• Rolling towels keeps them neat and accessible. While simply stacking the rolls on a shelf does the trick, I love the idea of putting them in an urn —yet another attractive purpose for the classic piece— or lining them in a window box attached to the bathroom wall.
• Re-purpose a wine rack. Sadly, we rarely have enough wine on hand to fill our rack, so it would certainly be put to better use as a towel holder.
• In his book, The New Traditional, Darryl Carter suggests only using white towels for a clean uniform look that doesn't take up a lot of visual space. I love the contrast of the soft white towels against the masculine dark cabinet.
• The 2000s have ensured that everyone be aware of the many lives of an old ladder. Whether for storing extras towel or in place of a towel rack, rustic ladders and plush towels make a wonderful pair.
• Like the urn, old wine crates make beautiful storage displays for just about anything, towels and toilet paper included.
(Images: 1: via Gomestic, 2: via the Lettered Cottage , 3, 4: Better Homes & Gardens, 5: The New Traditionall by Darryl Carter, 6, 7: Real Simple)
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
Out of sight does not have to equal= messy. I just organized my closed linen closet and just knowing how it looks in there makes me feel good. On the other hand if its not for books I hate open shelving. No matter how streamlined and organized, it just looks cluttered and messy to me. Seeing stacks of toilet paper and towels just makes me think of all the dust and crap settling on them
( and no I am FAR from OCD clean)
view mskk's profile
oooh me, too. not a fan of open shelving.
my towels are always neatly folded and
t.p./sundries are stacked nicely. maybe i do
have an ocd streak trying to break loose, but
when other family members put towels away
i always go back and redo them. and i have
a linen closet door to shut them behind also.
i'm not like jack nicholson in About Schmidt,
but...close ;) xo
view xoxotoe's profile
I'm also a no-open shelving girl. BUT, our upstairs bath has VERY limited space. Towels are in the linen closet next door, but there is an awkward 'nook' behind the bathroom door where the old owners installed a closet-style shelving unit. Great use of space- I don't think you could use it better, but there are 3 drawers and 3 adjustable shelves (I spend many nights perplexing over what to put on those shelves or what I COULD put there).
To tidy up, I bought some simple, fabric/cardboard drawer inserts from Ikea to make 'makeshift' drawers. Really helped me feel better about the space & keep it clean and streamlined!
view CozyLittleCave's profile
PLEASE tell me where I can find those steel bins on the shelves of the main pic! I've been searching in vain for those very things.
view RevelrybyNight's profile
Only white? How original!
I do like the pics, though, and unlike my fellow commenters, I ADORE open shelving. It helps me stay neater and more organized, not because of the visibility, but because of the accessibility.
view heatherdazy's profile
We've always had open storage for towels- well for as long as I can remember anyway. We have an old clothes horse that is losing bits of its white coating, so its a blend of oxidised metal and white coating. I love its look. It sits in a small gap between our bath and our shower which would otherwise be a waste of space and is a perfect place to stack or hang towels. Towels must be folded neatly though. All of our towels are different colours too. I can't stand white towels- they remnd me of hotels and motels and seem so clinical. We have a multitude of colours which helps to know whose towel is whose.
view bkk's profile
The image of the colored towels in the black wine holder reminds me of a leaded glass window.
But I prefer to keep my not-in-use towels in the linen closet. (Isn't that why we have linen closets?)
view mirandabee's profile
RevelrybyNight, the bins are from Ikea.
view absea's profile
When I see rolled towels, I always think of a friend in school: Whenever he was daydreaming about moving out of his parent's and into his own apartment, one very important part of his "grown-up dream apartment" were always white fluffy towel rolls in the bathroom! We lost contact and I wonder if he has them now. I should investigate!
view doro's profile
Um, parents'.
view doro's profile
Turning extra towels into a decorative statement (like with that hideous urn) makes it seem like you're trying too hard.
view slowdown's profile
RevelrybyNight -
Believe it or not - IKEA!
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70105975
SKRIN box with lid
view JG's profile
In fact most of that first room is IKEA...
view JG's profile
We just bought a house and for some reason, it was built WITHOUT a linen closet. Our bathroom however has a very strange empty alcove next to the tub. We ended up using the IKEA Expedit bookcase like this one as a way to store our towels in our bathroom. As long as we keep them folded everything looks neat
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10103088
For our actual linens, we converted the walk in closet of our guest room with 2 large bookshelves and use these to organize our sheets and blankets
view wwoolsey's profile