work in small bathrooms
Only a narrow gap to work with: a slim tower beside the toilet or tub, plus a hook on the back of the door for towels.
Room above the toilet and you can drill: a wall cabinet above and a slim tower beside it. This keeps the floor almost entirely clear.
No drilling, a little floor space: a drawer cabinet or two-door cabinet against the open wall, and a slim tower for the gap. Everything is freestanding and moves with you.