How to maximize space in a tiny room

(Or: What kind of towel rack works in my stupid, miniature bathroom?!)

Look at this picture. See that brass looking thing poking out of the right side of the screen? That’s the door knob to a door that’s fully open.

This is a small bathroom. It was all but finished, but I couldn’t find a towel rod that would 1) stay out of my way while moving around the bathroom, and 2) that wouldn’t be hit by a wide-open door.

As my nephew once told me when he took ONE game of Knock-Out (basketball free-throw shooting) off me, sucks to suck.

So, because I hate sucking, I decided to buck tradition and started thinking outside the box. This is a DIY post, so here is where I’ll transition to instructions that you can know how to maximize space in your small rooms.

1. For uncommon problems, don’t automatically go with the common solution. But, Jason, how do I know my problem is uncommon? Easy. Find out what is common and measure your space to see if your needs match up. If it doesn’t, you have an uncommon problem.

I used a stud finder to confirm what I already knew: the studs in my wall are two foot on center. Knowing that, I measured and found that, indeed, a fully opened bathroom door would hit the rod. Also, I found that moving around in the bathroom got a little uncomfortable once a two foot long short shelf (essentially) was sticking out of the wall. Did I mention the bathroom was small?

A relevant aside: If you’re thinking, well, duh, don’t use the stud, idiot. Use a dry wall anchor, I implore you not to. Towels get yanked on, which means towel rods get yanked on, which means those small plastic tubes with cute teeth (or even the metal ones with substantial teeth) get yanked right out of your wall, leaving a gaping hole behind. The “stronger” the anchor, the bigger the damage. This happens to all towel rods hung by drywall anchors. You’ve been warned.

2. I found (at an old online book retailer of all places) my uncommon solution — the coat hanger. How did I ever make the ingenius jump from hanging towels to hanging coats? I can’t remember. Perhaps it came to me in a dream. You can’t repeat that, so just google something like “towel hanger” or “clothes hanger” or “waterproof coat hanger.”

The coat hanger was a great solution for me, because I had so little horizontal space for a fixture before it became problematic. The answer, then, was to use my vertical space.

Angle one (the camera man is standing in the tub to snap this pic). See how the door has no problems opening wide?

Angle two. There’s that brass knob in the bottom right corner again. Lots of space between the door and the hanger.

3. Install the hanger by following the manufacturer’s instructions. Except don’t follow when they say to use dry wall anchors, which they invariably will. My process went as follows in the next aside.

1. I asked my wife where she wanted it on the wall. DO NOT skip this step.
2. She said, “split the difference with the shelves above the toilet.” So, I got my trusty laser level and found middle on the shelves and cast that line on the wall where I’d install my hanger.
3. I measured the length of the hanger and found middle. Then, I aligned that middle with the laser line.
4. Holding the hanger on the wall with one hand, I used my free hand to measure the distance from the laser line to the hooks that hold the hanger to the screws which would go into the wall.
5. I put the measuring tape down and retrieved a screw from my mouth. I poked the wall where I needed to make my mark.
6. Then, I drilled those screws into the studs. There were two of them.
7. Finally, I mounted the hanger to the wall.

A note about screws and studs: my studs are metal and the screws that came with this hanger worked better for mounting the hanger than the metal screws I was going to use instead. So, I used the screws the manufacturer supplied, even though I wasn’t sure they were rated for metal. This was a calculated risk I made for a couple of reasons. I didn’t have a metal drill bit the right size, so I couldn’t pre-drill the hole. Also, the threads on the provided screws were coarse, which is good for metal studs. If, however, the screw threads got stripped, I could always go to the hardward store and buy replacements or a bit to pre-drill. Turns out, my risk paid off, saving me time and money.

Angle three. Look at all that space. Hold on while I get a tissue to dry my cheeks.

Angle one again. Easy access from inside the tub/shower for your towel. No more grabbing it off the toilet seat. Yuck.

Angle two again. Blue towel’s back for this shot. Don’t ask me where he went for the last pic.

I may cover the visible countersunk screw holes on the hanger later. If so, I’ll either use white circular stickers (you can get them at hardware stores), or I’ll just fill em with spackling. We’ll see.

Bonus points for this sticking out from the wall only 2 3/4". Most towel rods come out at least 3 or 4.

And there you have it. Take these principles and apply them to your small room problem. Let me know what you think.

You can read more of my writing here on Medium. I have a few more DIY stuff if that’s your interest. Follow me on Twitter at @jasonakinaka