Acting as a private bathroom that you share with your partner or keep solely to yourself depending on your living situation, ensuites are a desirable element of many dream homes. With a toilet, shower, and sink just a few steps away from your bed, getting ready in the morning and settling down at night is incredibly convenient with the inclusion of an ensuite. If you have a family then you’ll probably understand the stress of getting everyone ready for school and work, but with even just one ensuite bath or shower in your home, the bathroom traffic is massively reduced. It can also be a serene place for you to relax after a long day and you can take as long as you want without housemates waiting outside.
As brilliant and practical as ensuites are, they can often be very small spaces that end up becoming untidy and poorly designed. Ensuring you have an ensuite storage that fits your space is crucial. These small narrow ensuite ideas will help you get the most of your ensuite and help it become the favourite room in your home.
1. Think About Your Sink
There are two completely different but perfectly valid ways to tackle your sink. Either go for a freestanding sink that gives you extra floorspace to work with or one that has a slimline cabinet with drawers for storage. Attaching your sink to the wall and having it sit alone allows you to utilise the space underneath if you want to add storage but leaving it free gives you the illusion of more space and allows your ensuite to flow more freely. Alternatively, a cabinet gives you a great deal of storage that can be adapted to suit your space and storage needs. Consider how much you want to store, how many levels that will require, and what colour you want it to be in. The most important this you will have to keep in mind is the space you have to work with and whether you have enough room for a cabinet or would a standalone sink suffice, with other storage options available.
2. Consider a Wet Room
You can still have your morning wash in your ensuite without cramming in a shower that takes up half the space. Opting for a wet room in your ensuite provides a spacious place to cleanse that gives you an open spa-like aesthetic. Wet rooms are accessible to everyone which is a huge bonus as well as being a wonderfully easy space to clean. If you decide to go for a wet room, it is important you think thoroughly about whether your ensuite is big enough or would suit it. However wet room showers have a seamless design that ensures your ensuite will boost your home’s value.
3. Smart Shelving
When it comes to shelving, there are an abundance of options available, so evaluating your options is key. Make use of your walls with floating shelves that take up no floor space, look extremely elegant, and you can store as much on depending on how much you purchase. If you put these close to your sink, then it might remove the need to have a cabinet underneath as you can place all your sink toiletries on a floating shelf. This can then be placed anywhere you see fit, adjusting it to your specific height. Alternatively, you can opt for a tall storage cabinet that fits around your sink or toilet and has levels of shelving above. This can be an extremely efficient way of adding storage in a tight space as you’re taking up minimal extra floor space and giving yourself a great deal of stylish storage space.
4. A ladder for your towels
This style of ladder isn’t for climbing, instead an incredibly useful ensuite storage solution. Being thin and tall, ladder style shelving can lean up against your wall to give you multiple levels of storage. Whether you want to dry off towels or store boxes, choose the right unit and you can do both. When space is limited, you want storage options that take up as little room as possible, and that’s exactly what this unit will do, giving you more floor space than a cabinet. If you want a smaller option just for storing and drying your towels, then a freestanding slim towel rail will work brilliantly.
5. Make use of your wall
I have already mentioned a couple of fantastic shelving ideas for how you can utilise you wall but, fear not, there are more ways. Using your wall, whether it’s for storage or decoration, is a smart way of getting the most out of a small space. Getting a wall-hung vanity unit gives you an abundance of storage space, a neat aesthetic, and somewhere that is easy to clean. Mirrors, rails, and even taps can bring your wall to life whilst giving you more storage opportunities in your ensuite. Your wall is also a wonderful way of showcasing your personality, hanging up pictures or signs that you love and enjoy looking at daily. Adding individual touches to your ensuite shouldn’t be overlooked and able to be placed at eye-level, the wall is an ideal place for these items.
6. What’s behind the door?
I’m not referring to the room inside, but instead the literal back of the door. A regularly overlooked storage option but when closed your door basically works as another wall. Unlike a wall though, you don’t need to make any marks with some of the best options simply hanging over the door and can be removed at any point. If you just want a place for just your towels, then installing a couple of hooks would be a wonderful option. However, if you’re looking for slightly more storage possibilities there are plenty of over the door solutions that contain shelving, hooks, and organisers. Having the option to hang your towels and clothes below your toiletries or decorative items all in the same space that you just entered is a fantastic space saving option that you won’t regret.
7. Try a trolley
Multiple levels, easy to move around, and looking excellent - slim storage trolleys might just be the thing that your ensuite needs. There are so many positives to implementing a trolley in your small ensuite that you simply can’t look beyond it. The ability to move around multiple items with minimal effort gives you a hassle-free storage option that can be tucked away. Most trolleys come with multiple storage heights to fit your differently sized items, as well as barriers to prevent your items from falling out. Other trolley options have larger shelves that are more suited to boxes and baskets, which is ideal if you picked up a load of toiletries when they were on sale.
To Conclude
Whether you have an ensuite, or are planning to implement one in your home, having adequate storage is essential in getting the most of your space. Given that the majority of ensuites contain tight, awkward layouts, it is vital that you make the most of it. You’ll be surprised how much difference one shelving or vanity unit can improve the appearance and storage capabilities of your ensuite. Everyone’s ensuite is different and in turn will have contrasting ways of maximising it. Make sure you evaluate what you’ve got to work with and pick out the best ideas to work for you.