Rental bathrooms are usually small and almost never have enough storage: a sink with a cabinet under it if you’re lucky, a mirror that may or may not open, and one towel bar. Everything else ends up on the edge of the tub or the back of the toilet.

The fix is to use the parts of the room that are empty: the wall above the toilet, the corner of the shower, the back of the door and the dead space around the pipes.

Above the toilet

The wall above the toilet is usually bare and about two feet wide. An over-the-toilet rack (on Amazon) stands on the floor around the toilet and gives you three or four shelves without any drilling. Towels, extra toilet paper, a basket of hair things, a small plant.

If you’re allowed a couple of screws, two or three floating shelves (on Amazon) do the same job and look lighter.

In the shower

Hanging caddies on the shower head slide down and tip shampoo everywhere. A tension pole caddy (on Amazon) wedges between the tub and ceiling in a corner, with three or four shelves at different heights. It holds everyone’s bottles and takes up almost no floor space.

Keep only what’s in use in the shower. Spares go somewhere else.

Under the sink

The cabinet under the sink is usually a jumble around the pipes. A two-tier pull-out organizer (on Amazon) fits around them and turns the space into two shelves you can actually see into. Cleaning supplies on one side, spare toiletries on the other.

Small bins or baskets for categories help too: hair, first aid, cleaning, extras.

In the drawers

If there’s a vanity drawer, clear drawer organizers (on Amazon) stop it turning into a pile. One small box per type of thing: toothbrushes and paste, razors, makeup, hair ties. You can see everything at a glance, and they lift out to clean.

On the back of the door

Most bathroom doors have nothing on them. Over-the-door hooks (on Amazon) hold towels and robes with no screws, which frees up the towel bar for hand towels. A hanging organizer with clear pockets on the door is good for hair tools and small things too.

On the walls

  • Adhesive hooks next to the sink for a hand towel or a hair dryer.
  • A magnetic strip inside the medicine cabinet for tweezers, nail clippers and bobby pins.
  • A small basket on the wall for rolled hand towels.

On the counter

The counter is the first thing that gets cluttered and the hardest to clean when it is. Keep only what you use twice a day: soap, toothbrushes, maybe one thing more. Put them on a small tray so the counter can be wiped in one move.

Things that make it feel bigger

  • One color of towels. White or a single soft color looks tidier than a mix.
  • Decant into matching bottles for the things that stay out, if you like that look.
  • A clear shower curtain or a curtain hung high makes the room feel taller.
  • A plant that likes humidity, like a pothos or a fern, on the top shelf.

Once everything has a place, putting things back takes a second, and the bathroom stays tidy without any effort.