Space Savers for Small Bathrooms

Living in tiny spaces has become a way of life for me.  As a designer I can't help but want my spaces to be beautiful and not cluttered.  My mom always said the first step to cleaning is eliminating the clutter.  I was watching Studio 5 the other morning and it gave me some inspiration to look for ways to keep little spaces cute, organized, and useful. 

For most people the bathroom is one of the smallest rooms in their homes.  It is also a room where you need a lot of little tools.  One of the easiest ways to add space is custom shelving.

From theinspiredroom.net

There are a few options when thinking about shelves. You could go with the photo above adding free floating shelves are awesome.  They look clean and sharp.  If you do incorporate shelves make sure you add cute baskets and different textures.  Baskets are great tools for keeping all of your bathroom necessities together.  I would make a shaving basket, basket for soaps, ect. Try not to clutter the inside of your baskets!!! 

One problem you might run into with shelving like this though is they might only be able to have the shelves stick out a few inches.  This makes storing towels difficult.  If they make the shelves in this picture too big you might have the back of your head hitting the shelves when you are using the toilet. Before you throw shelves just any where in your space map it out. make sure when you sit you won't bump your head.  Also, make sure you leave a cleared area for your door swing. Nothing like throwing your door open and having it smack into your shelves.


Here are a few other shelving ideas:

 shadow box shelves:

target.com

Standing Shelves:

Standing Shelves are wonderful.  I utilize a standing shelving unit over my toilet.  These can be extremely useful for storing extra towels, soaps, and what I like to call the "pretty things".  The storage space tends to be wider as well as more sturdy.  Now I hate to bring it up but there are certain things that you need in the bathroom that you just don't want everyone to see.  If you live in a house with no linen closet or bathroom vanity. (My bathroom only has a pedestal sink).  It can pose a problem to camouflage some things; which leads me to the option below. 

 Add a free standing cabinet into your bathroom. I put one just like this one in behind my door in my bathroom.

Found at target.com

I loved that all of my bathroom necessities are hidden behind simple white doors.  I decided I wanted a little bit of color with the simple white so I went into the kitchen area and found shelf liners. Here is a link to show you what I'm referring to.  They have so many different styles and textures it was fun to pick out what I wanted. I choose a bamboo looking shelf cover and covered the interior shelves with the protectors and I cut a piece to fit the top of the cabinet. In my bathroom I also have custom shelves above the little cabinet.  I still need to paint those shelves once I finish those I'll post a pic of my own personal bathroom. 

Here are a few items I love for bathrooms:

From Potterybarn.com

From Potterybarn.com

I thought it would be fun to have different colored ruffles at the bottom if I ever decide to make my own ruffly shower curtain.















I know of a cute tutorial on how to stain glass jars like with food coloring here is the link to it :)

target.com

  


Mirrors are wonderful to add the illusion of more space.  They also help reflect light :) In a tiny dark bathroom throwing a mirror in the mix will make a dramatic difference.