Ideas for Hanging & Storing Towels in a Small Bathroom

When you're stuck with a tiny bathroom, it can be hard to figure out where to put everything. You can downsize the amount of products you use and hide stuff in your cabinet, but the one thing you'll always need and can't get rid of? Towels. So, when you're low on space (and linen closet-less) where do you put them? These products and DIY projects can help you take advantage of even the smallest spaces to both store and hang your towels.

Use Your Doors

A towel rack like this one by InterDesign on Amazon can go on the back of your bathroom door—or your shower door, if you have one—and will give you more storage space than individual hooks.

If you've got space over your door that can be used, try adding a shelf for keeping folded up towels—it'll add plenty of storage space without making your bathroom feel smaller, like in this example from Ecocult (find instructions for a similar DIY on Homedit.

...Or Your Shower Curtain

Take advantage of the space in front of your shower by adding a second tension rod (or buying a double curtain rod like the one above on Amazon) just for hanging towels.

Hack Your Cabinets

With an over-cabinet rack like this one from Bed Bath & Beyond, you can create a spot to hang hand towels without taking up any extra space.

If you can, installing a hidden pull-out towel bar inside your cabinet (like this one from Organize It). It makes room for hand towels and wash cloths without taking up precious cabinet space.

Make Use of Wall Space

A rack like this one from Crate & Barrel can easily hold several bath towels (and small towels, too!), but still takes up minimal space on your wall.

(Image credit: IKEA)

This IKEA towel rack takes up hardly any wall space, but its multiple arms hold all the towels you need—and because each arm swings out, it makes it easy to access the towels you want.

This DIY towel ladder (instructions at Twelve On Main) is a great way to take advantage of the vertical space above your toilet, and you can store even more than just towels.

Add storage for towels and more by installing wooden crates to the wall as shelves. This example from Ideal Home uses two, but you can easily downsize to one if need be.

An interesting spin on the typical towel rack, these DIY towel bars from Ohoh Blog uses an old leather belt and dowels, and can fit several towels.

If you need a lot of towel storage for your bathroom, try building a custom rack to fit your needs—this one uses copper pipe and has a shelf on top, for storing and displaying small objects, for example. Get the tutorial at eHow.

Try Adding Small Storage Pieces

This skinny (only 4 inches deep!) bathroom cart from Urban Outfitters can easily be used to stored folded or rolled up towels—plus, you can hang washcloths from the hook on the top, and add more hooks as needed.

This works especially well if you have a pedestal sink—a wooden step stool (like in the above example from Kelly Elko) can double as towel storage and can be used to show off decor while fitting neatly in a space that would otherwise go unused.