Finding More Bathroom Storage without Expanding Your Bathroom

Good Morning! Today we're going to be readying our home for our second house of foster girls. One girl is new to our program, so her regular houseparents will bring her over this afternoon after school so she can meet us and see where she'll be staying for six days. It's a little scary to go someplace new, especially when you've been in our program such a short time.

So we'll be making beds, folding towels, and putting little Valentine's buckets with treats in their rooms to welcome them. I've made my menu/grocery list for the week and my activity list from which they can choose some fun stuff to do.

During the rest of the day, I'll be working on a new project that I can't wait to tell you about!

In the meantime, let's talk about bathroom storage...


Finding More Bathroom Storage without Expanding Your Bathroom

Tired of a cluttery bathroom? Maybe it's time to take a fresh look at the ole bathroom and see what can be done to increase storage space.

In our previous home, we actually had 3 1/2 baths - lots of bathroom space but very little storage. In each of the two master baths, there were expansive mirrors across one wall of the bathroom, behind the sink and toilet. We removed those mirrors, and placed a smaller decorative mirror above the sink. That gave us room to put up a cabinet above the toilet to hold linens and other items.

Don't forget those small, available spaces! Even a tiny 1'x1' cabinet on a scrap of wall space can be valuable storage space. In our third bath, which was smaller than the other two, there was a small space between the door and the bathtub. So we found a one-foot wide, six-foot tall cabinet at IKEA to tuck into that spot. It held an amazing amount of stuff!

Easily wasted space is the cabinet under the sink. It is tall to allow for the sink plumbing, but usually inefficiently used. By placing a rubber-coated shelf (like you use in the kitchen to expand shelf space), you can multiply your usable space.

I also place little plastic baskets (from the dollar store) in my drawers to keep all those little items from rolling all over the place. And those plastic rolling carts with several drawers are great for small spaces. Widths vary - I've seen them from seven inches wide to two feet wide. They are available at Target and similar stores.

A basket on the floor by the corner of the bathtub or on the back of the toilet can hold extra linens or toiletries. And, of course, there are always shower caddies that hang from the shower and back-of-the-door storage. Cute on-the-counter storage (boxes or baskets or acrylic) keep those things you use daily neat if you don't have enough space to store them.

We use a four-towel rod from IKEA in our current bathroom, and an over-the-door multiple towel rack in the bathroom for the girls to save wall space.


So those are some of my ideas. What have you done to expand your bathroom storage?