4/9/10

The Itty Bitty Bathroom Solution

I had originally purchased a small mountable cabinet from Target but realized it was TOO small after I had it put together so I brought these two wine crates in from my studio and finally stuck them to the wall. I hung them using the original screw holes from the towel rack that used to hang in it's place and added supporting screws at the bottom of both crates. Our poor land lords are going to have a lot of holes to fill when we move out.

I kept one of the removable slots to house my glass jars just in case it gets bumped.
I touched this photo up to remove the ugly screw heads sticking out. ha!

Above is how I staged it for this little photo shoot.

And this is how it might really look on any given day. Regardless, I really love how the crates have cleared up some visual clutter that was literally spilling out of that black wire basket resting on top of the toilet. I've used all white in our little bathroom to keep things feeling as open as possible so it's nice to have a little contrast with the natural wood. I may still wallpaper the inside but for now I'm happy and my garden needs my attention instead.

I found the wine crates at a local flea market for about $6 each but I have seen variations on this size and age all over town for more and less. An interesting shelving solution if you have more home projects to finish than money to finish them. Do you have any similar fixes at your house?

xoxo,
Rachel

43 comments:

Unknown said...

Awesome. I'm guessing they look much better than any Target shelving would. I also really appreciate the "real" look.

Anonymous said...

Fab idea! They look great!

Amanda said...

This is genius! I the the fact that you did not paint them.

Unknown said...

great idea! i have a teeny tiny bathroom too. i need to find me some wine crates!

Suzanne said...

what a great idea! i live in a rented apartment so am always afraid of installing shelves, etc, for fear of the wrath of my landlord... but i like how you use the holes already there (plus one or two extra, but that's not so bad :)

p.s. i love how you also posted your "actual" photo too. it's refreshing to see things in real-life :)

Millers said...

I LOVE this. My bathroom really needs to storage help, and is pretty tiny.

I'm going to go on a search for wine crates.

Olivia Carter said...

Oh I love it. We have a small bathroom that needs something like this (we have one of those horrible metal "over-the-toilet" things- this is MUCH classier!)

Thanks for the genius idea!

Kristen said...

What a great idea! I have the worlds smallest bathroom I think so I will def be looking for wine crates or something similar!! It really looks great

Unknown said...

Those look so great! I'm in the process of buying my first house, and I think you will be my inspiration throughout the entire place! :)

Mandy said...

This is such a great fix! I am constantly struggling with bathroom fixtures~ they all look so sterile and generic... I'm totally going to use this!

Amber Filkins said...

They look great Rachel! I had to chuckle because we're so alike: I store my toilet paper in a pretty basket, I have milk glass vases everywhere, I store my q-tips in glass jars, and hang a pair of my pretty earrings over the lip like that. :)

I saw in a recent issue of Country Living, a guy made free standing shelves out of stacked crates like that. It was pretty cool.

Anitasienudzi2 said...

extra!

Jennifer said...

I don't know if this is intentional but the glass jar with maybe white cotton balls inside and two cirlce earring hanging from it... well it looks like an owl! It wasn't until the closer shots that I could see that it was earring and now owl eyes I was looking at.

Very cute though. I love the look.

With Love, Jamie said...

That is really pretty! I love quirky little things like this, great idea! :)

Tara said...

it's super cute. and i love showing us the everyday bathroom and letting us all know you're real.

sometimes when i see your house,...i think to myself why can't i manage to keep my house looking that cool? ha!

Megan Lee said...

I love the crate idea! And the wire basket holding the TP is cute too!

Anonymous said...

Looks lovely. We use similar crates as our nightstands. In our apartment we screwed them to the wall, but since we moved into our house, we just rest them on the floor next to our new platform bed. I love coming up with alternative uses for things!

Johanna said...

Those crates are lovely. Especially the wood against the white walls. I love it!

Michelle Clement said...

What a cute idea, Miss Rachel! :) I love the writing on the sides of them - lovely, lovely!

Amber said...

I love how this looks. Thank you for showing the "staged" photo and the real photo. Makes me feel better about how my home looks most days!
Have a great weekend. Looks like the weather is going to be perfect for garden work!!
XOXO

Anonymous said...

Awesome idea! I need a shelf over the toilet.. so I might have to find some wine crates.. ha

Ash said...

super cute idea! I'm thinking of looking for some wine crates for some small raised garden beds now, never thought of it before!

Cat said...

Holla...I have an itty-bitty bathroom too. This post is so inspring!

Christy @ MCH PHOTOGRAPHY said...

What a cool idea

sunnysblog@gmail.com said...

I love this so much that my heart about stopped when I saw the photos.
Love the cosmetic bag, adore the shelves.....it's alllll just right.

I'm in love. (with a bathroom) and that's the only time I'll say that.

Roxanne said...

Ever since leaving my parents home, I've been cursed with small, awkward bathrooms. Yours is the bee's knees!

cori said...

i did something similar: two old drawers that i added shelves to and decorated with a dyed doily to hold my vintage china ~ http://www.flickr.com/photos/koreana/4036308020/ :)

Brianna! said...

well arent you just the most clever little thing.

loveLOVE
B's

Ricarda said...

I personally don't have one but I have seen a brilliant idea for a market display using wine crates on Brick Lane market. There is a picture of it at the bottom of this post:

http://tikiteboo.blogspot.com/2010/03/brick-lane.html

Love your Blog btw Zelde

Anonymous said...

Those look amazing!

Clare said...

How refreshing to see the everyday un-styled shot. Looking at beautiful photos in blogs everyday makes me feel like I live in a dump!

courtney.janelle.sews said...

this is great! and if most of our bathroom wasn't a brick wall I would totally do it, hah!

tabitha jane said...

i love it! looks so nice.

we painted our tiny bathroom dark plumb. i know i know, it's against the small spaces rule to paint small rooms dark colors - but i love it!

Anonymous said...

I think they look great and so functional! Especially with the jars nested in the holes and all for about $12! Awesome! Love this.

Unknown said...

What an adorable idea! I love it!

lacy said...

So cute! I love your staged shot and more real life shot! Perfection! So I used to collect wine crates from Sam's club. I'd always check the wine section and usually had luck finding a stray crate and would use that to pack my purchases in. They were always fine with it :)

Emma Rae said...

thank you so much for posting what your house really looks like!!! you know you keep up with peoples blogs who also have kiddos to and they have these emasculate looking houses and its like how do they do it all?! so refreshing!!!

threesixfive said...

isn't fun to stage things? I like playing with and moving things around in my house to come up with new combinations :)

LieslPie said...

can i just ask you what color you have used to paint your bathroom, and i think other rooms in your house? it's the perfect nonwhite. i'm having a hard time finding a color that doesn't have too much pink or yellow tones in it. yours is perfect.

Ali said...

OH SO CUTE!! where did u get those cute lil birdies from though??? i love them!!

Malice Fery said...

love this so much.

Esther McIsaac said...

I love wine crates, especially the lettering on the sides if in french. I used wine crates as drawers for my art table. Took 6, three for each side and my husband made frames for them to slide in and out. Drilled some holes in the front and used hemp rope for drawer pulls. Been using the table now for almost 10 years. Perfect. Love you bathroom idea.

Hopeless Chest said...

That's adorable. I have the same shower curtain!