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Apartment Therapy published a roundup of 16 bathroom storage ideas drawn from real homeowner and renter House Tours. The ideas focus on small-footprint and rental-friendly solutions such as ceiling-hung baskets, lazy Susans under vanities, and IKEA BEKVÄM spice racks. Pricing and availability details are time-sensitive, and no independent testing is claimed.
Apartment Therapy has published a new roundup of 16 bathroom storage ideas borrowed from real homes featured in its House Tours, offering renters and owners small-space solutions that range from ceiling-hung baskets to lazy Susans tucked under vanities. The article, written by home editor Megan Baker Detloff, who previously edited at HGTV Magazine and This Old House Magazine, frames the list as inspiration for bathrooms crowded with toiletries, towels, and grooming appliances — particularly in homes with tiny footprints or awkward layouts.
The published ideas fall into a few broad categories. Wall- and ceiling-mounted solutions make up the largest group: hanging a towel rod outfitted with curtain clips for toiletries and cleaning supplies; suspending baskets from the ceiling near a sink or shower (the article advises screwing hooks into a stud or using a drywall anchor); mounting a kitchen rail with hanging baskets above the faucet, a trick credited to a camper conversion; and installing a pegboard that can be fitted with shelves, hooks, or drawers. One suggestion, mounting clear glass shelves across a window as seen in a Montreal home, is presented as a way to gain storage when wall space runs out without blocking light the way wooden shelves would.
A second group targets furniture and retrofit tricks. The roundup highlights IKEA’s bestselling BEKVÄM spice rack, which IKEA-hacking readers use as a shallow wall shelf sized for toiletries; freestanding cabinets repurposed as linen closets for bathrooms without closets; rolling carts chosen for water resistance and cleanability, ideally with a lid for extra surface area; and train racks that combine a hanging rail for the towel in use with shelves above for fresh ones.
The remaining ideas address accessibility and dead space: placing lazy Susans under a vanity so the hard-to-reach cabinet doesn’t become, in the author’s words, a “complete black hole”; choosing a mirror with built-in storage as a renter alternative to a medicine cabinet; stocking chic baskets beneath pedestal or floating sinks; substituting a row of hooks for a single-towel bar; and building recessed niches between wall studs — an option the article limits to owners or, as it puts it, tenants with “very accommodating landlords.”
Why Renters and Small-Bathroom Owners Care
Bathrooms are among the most storage-starved rooms in a home, and the ideas in the roundup are weighted toward constraints that professional renovations don’t solve: rental restrictions on permanent fixtures, pedestal sinks with no cabinetry, and layouts where every wall is already spoken for. Several of the suggestions — hooks instead of towel bars, ceiling baskets, rolling carts — require no permanent installation at all, which is why the piece draws its examples from real occupied homes rather than staged showrooms.
The article also carries commercial weight. Apartment Therapy states that it independently selects featured products and may earn a commission on purchases made through its links, and it notes that all prices were accurate at the time of publishing — a disclosure readers should weigh when treating the piece as shopping guidance. The IKEA BEKVÄM recommendation in particular reflects a long-running reader practice of repurposing cheap furniture, which keeps costs low relative to purpose-built bathroom shelving.
Where These Ideas Come From
All 16 ideas are drawn from Apartment Therapy’s House Tours, the outlet’s long-running feature in which real homeowners and renters photograph and describe their own living spaces. The examples cited span a variety of homes, including a vintage minimalist house in Pennsylvania, a 1920s Dutch house, and a home in Montreal, which the author uses to illustrate each storage technique in situ.
Author Megan Baker Detloff covers home upgrades, DIY projects, and how-tos for the site and has written about home decor and renovations for more than a decade, including editorial roles at HGTV Magazine and This Old House Magazine. The roundup is consistent with the outlet’s recurring small-space organizing coverage, which frequently recycles proven reader hacks — such as the spice-rack-as-shelf trick — into new lists.
“Bathrooms can be tricky spots to organize, thanks to all the things you need to store there: toiletries, toothbrushes, towels, toilet paper, and grooming appliances, just to name a few.”
— Megan Baker Detloff, Apartment Therapy
Costs, Durability, and Safety Caveats
The article is a curated inspiration list, not a tested product review, and it does not claim independent evaluation of any item. Pricing and availability are flagged by the outlet itself as accurate only at the time of publishing and may change. The list does not specify costs for most ideas, so the budget required for projects such as recessed niches — which involve cutting into drywall and, depending on the wall, potentially plumbing or wiring behind it — is not quantified.
Some suggestions carry practical caveats the article raises only briefly. Ceiling-hung baskets require stud-mounted or anchored hardware, and any wall-mounted installation in a rental may need landlord approval. The published version of the roundup is also truncated mid-way through its final idea in syndicated feeds, so the complete text of the window-shelf entry and any closing recommendations should be checked against the original article on Apartment Therapy’s site.
How Readers Can Act on the List
Readers planning to adopt any of the ideas can start with the no-drill options — hooks, rolling carts, freestanding cabinets, and under-sink lazy Susans — before committing to mounted solutions. For anything anchored into walls or ceilings, the article’s own guidance applies: locate studs or use rated drywall anchors, and for heavier installations or recessed niches that open up wall cavities, consider consulting a qualified contractor to check for plumbing or wiring behind the wall and to confirm any permit requirements. Renters should confirm which changes their lease or landlord permits before installing permanent fixtures.
Apartment Therapy publishes House Tours and organizing roundups on a rolling basis, so additional real-home examples tied to these techniques are likely to appear in future coverage on the site.
Key Questions
Are these storage ideas suitable for renters?
Many are. The roundup explicitly flags renter-friendly options such as rolling carts, freestanding cabinets, hooks, and mirrors with built-in storage, while noting that recessed shelving is generally limited to owners or tenants with very accommodating landlords.
What is the IKEA spice rack trick mentioned in the article?
The article recommends IKEA’s BEKVÄM spice rack as a shallow wall shelf, saying its depth suits toiletries and its width fits small bathroom walls. It is a popular IKEA-hacking technique for adding storage without consuming counter space.
Are ceiling-hung baskets safe in a bathroom?
According to the article, yes, provided the hook is screwed into a stud or installed with a proper drywall anchor. That anchoring step is the safety condition the outlet itself attaches to the idea.
Does Apartment Therapy earn money from the products mentioned?
Yes. The outlet discloses that it independently selects products, may earn a commission on purchases through its links, and that prices were accurate at the time of publishing.
Were these ideas tested by the publication?
The article presents the ideas as ones observed in real homes featured in Apartment Therapy’s House Tours, not as results of product testing. It is an inspiration roundup, and no independent evaluation is claimed.
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