Smart Storage Ideas for Small Bathrooms with No Cabinets

If you have a small bathroom with limited cabinet space, these smart storage solutions are perfect for you. Discover more space in your tiny bathroom than you knew you had.

Tiny bathrooms create big problems. When all you have is a sink, mirror, toilet, and shower/tub, where do you put your stuff? How do you get ready for the day? And since we’re on a budget, I’m not going to suggest buying new cabinets. That’s thousands of dollars! Instead, we’re going to work with what we have to create organizational systems that solve our problems.

In this guide, I’ll take you from the very beginning – identifying your problem areas and giving you solutions that work. I’ll share links to products that give you more storage and even share maintenance tips so you can stay on top of your newly organized space (and keep it that way for good).

After following these tips and strategies, you’ll turn your cramped bathroom into a useful space. You’ll feel calmer in your bathroom, and it will also be so much easier to keep clean, too! Plus, when you finally organize everything, you’ll be able to find it when you need it. This will save you time and money.

Ready to unlock the hidden potential of your tiny bathroom? Let’s explore some ingenious storage ideas!

Assessing Your Space & Needs

The very first step is to look at your bathroom and all of your toiletries and identify where the real problems are. During this step, you’re going to declutter and identify your storage needs.

Declutter Ruthlessly

Take out everything you use in the bathroom. Lay out all your toiletries, beauty products, self-care items, and cleaners. Lay them out on your floor and take note of them. Your goal is to find a way to store all of that in your bathroom (if you can).

The best way to get everything to fit is to own less stuff. Since space is a limited commodity, every item needs to earn its place. So, start decluttering with gusto!

First, throw out all of your expired products. Get rid of your nearly empty bottles and anything you’re keeping “just in case.” Keep only the essentials, the things you use daily that you can’t live without.

After you declutter, you’ll get a clear picture of what you need to store, and it will be easier to keep it all.

Identify Hot Spots & Needs

Now that you know what you’re keeping, let’s find places to put them. What are your daily essentials? This includes things like a toothbrush and toothpaste, a hairbrush, and deodorant. Put all of the things that you need to keep accessible in a place that is easy to reach (and easy to put back).

Then, make a pile of things that you can store in other places. These are things that you still need, but not every day. It might include extra toilet paper, cleaning supplies, and beauty tools that you only use once a week

Finally, make a note about where your current bottlenecks are. Where does your clutter accumulate the most? These are the places that you need to focus on first. And that’s what we will try to solve.

Leveraging Vertical Space

When you don’t have cabinets or very much storage space, you’ve got to use what you have. And what you have is a lot of vertical space. There are three areas in almost all tiny bathrooms that you can utilize.

Over The Toilet Storage Solutions

Look above your toilet. Do you have an empty wall? Use it! If you can, install freestanding shelving units. This is where you can keep makeup and medicine.

Or, install wall-mounted shelves. The right shelves can hold fabric bins where you can put toiletries, folded towels, and washcloths, and store them on the shelves. In fact, there are some beautiful baskets out there! Use the baskets to decorate and hold your stuff – both!

Meilocar Over The Toilet Storage Cabinet Domax Bathroom Shelves Over Toilet Storage

Wall-Mounted Organizers Beyond The Mirror

If you own your home or you rent and have permission from your landlord, install some storage products on your walls. These are my favorite things because you can use them in a bunch of different ways.

Magnetic strips: For tweezers, nail clippers, small metal items.
Adhesive shower caddies: For inside the shower, or outside for tall bottles.
Wall-mounted toothbrush holders/dispensers: Frees up counter space.
Wall pockets/filing systems: For hair tools, magazines, or small towels.

Utilizing Door Space

The back of the door is the best storage area for renters. You don’t have to install anything and it won’t damage your door. You can find a bunch of different over-the-door organizers. Get some with hooks so you can hang up your towel and robe.

The over-the-door organizers should also have enough pockets to hold your things. What can you store in it? It can hold cleaning supplies, extra toiletries, hair products, and washcloths.

Smart Solutions For Floor & Hidden Spaces

Now let’s look at the other under-utilized space in your tiny bathroom – the floor and any hidden spaces you might be overlooking. These simple hacks will help you keep your stuff where you use it most, without creating another mess.

Slim Freestanding Floor Organizers

Typical rolling carts won’t fit in a teeny bathroom. Instead, you need to look for narrow rolling carts. You can tuck them beside the sink or toilet. Store the extra toilet paper, cleaning supplies, or hygiene products on them.

Use slim linen towers for your towels and washcloths. They provide vertical storage and take up almost no floor space.

And don’t forget about the corners. That’s prime real estate for bathroom storage. Get some small corner shelves and keep things like toilet paper and air freshener on them.

Get Creative With Pedestal Sinks

If you stare longingly at bathroom vanities, wishing you had half their storage capacity, then I have some clever ideas for you. They’ll use all that wasted space under and around your pedestal sink, without having to install a bigger cabinet.

First, get some sink skirts or wraps. This will give you the illusion of having cabinets with doors. And it functions the same as cabinet doors. It adds beauty to the bathroom while hiding your bins or small shelves. And what do you put under the sink and behind the curtain? You could stack some plastic tubs or bins. Or use a sink rack that wraps completely around the pipes.

Shower Storage

So many times we forget that the shower has space we can keep things too. While the ultimate dream is to totally redo the bathroom and put in some built-in shower shelves, we’ve got to be realistic.

So instead, get some adhesive shower shelves. Adhesive sticks better than suction, but if you’re renting, you might want to use suction to prevent damaging the shower.

You can also use corner tension rod caddies. They maximize unused corners in your shower to hold razors, shaving cream, and your skin care routine.

Finally, replace your big bulky shampoo and conditioner bottles with shower dispensers. They attach to the shower walls, and you can refill them whenever they get low.

Maintenance Tips

See? You have so much more space than you ever thought before! All you have to do is declutter and use the right shelves and organizers. After you invest all that time (and money) into creating a tidy bathroom, keep it this way for good. Here are three rules that will help you do just that.

Daily Tidy-Up

Spend just ten minutes every day tidying your bathroom. Set your timer! That’s all it takes to wipe down your sink, put things away, and pick up your trash. If you do this every day, it won’t get too hard to manage.

Put Things Away Immediately

Ok, I’ll admit…this is kinda elementary. But if this reminds you of something your mom told you when you were a kid, it’s because it’s really good advice! As soon as you brush your hair, put the hairbrush away. This goes for everything else you use, too.

I understand that hot rollers and a curling iron need to cool off first, so you might want to set up a “cooling area” for them.

Declutter Regularly

Put this on a calendar. Once a month (or every other month), go through and throw away anything that’s broken, expired, or you didn’t use. Keeping on top of your decluttering is the best way to prevent stuff from piling up. And when you have less stuff, it’s easier to maintain and clean when it’s time.

One In One Out Rule

This is probably my favorite tip of all! After everything is organized and has a home, make this rule. Whenever you bring anything new into the bathroom to stay, take something out. This means if you buy another curling iron, take a hair styling tool out.

Obviously, use common sense. If you have room for another lipstick or lip gloss, you can add it to your makeup bag or caddy. But if you buy a new towel, get rid of the old one. You get the idea.

Final Thoughts

There you have it! With just a little strategic thinking (and a few smart products), you can overcome the challenge of a no-cabinet tiny bathroom. Your bathroom doesn’t have to be cluttered just because it’s small. It can be efficient, clean, and surprisingly spacious. I hope these tips gave you some ideas and inspiration that you can use to transform your space!

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