apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

We have a similar problem in our bathroom. I found an old wrought iron plant stand, the sort that has shelves, and painted it. It is tucked right next to the door under the sink. I used baskets for storage and put towels on the bottom shelf. It worked out quite well.

I agree with AT, your options are limited and going with under the sink storage is probably your best solution. Another suggestion could be using the door as storage space , places like IKEA, Bed bath and beyond, and The Container store have good solutions, such as over the door towel racks which hold about 4 towels at a time. . . going along with the idea of moving the towels maybe you could hang a wire baskets above the sink or off of the towel bars. Also getting over the toilet storage. If all else fails or you need even more space buy a pack of screws or hooks, you can hang just about anything from them if its not too heavy.

I would try to replace the mirror with a mirrored medicine cabinet if it isn't one already (can't tell in the pic) so that you can put some of your everyday things in there. My husband and I share a teenie rental bathroom with a pedestal sink and very little storage as well. I keep many of the toiletries, medicines, & cleaning supplies just outside of the bathroom in an Ikea Billy bookcase with doors. It's right next our apartment entry, but nobody knows what is behind the cabinet doors.

I think we have twin bathrooms...

I used the space under my sink for some cleaning supplies and the trash can, and put up a "sink skirt" to keep it all hidden. I also put up some simple shelving to keep a few necessary objects within reach.

I was lucky enough to have a fairly wide hallway outside of the bathroom. I bought a petite vintage china hutch with glass shelving on top and cupboards and drawers below. I store less-than-lovely items in the cupboards, and use the shelving to display all of my pretty towels and toiletries. It's great storage, and it looks very sophisticated.

You could get a cute over the door shoe holder and use the pockets to fill with your toiletries.

I had one of those railroad shelves over my bathroom door in my condo. It looked great, held a ton of towels and other smaller items and took up only unused space.

I know they sell them at ikea as well as more expensive stores-

I have the same problem in my very tiny rental bathroom - nice large claw foot tub, but tiny sink and tiny toilet, and absolutely no room around them, and hardly any wall space. I got an over the door hanger for my towels, but the real problem was storage of hair and makeup supplies (needed drawers!). I couldn't find anything that would fit under the sink (it's a low, round bowl underneath, so there's just barely 24 inches of extra room under there) at Bed Bath and Beyond and other places. I ended up getting one of those three drawer plastic storage units that they sell at Target, and just taking off the plastic top of it, pulling off one of the drawers (with its supports), and then snapping the top back on, making it a two drawer unit, since they don't sell two drawer units in the size that would fit. It's not really pretty, but it works. I think when I get a chance I may stick some pretty paper on the front of the drawers just to jazz it up and make it so you can't see the things inside.

Get rid of that rack and cover it with shelving. I have floating shelves and it's great for storage and placing some fun things like a plant and/or a drawing on the top one to jazz it up.

For under the sink, try storing non-pertinent items in baskets that match your decor.

A friend of mine uses a large basket with a lid at the bottom then has decrease in size as she stacks them. The top one being little things like contact solution or makeup. She can just move the little basket up the sink and throw everything back in.

It seems to work.

You could also stack some attractive little boxes on your counter there. And make little labels for them or something.

Ikea sells ceramic containers that hook onto a rail--the Asker line. Those little containers seem like they'd be perfect for holding bathroom supplies in small containers--make up, cotton balls, etc.

Here's a link:

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/series/09945/

a pocket shower curtain could work for you, tho it will seen by guests.
a link to one on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002EVP5YY

A Roll-Up Toiletry Bag could be used hanging next to the sink from a hook and easily rolled up when guests stop by.

here's a picture of what I'm refering to:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-pWvJALyc6w/Sg9xidxluLI/AAAAAAAADYE/HmqGEp39P0Q/s1600-h/Makeup Bag.jpg

I use an over-the-door shoe bag for my toiletries- it works really well, but is not the most stylish solution.
Are your walls tiled all the way up? Could you screw some small shelves into the walls above the towel racks?

If you decide to go with shelves under the sink, these work pretty well: Two-Tier Expandable Under-the-Sink Shelf. I like how it's designed to fit around the sink pipe.

I got some nice wall shelves from the container store, which I hung above the toilet: "Hand rubbed steel" from the container store. They also have numerous plastic baskets which could stack underneath the sink--interdesign baskets or their pagoda baskets.

If you get some nice fabric and use velcro around the basin of the sink you can hide anything including a small shelve behind the fabric cover...instant vanity.

I feel your pain! I don't know what your door situation is, but something like this might help: http://www.containerstore.com/browse/Product.jhtml?CATID=77781&PRODID=10016911 Of course you'd probably have to be mindful of keeping it looking neat and organized... Probably wouldn't work too well for me :)

Would this cabinet work underneath your sink? We had the exact same problem, and I bought one of these. It's great because it has an upper shelf so you end up with 2 shelves of storage. (We put our lotions and toiletries in small organizers on the shelves.) Also, it has a clean look and hides the clutter.
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/30137718

I have one similar to this:

http://www.collectionsetc.com/Item39018.aspx

The advantage is nice deep bins, altho not much help for the little things, I guess.

With a tiny bathroom, and a mirror, no medicine cabinet, I have the same problem. I realized that many things I think I "need" to do in the bathroom can actually be done elsewhere. With that in mind, I moved all the non-essentials out of the bathroom, (hair, makeup and moisturizing are now accomplished in the bed room) and strictly reduced my supply overload. All bathroom-only toiletries are kept in a small cabinet over the toilet. I am surprised how well it works.

My proposition is to advance the sink and place it in line with the wc to have space near the wall. My english is not very good and to explain is not simple for me. But you can to look for the Elements series in Roca webpage (Roca is an spanish brand? of baths). If you create a "false wall" (At Elements is called Muro técnico) you have the space behind the mirror and above the sink and the wc to place shelves. You can also use, of course, the space under the sink.

http://www.roca.es/contents/microsites/element/element.htm

Some cheap solutions - all under $60.

If you can remove towel rack, here are two options:

http://www.target.com/Home-2-Tier-Shelf-Towel-Bars/dp/B000TFKMJK/sr=1-20/qid=1252497453/ref=sr_1_20/187-6077353-0971122?ie=UTF8&search-alias=tgt-index&frombrowse=0&pricerange=&rh=k%3Abathroom%20storage&page=5

http://www.target.com/Midnight-Wall-Cabinet-Black/dp/B001TLJXR0/sr=1-20/qid=1252497992/ref=sr_1_20/187-6077353-0971122?ie=UTF8&search-alias=tgt-index&frombrowse=0&pricerange=&rank=price&rh=k%3Abathroom%20storage%2Cp_36%3A%2450-%2499&page=2


I would think at least one of these might fit under the sink: http://www.target.com/Espresso-Shelves-Rattan-Basket-Collection/dp/B000K7FGX4/sr=1-1/qid=1252497654/ref=sr_1_1/187-6077353-0971122?ie=UTF8&search-alias=tgt-index&frombrowse=0&pricerange=&rh=k%3Abathroom%20storage%2Cp_36%3A%2425-%2449&page=1

I meant to say under $70....^

would this work under the sink or is it too wide?
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90093759

Our bathroom is 6' x 5 1/2' and a constant source of frustration for me. Hair/make-up needs to be done in the bathroom if I want privacy, so I needed a way to fit products in accessible places.

My solution: The sink is too shallow to fit a medicine cabinet over so I put as large a mirror as I could and placed a simple white medicine cabinet above the toilet. (and I learned to keep the toilet lid down - always)

Then I built five floating cubes in different sizes (6"Lx6H"x6D, 8"Lx4H"x6"D" etc) and filled them with my "essentials". Building the various sized floating cubes allowed me to place them wherever they fit, since there was not enough room for any kind of shelving unit.

It's not perfect but it's functional and keeps the important things close at hand.

Good Luck:)

I can't quite tell whether you have space on the walls facing or parallel to the toilet for this, but it was my solution for a teeny tiny bathroom:

I got a white Benno CD rack from IKEA, along with two of the smallest Billy bookcase doors. it's perfect for me because it's barely 7" deep and just the right width for the little bit of empty wall in my bathroom. to make it a little more interesting, I contact papered the back wall of the rack, lined the glass doors with fabric, and swapped out the knobs. (it still doesn't fit cleaning supplies, but I'm alright with keeping those under the kitchen sink.)

you are fortunate to have ceramic tile all over the walls.
I suggest buying a bunch of power-lock baskets: http://www.containerstore.com/browse/Product.jhtml?searchId=22755572&itemIndex=4&CATID=71787&PRODID=10012595

I like the suggestions of using the door (with a see-through shoe organizer) and the using the towel rail above the sink with hanging Ikea Asker containers.

I also think that the space between the toilet and wall could fit a not-too-deep shelving unit, facing the door.

My solution: I found an old computer printer stand that had a covered back, open front and wheels. I store stuff inside on the shelf like TP and cleaning supplies and then roll it in under the sink (it fits perfectly under the pipe) & then I keep stuff on top of it too. Because it's on wheels it is easy to get inside it and because it has a back (that I use as the front) it hides it all very nicely. You could even paint it or cover it with contact paper.

When did you break into my bathroom and take pictures? ;)

Here's what I did: I pretended that it was a pedestal sink. I bought one of those around-the-pedestal organizers and tucked it underneath, then fashioned a pretty, streamlined sink-skirt to go around that. TONS of room!

That appears to be a medicine cabinet--or is it just a mirror?

i would use a vintage train case or two under the sink for super cute storage. there are a ton of them on etsy and they come in all different colors. assuming the tile stops about 60" up the wall, i would mount a few shelves above that point, above the toilet (and keep my things in baskets/boxes/something on the shelves, not just sitting directly on the shelves looking messy).

What I would do:

Make a skirt for your sink: A piece of fabric gathered and hemmed attached with adhesive velcro. You can hide cheap storage, cleaning supplies or any other thing you'd like under there.

Hang storage from your unused towel bars. As someone else seems to have suggested, shoe organizers or cubby shower curtains might work well for this. If you are super crafty, you could make your own cubbies to match/coordinate with your skirt. Something like this: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=65121.0

I have almost the same problem...I bought an unfinished crate with drawers at Michael's and just painted it. It's not the most beautiful solution, but after a couple of year I still haven't found anything to replace it. It does the job. Toilet paper rolls fit in the drawers and I even have a little space on top of it where I can put lotion and mouthwash.

i had a similar space in my last rental but i had a linen closet right outside the door. my husband and i each kept our personal daily use items in small bins. i'd just pull the bin out to get ready in the morning and chuck it back in the closet when i was done. i liked that it kept the bathroom looking spare