17 Bathroom Storage Ideas to Keep Your Space Organized

Say goodbye to overflowing drawers and out-of-control medicine cabinets.

There’s never been a time in my life when I haven’t shared a bathroom. I went straight from sharing with my sister to sharing with college dorm-mates, to post-college roommates, to my now-husband and then our kids (yes, for the last eight years, our family of four has shared one bathroom!). At each stage, storage has been a challenge, whether it’s about accommodating hair tools or bath toys.

But getting that stuff under control can be both a visual and a mental benefit, says Kelley Jonkoff, a professional organizer and founder of organizing company Unfolde in Raleigh, North Carolina. “The bathroom is the place where we prepare ourselves for each day, and pull ourselves out of each day,” she says. “It’s a physical place for taking stock—so it can be a negative place if it gets too cluttered or messy.”

To figure out your storage needs, start by taking an inventory of what you have. “The first step is to edit and minimize,” Jonkoff says. Try to limit items in the bathroom to only those you use on a daily basis—extra towels or backup bars of soap can live in a nearby closet, if needed (and if you have the option). Then, discard items that you truly don’t use. “People tend to hold on to makeup, skin care or hair products that they’ve tried, even if they don’t work for them," Jonkoff says. "There tends to be a lot of trial and error, and people can feel like, 'I spent a lot of money on this, I should hold on to it.' But keeping all that stuff creates clutter, and that can cause stress. Treat your bathroom like a spa: a place of serenity where you’re taking care of yourself.”

If you’re super-tight on space in the bathroom, it's also worth considering if there are other logical spaces in your home for everyday use items. “Lots of people like to keep vitamins and supplements in the bathroom, for example, but it might make just as much sense to keep them in the kitchen, near where you make your coffee,” Jonkoff says.

Once you know what you really want to store, there are a few tools you can use to get all of your skincare, makeup, hair products, towels and other bath supplies organized and easy to find. Whether you’re sharing your space or don’t have a lot to work with, these clever bathroom storage ideas will help you streamline your bathroom routine and get your items under control.

Related:How to Organize Your Bathroom Vanity in Three Simple Steps

Adjust the Shelves in Your Medicine Cabinet

If you have a medicine cabinet, Jonkoff recommends adjusting the shelves for your specific needs. “This will make it easier to use the space more efficiently,” she says. For example, move shelves higher to accommodate lotions or hair products, leave them shorter for jars or creams or medicines. “Since this is the easiest space to access, try to fit most of your daily-use items here,” says Jonkoff.

Use Bins Inside Your Medicine Cabinets

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After you’ve adjusted the shelves, take the organization further: Use narrow bins for things like makeup brushes, tooth brushes, tweezers or little ointments that can be corralled. Jonkoff likes using small, clear bins so it’s easy to find what you’re looking for.

Add a Single Shelf to the Wall Near Your Sink

“Shelves are great, especially for things you’re using on the regular,” Jonkoff says. A lot of her clients make use of the wall perpendicular to the sink for daily skincare, toothbrushes and toothpaste, medicines, or other frequently used items. “This setup is especially helpful if you have any executive function or neurodivergence challenges, because the things you need are front and center,” she says.

A simple picture ledge or spice rack might be all that you need. Just one caveat: just because you use something frequently, doesn’t mean you want to look at it all the time (see: toenail trimmers, Tums). In these instances, she says: “Display the beautiful skincare instead."

Related:7 ADHD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Fridge

Keep Your Most-Used Items in Arm’s Reach

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If you don’t have a medicine cabinet (or if it’s already filling up), consider installing narrow shelving on an unobstructed wall to keep your most used items handy. Shelves with a lip or rail can be especially useful to make sure that items that could get a little wet don’t slide off. Another option is a shallow cabinet with doors, just deep enough for makeup and skincare essentials.

Add Freestanding Storage Over the Toilet

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If you can’t drill into your walls, consider a freestanding shelving unit that tucks up and behind the toilet. A unit with clean lines and a slim frame offers a modern take.

Use Shelf Risers Inside Vanity Cabinets

“A lot of people don’t use all the vertical space in their under-sink cabinets,” says Jonkoff. Here, she recommends shelf risers to make better use of the full height of the interior space. Jonkoff likes to use this area for items that are used less frequently, because bending and reaching can be less comfortable if you do it multiple times a day. “That’s where I put things like a waxing kit or nail polish,” she says.

Use Bins Inside Vanities

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Above or underneath the shelf risers, use bins to gather smaller items, so it’s easy to pull them out and find what’s inside. “I like to lay hair products on their sides and store them in bins, since they are so tall they tend to tip over,” she says. She prefers stackable clear bins with pull-out drawers to offer maximum access to the products inside.

Compartmentalize Vanity Drawers

“People tend to cram things into drawers, which makes them hard to find,” Jonkoff says. So here, use small bins or dividers to make more efficient use of the space and fit more inside. “You want to, as best as possible, fill the space,” she says, noting that she uses graph paper to map out the interiors of the drawers and figure out how to configure them. Jonkoff especially likes shallow drawer organizers with rubber feet that keep them from slipping around. You can also reuse small boxes you already have as organizers (“Apple product boxes are the best,” she says).

Store Makeup in Clear Bins

For deeper drawers, use taller clear bins to keep small products, like makeup and serums, vertical and grouped together. “These Home Edit bins are my favorite for in-drawer makeup storage, especially when used in conjunction with the matching bin dividers,” says Jonkoff. The small size makes them easy to pull out while you’re doing your makeup, then put away.

Use a Shelf Liner

While bins are great, it’s rare that you’ll find a configuration of bins that fit your drawer interior just perfectly. So, in addition to bins, Jonkoff lines the bottoms of drawers with a shelf liner that has a little tack to it, to keep things from rolling around. “Something that’s plastic works especially well, so it’s not damaged by water,” she says.

Use Over-the-Door Baskets for Hair Tools

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Inside big open vanities, Jonkoff likes to use over-the-door baskets for unwieldy items, like hair dryers, that don’t stack easily or fit into a drawer. “These are so easy and keep all the cords from becoming a mess,” she says.

Add Skinny Rolling Shelves

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If you don’t have much interior storage space, consider a narrow rolling shelving unit that can slide in between a vanity and toilet or underneath a pedestal sink. This will eke out just a little bit more storage for items like lotion, makeup, or hair products. For smaller items, like cotton balls or makeup remover pads, use tall, clear containers to store them without a mess.

Use Vertical Shower Caddies

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The tub or shower area can get cluttered quickly, so Jonkoff warns to be thoughtful about what you keep there. “This is really a place to pay attention to only housing products that actually work, not the products you want to work,” she says. “From a visual, clutter and cleaning perspective, it’s very practical to keep it limited—keep the backups and once-in-a-while products, like hair treatments, out of the shower.” For daily-use items, Jonkoff likes to keep them organized in over-the-shower caddies or corner tension pole caddies, depending on the configuration of the tub or shower stall.

Hook it Up

While less continues to be more, Jonkoff likes a suction hook or Command bath hook inside the shower stall for “strategic things” like a loofah or pumice stone that should hang dry between uses.

Buy Smaller Items

While it may seem like a bargain to get the jumbo-sized shampoo and body wash at the warehouse store, it might not be the best choice to fit inside your shower stall. “Those big containers are a surprise trap!” says Jonkoff. Instead, be realistic about how quickly you go through products, and how much money you’re really saving, compared to the frustration of feeling like your bathing area is chock-full of stuff.

Use the Back of Your Doors

On wooden doors, installing simple two-prong metal hooks in the same finish as your other bath hardware creates plenty of space for hanging towels and robes. If little ones are using the space, hang them low enough that the kids can reach them. (And if you’re sharing? Utilize both high-hanging hooks ones for the grown-ups and low-hanging hooks for the kids.) For hollow-core doors, a heavy-duty adhesive hook works well.

Outsource Backup Items

If you have a closet or storage space nearby, consider using it as a linen closet to store more towels or those extra bulk items. Even placing a narrow cabinet just outside the bathroom door can give you more breathing room when you're inside the bathroom.

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