Kelli's Top Three Bathroom Storage Solutions
Bathrooms can be one of the most challenging spaces to keep clean and sorted. This single space houses such an odd array of essentials— tampons, bath toys, shower towels, medicine— so much clutter!
Even in my house bathroom storage is a struggle. Potty training a preschooler puts a wrench in the, “your bathroom is an oasis” design trend.
So let’s be real: not every bathroom can function as a spa-like oasis. But there are things you can do to elevate the time you spend in these rooms. The key? Positive storage solutions. Here are my top three bathroom storage solutions to help you make a real change in your space.
1. INTRODUCE A HIDDEN MEDICINE CABINET
Clients either dearly love or deeply despise medicine cabinets. In my opinion, they are non-negotiable for clients needing to maximize storage in a minimalistic way. Don’t worry— I’m not suggesting bringing back the bulky medicine cabinets of our childhood.
Before you toss out these traditional storage solutions as an option altogether, rethink the form so you can still benefit from the function.
In this bathroom, the white oak soffit houses two hidden medicine cabinets.
The wood veneer is matched with the door and the frame so they are flush and open with a push release latch meaning there is no visible hardware, keeping it minimal and clutter-free. This cabinetry does not need to be bulky or over-designed.
In this shared bathroom space, I designed a white-on-white cabinet that blends in with the corner.
The finish is consistent with the design of the vanity. It is also painted the same color as the wall— as with the rest of the cabinetry— allowing it to give function to the space without taking away from the design aesthetic. I chose to have this cabinet custom built so I could alter the overall dimensions and make it taller than traditional medicine cabinets.
These often underestimated cabinets offer additional organization and storage that brings calm and joy. Tiny toiletries can be hidden away leaving the countertop clean and uncluttered. Knowing where to find what you need with ease adds a sense of calm to your daily bathroom routine. The shallow nature of a medicine cabinet makes it the perfect space to house smaller essentials used daily.
2. RETHINK YOUR LINEN CLOSET
I love this built-in linen closet!
The existing closet had a lot of space but was hard to organize. Also, the doors were very large and obtrusive. They were hard to move around when open. While I understand many designs from the 70s are making a come-back, this closet was a retro design that needed to go.
This built-in cabinet was designed to fit in the space of the existing closet. This has a furniture-esque quality about it. Like an armoire, there are two doors at the top with adjustable shelves and six drawers below. The unit is framed by a white oak recessed trim. This detail sets it back into the wall creating a large shadow gap-like detail. I repeated this design detail in several places throughout the home.
The hardware I used is minimal tab pulls from Top Knobs in polished nickel. These are one of the most minimal cabinet hardware possible. They have a heavy feel which is important as they will get lots of touching and it needs to be durable. Polished nickel does show fingerprints but it’s beautiful so I love it.
Bonus Tip: USE ADJUSTABLE SHELVES TO GET THE MOST OUT OF LINEN AND TOWEL STORAGE
3. PUT YOUR DRAWERS TO WORK
The first thing I thought about when it came to maximizing organization in this linen closet was to add drawers. Drawers are a huge help to subdivide items. Incorporating drawers in your design is like adding built-in bins and baskets, like those usually used to organize a closet. The drawers also allowed me to cut down on the problem of the large doors. When you go to grab a washcloth, instead of opening an entire closet, all that needs to be opened is just one drawer.
The vanity cabinet maximizes storage by using four drawers and one door cabinet.
The door cabinet dimension is just wide enough to hold the sink above. I wanted to get as much drawer storage as possible so the center door cabinet is only as big as it had to be to house the sink, leaving the rest of the space to full-sized drawers.
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