Storage Area – These Can Be Decorative Elements

A major shortcoming of most bathrooms is insufficient storage space. With the increased number of appliances now being used in the bathroom, storage assumes an even more important role in the average home.

How much bathroom storage you need depends on the amount of storage available in other rooms. If your hall closet adequate for storing linens, and cleaning supplies are stored in a central cleaning closet, then a medicine cabinet and perhaps a clothes hamper or nib may meet your needs in a minimal sense.

However, it is better to look at storage from the standpoint of what items should be kept in the bathroom for most efficient use. Storage space can be didived into degrees of access. Some items need to be stored close at hand for ready accessibility, while others are used frequently. Some items need to be secured against searching by small children.

Items stored for open access are those that are used almost daily, such as towels, soaps, and toiletries. More limited access can be provided for sickroom supplies and sanitary supplies. Medicines must be kept out of reach of small children

Convenient storage should be provided for electric shavers, hair dryers, and other appliances used in the bathroom. In any planing for remodelling or addition of a bath, thought should be give to providing a sufficient number of electrical outlets for convenient use of such appliances.

Ready – to – install units

If you are going to remodel a bathroom, it is possible to consider some built-in storage space. But there are several possibilities for adding cabinets and closets in the bathroom remodelling and without interfering with the available floor space. Replace old cabinets with modern units designed to hang on a wall or fit between the studs.

Cabinets need be only 8 to 10 inches deep to hold linens and cleaning supplies. If they are fitted between the studs, they will project into room only 4 to 6 inches.

The space beneath the wash basin can be closed in a free-standing cabinet which can serve as a storage bin, or shelving can be added to the interior of the cabinet. Remember to leave some working room in case the plumbing needs repair.

Many storage aids are available commercially, and most are quite easy to install. One such item is a towel ladder which reaches from floor to ceiling or vanity to ceiling and can have as many rungs as you like.

Many space-saver is a pole shelf. Placed against a wall to take advantage of free space, for instance above the toilet, these units have interchangeable and adjustable shelves.

Also available are such storage accessories as a two roll paper holder that fits into a 10 5/8 by 5 1/8 – inch wall opening; a facial tissue dispenser which can be attached to the wall; and a toothbrush, tumbler, and soap rack that revolves into a wall recess.

If you hace small children, the bottom drawer of a vanity cabinet can be fitted with a solid top and used as a retractable step for reaching the wash bowl.