What to do with the towels?

This the kind of question that I read a few times to make sure I wasn't re-stating the obvious or missing an indicator that this wouldn't work, and I'm still not sure of myself, especially since you know way more than me on this subject, but...

Towel bars?



That's what we use. We keep excess towels in the linen closet, and then have two out (in our bathroom) that we use for a while. Then put those in the laundry, and get out some new fresh ones from the linen closet.

This is another way to keep the unused, fresh towels:



Those are from Restoration Hardware, which I like for this kind of thing but it's pricey!

We just hang washcloths to dry on the towel bar too, but launder those/ switch 'em out more often.

One of Haley's Hints regarding the over abundance of towels in the family bathroom is to assign each member of the family a different color for their set of towels. That way each person always knows which towels are theirs and is more willing to use them more than once or twice before they go into the laundry.

Another of his tips is to sew loops and buttons onto the end of the bath towels, face cloths and hand towels. Then install a horizontal row of hooks, one hook for each member of the family. The bath towel is hung on the hook using the loop and the face cloth and hand towel is buttoned onto the bath towel.

In my apartment's bathroom there are the typical towel bar racks that Soz pictured, but no hooks on the door for hanging other things.

I currently have one of these installed on the wall behind my bathroom door. That's where I put all the pajamas, nightgowns and bathrobes, etc.




If you have the floor space, you could consider one of these types of racks for towels:



This is an example of the towel loops and hooks idea I mentioned above:

That's a great idea, butterfly.

I like the multi towel bar from resoration. (I love looking through that store! Never bought anything there, though)

For us... My towel stays neatly on the towel bar to dry and re-use. Kids have their own bathroom, with their own towel bars and hooks. But, they seem to think the bathroom looks better if they carry their towels to their bedrooms and throw them over a partially opened closet door or creatively toss them across the room or bed. I must admit it keeps the bathroom looking better. Now if I could get them to pick up their clothes from the bathroom floor we'll be ready for that Southern Living photo shoot.

In my apartment we all have our own towel rack. But, when I go to my parents' place for a big family get-together, we never have enough room top hang all our towels. At those times, I tend to keep my towels in my bedroom - sort of dorm-style.

The accordian peg rack image didn't work. Here's another example:

We've got a cabinet made exactly for our bathroom (by a friend) which is a 'divider from the shower-section as well.

We would like to have some of the below - cantral heating and towel warmer - if/when we really should renovate the bahroom ...

Yeah, I guess towel bars Love RH) are the obvious -- our problem is lack of wall space for the amount of towels. Let's say typical 2 adults, one male, one female. The female uses 2 bath towels (one for body, one for hair), the male one bath towel. That's 3 bars, because a drying bath towel takes a whole bar, with no room for the washcloths (on a 4th bar?). Then a 5th bar for 2 hand towels. Both my friend & myself like a separate hand towel for wiping out the sink after each use. That's 3 hand towels, one of which should be separated somehow from the others.

Given a limited amount of wall space, this is the problem. And I suppose we don't want the visual to be nothing but towels, towels everywhere.

2 hooks (on the back of the door?), one for the bathmat and one for a bathrobe?

In my own case, the only wall space is above the toilet, and for some deep-seated silly reason I don't like the towels in such close proximity to the toilet. I have a cascading towel rack on the back of the door for the bath towels, the facecloth hangs on a hook on the side of the sink cabinet. But that leaves no place for the bathmat, bathrobe or hand towel. The wall that the sink cabinet buts into has all the electrical switches and outlets on it, and the wall above the sink is completely mirror (to be changed sometime in the future when I have $).

There is wall space above the corner tub, but to reach a towel I'd have to step into the tub -- no good.

I like the idea of loops and buttons -- thinking more about that one.

oops, some other ideas posted while I was writing the above. I'll look more closely at those.

I have a hook installed on the inside door of both my bathroom vanity cabinet under the sink and the kitchen cabinet under the sink. I use those hooks to hang/dry hand towels and wash rags. I recycle the clean ones used on the counters to the door hook for one last use cleaning something messy before washing.

Something like that might work for that hand towel you want to keep separate for bathroom sink wiping.

Wow, that's a lot of towels! I use one for both body and hair... if I want to leave a towel in my hair for a while I wear my bathrobe. Never heard of wiping the sink between uses -- maybe when I ascend to the next level of housekeeping.

I have to admit we use the regular towels as hand towels in the main bathroom too -- we have hand towels in the guest bathroom.

So just two towel racks work great for us (two of us in master bath, then sozlet has her own bathroom, with her own towel!).

We do double up the towels to dry (fold them in half lengthwise and drape them over the bar), that seems to work fine.

Anyway, I see the problem now, looks like there are some interesting ideas here.

(I don't really get the bathmat part either...? What's wrong with keeping it on the floor? We have a rubber-backed one that doesn't allow water through, and it's dry by the next time it's used...)

Obviously, I have a lot to learn about bathrooms! :-)

Oops, forgot to edit out the "!" before submitting -- sozlet was hovering and really wanted me to add it in the line about having her own towel. I planned to remove it after she left.

The towels by the toilet reminds me of lilk's thread about toothbrushes in the bathroom and the toilet spray when flushing... Was that here or before here? Can't remember.

Anyway, butterfly has a good idea. I rent, don't own, so I can't really make holes in cabinets or walls. I found a brushed nickel hook that hooks over the bathroom door for the kids bathroom, and a small handtowel sized bar that hooks over the cabinet door in the same way (which I put in the kitchen). I hate hanging dish towels on the fridge door or oven handle, so this was perfect for placing right below the sink to avoid dripping across the floor.

I found them at Bed bath and Beyond. The following pic is from Amazon, and is the same price ($5.99) as what I paid.

My apartment's bathroom sounds a lot like yours.

Here's the floor plan for mine:



The wall over the bathroom vanity is wall-to-wall mirror except for a small space above the toilet. The bathtub and shower take up one full wall. It also has two entry doors. The only wall space is behind one of the bathroom doors and the small wall between the two doors. It has one bath towel bar between the two doors and a smaller towel bar over the toilet that I don't like to use either.

I've made use of that wall space with that accordian peg rack behind the bathroom door since the door hides it when open most of the time.

The picture Walter posted... The white one with the dark towels... Looks like the top part is a shelf for folded towels and the bottom bars are for used one that hang. AND, with Europeans being so far ahead on such luxuries, I keep thinking it looks like it is also a towel warmer. Doesn't it look electric or something?

How cool would THAT be to have?


(Soz, I love that she wanted the ! for herself. Here are a few more for her... sozlet!!!!!)

That caught my eye too. I'd never be able to use them in my apartment but for your place (which sounds like a condo) it may work for you.

I also don't have a need for warm towels since it it so hot here most of the time, but I like the vertical rack concept.



Hey Walter, what's the source for those? What website are the images from?


Another idea for that behind the door accordian peg rack, you could install two of them there, one higher for the shorter towels, etc., and one lower for the bathrobes, etc.


One more idea for you. Don't know if you have a shower curtain or glass doors, but this would work either way. If you have a shower curtain, then you get one extra rod for towels. If you have glass shower doors, install this on the outside of those doors and you get two rods for towels.

Great ideas! Thanks. (Sozlet !!!!)

Keep 'em coming. I like the over the cabinet door rail, squinney. That would work for me. (Although my friend, who is in the process of spending major bucks on her cabinetry probably won't want to hide it with a towel.)

Walter's solution looks great (but pricey). We looked at towel warmers but none looked as good as that. Because she is doing a complete reno, it could be hardwired, to avoid the ugly cord & plug thing.

Butrflynet -- thanks for the floor plan, a visual is always better when trying to explain these things. Obviously, most builders/architects air dry themselves and never use towels!

Actually, I can't remember that. You find such in any catalogue, do-it-self-store, even in normal supermarkets (Aldi offers it a special offer once or twice per year).

Re-found the site: it's from a Swiss "bath & wellness special consultant".