Where do I put storage in a small bathroom?
In the walls, not on the floor: recessed niches in stud walls, a mirror cabinet across the full basin wall, boxed pipework topped as a shelf, and the dead zone over the door. A vanity unit under a wall-hung basin is the one floor-standing piece that earns its space.
Small-bathroom storage is found, not added. Every stud wall can carry a recessed niche between its studs — in the shower for bottles, beside the basin for the daily clutter — at the cost of some plasterboard and care. The old external-stack boxing becomes a display shelf with a stone top. The 300mm above the door frame takes a full-width shelf for towels nobody needs mid-shower.
The two workhorses: a mirror-fronted cabinet spanning the whole basin wall (storage plus the room-doubling mirror in one object, recessed into the wall if the depth exists), and a vanity unit — the single floor-standing exception, because hiding the waste pipe while swallowing the cleaning products is worth its footprint.
The renovation is the moment: niches, recesses and boxing cost pounds while walls are open and studs are exposed, and cost plaster-and-retile money afterwards. We put storage on the layout drawing from the first version — it is design, not accessory shopping.
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