Hi everyone! It’s Mandi from Making Nice in the Midwest. When I was pregnant and putting together my daughter’s nursery, I found these wire basket crates at TJ Maxx and thought they would be the perfect containers for her beautiful stuffed animals and wooden toys. I envisioned them sitting prettily on our bookshelves after our daughter dutifully put all of her toys away after playing with them. Oh, the naivete of those days! These baskets soon became stuffed full of plastic toys in bright colors, and I wasn’t too happy with how cluttered our living room looked all of the time, even when the toys were put away!
I gave up on using these industrial baskets for toy storage, but I thought they would make perfect shelves for our bathroom. After adding a bit of inexpensive hardware, our bathroom became much more organized and homier looking. We’re so happy that our tiny bathroom has clean counters and a bit of personality now. I’ll show you what I did with the toys another day, but for now, read on to learn how you can easily hang wire baskets on your bathroom walls to make your life a bit more organized and beautiful!
- Wire Baskets- Even round ones will do if you stack TP sideways or stuff rolled towels in them.
- 4 heavy duty screws
- 4 drywall anchors sized to fit the screws
- 4 washers
- Power drill
- Level
- Pencil
- Hammer
Step One: Hold your basket up to the wall with the bottom of it against the wall. Lay a level on top to make sure the basket is straight, then mark along an opening of the basket on either side so you know where to drill the holes.
Step Two: Use a drill bit slightly smaller than the wall anchors and drill into the holes you marked in step one.
Step Three: Hammer the wall anchors into the hole you drilled in step two.
Step Four: Put the basket back up to the wall where you measured in step one, and drill the screws into place with the washer behind the screw but in front of the basket. Keep them loose until you make sure the basket is level, then you can tighten it into place if you’d like.
My baskets aren’t exactly flat on the sides, so I was concerned about using them as shelves. Perpendicular sides would have been ideal, but because the sides of my wire baskets were only slightly angled, they worked out just fine! I had a 12×12″ frame with a matted photograph that I used in the back of the top basket for decoration, and then placed my homemade skincare products in front of the frame. I’ll probably add other lotions and things next to them as time goes on.
The top of the upper basket was perfect for stacking hand towels, and the top of the lower basket was great for holding a tea caddy filled with tea cups I’ve used to organize little things like bobby pins, eye cream, cotton balls, and cotton swabs. Toilet paper is easily within reach on the bottom basket, with my cosmetics bag chillin’ out alongside them.
Our bathroom looks so nice and organized now, I’m so pleased! I think this system will be easy to maintain because everything is in sight and easy to grab. Now I won’t have to do a mad dash to straighten up out bathroom when guests stop by!
Credits // Author and Photography: Mandi Johnson
Thank you so much for The idea. Especially mounting the baskets. I’ve been searching for a decent way to mount baskets and yours is the only thing I found. Hard. To believe. I will probably paint the washers and screws bronze because the baskets are bronze.
Thank you so much!!
Thanks for this i love it. I am planning to do this and also try using wicker baskets too. may i ask what size baskets they are and where you got them too thanks so much! Jen
Great idea! Where did you get the baskets? I can’t seem to find any like that.
This is the best idea I’ve ever seen for towel storage (and I’ve looked everywhere online). Wish I’d seen it before I put up a dumb shelf that just does not work for this purpose. Shelf out, basket in!
This is a great idea for small spaces!
I love this idea, possibly put toilet paper in the baskets if you have small space? Those mint walls are perfect!
xx
Alex
http://freshhealthynatural.blogspot.com 🙂
Great idea especially for small bathrooms such as mine!
Looks like a great idea. I’m tired of my traditional over the lavatory shelving. Going to look into options for my bathroom now. Thanks for the inspiration. Xoxox, Jax come visit me at www.BlondiBeach.com and www.JaxCouture.com
What a great idea!
Living in a flat in london I am always in constant need of new storage ideas.. and my bathroom definitely needs some rethinking.
{Teffy’s Perks} X
I’ve been wanting to do this in my bathroom!
I love these! I’ve been looking for some storage in our bathroom and these are adorable. Thanks!
xoxo
Taylor
www.welcomehometaylor.com
Ohhh I really like this idea. Our bathroom is tiny and has so little storage, I’ve been trying to figure out a better solution and something like this would be great.
love this! my bathroom needs some organizing like crazy! I rent still, so instead of screws I’m going to use those Command hooks.
Bathrooms can be a tough room to find storage in… I’m feeling for Nina!! Any way you can add a bit of space is a great idea. A narrow basket – like the one you show only shorter – can also go in over the doorframe (for those in a very tight space)…
love the idea, genius 😉
Such a cute simple idea! Love it!
-Rebecca
mn2nz.wordpress.com
Great idea… May try something like that in my bathroom.
Who would’ve thought! Cute idea.
promisesofcoffee.com
such a smart idea and saves so much space!
I was looking to do something in our tiny bathroom and it might just be it. Thanks so much for the inspiration!