Bathroom Storage Improvements

You may never have to leave the bathroom again wrapped in a towel, dripping wet, looking for some item you need. It is possible to have everything you need to complete your toilette at your fingertips. You can gain more storage in your existing bathroom without knocking down walls. Here are some tips.

New and Funky Bathroom Storage Improvements

Imagine a plastic medicine cabinet that comes in colors. It is available through Leif Petersen Inc. in San Francisco (415.925.2701). Pair this with polypropylene stacking cubes on metal legs known as Jelly Cube by Duravit. It comes in snow white or ice blue. If these colors don’t do it for you, The Container Store has other options. This pair would make a very hip kids’ bathroom.

The High Tech Style

A narrow wall shelf with a metal panel that folds up or down but conceals what is behind it is a stream lined way to keep bathroom items organized. This system is designed by Marcel Wanders and is available through Boffi in New York City. This storage shelf is sold by the linear foot so you can specify the length that meets your needs.

If mobile shelving works better in your space, there are a number of possibilities. Restoration Hardware offers the Spritz Stainless Steel Bath Cart on wheels. It can be moved out for when you need it but tucked away when you don’t. If you are familiar with the catalog Chambers by Williams and Sonoma, you probably don’t associate their products with high tech style but their Chrome Taboret with two drawers and a cabinet below also set on casters certainly leans in the high tech direction.

An updated medicine cabinet is offered by Sno Cabinet for Asplund, available through Totem in New York City (212.925.5506). This design takes a cabinet face and creates a wide frame of heavily frosted glass around a mirror. This cabinet is so handsome it can be used as a decorative piece in addition to a standard medicine cabinet over a sink.

Another company that makes innovative and nicely designed medicine cabinets is Robern (800.877.2376). Many of the styles are sleek and modern, but can be seen as retro with a twist. The features such as lights are great and the products are well made.

Timeless and Traditional

Have you noticed that wherever you see an old, wood medicine cabinet it is often accompanied by the smell of damp wood that is reminiscent of a damp summer cabin. There is good reason for this. The things that are stored in a bathroom medicine cabinet are often wet after they are used. Then, they are put away on a wooden shelf and closed in tight by a door. Improvements on the old standard have been made. Robern makes a cabinet that looks like the classic wood medicine cabinet in a paint finish but it isn’t actually wood. It’s made of aluminum.

If you are committed to the real McCoy, check out Wood Essentials medicine cabinets at woodessentials.com. The styles are simple and classic and come in four hardwoods. If the painted look is what you are after and your budget is under $1,000 , look at Restoration Hardware or Pottery Barn. The styles are basic, functional and affordable.

If you need a quick additional storage fix, buy a basket for display and fill the basket with rolled bath towels, the items that take up the most storage space.

To fit as many of the bathroom necessities as possible in the drawers you already have, buy an organizing tray. You can get them in wicker, wood or, perhaps most practical, plastic. A simple system like this will help you to keep three toothbrushes and a tube of toothpaste from overtaking an entire drawer.