Organize Your Bathroom: DIY Wall-Mounted Storage

Our bathroom is pretty tiny and has absolutely zero storage space (stupid pedestal sink). I already shared how I deal with storing a few extra rolls of toilet paper, but I worked on a new bathroom storage project this past weekend that I’m pretty excited about.

Check it out!

Bathroom storage with mini flower pots, wood, and pipe clamps

Now I have a place to store little bathroom things like q-tips, cotton pads, tweezers, etc. And those little pots are SUPER cute!

The coolest thing about this project is that you can use any container you want to! I found these little pots out in our alley, but you can use cups, mason jars, or anything else! The reason is because hose clamps are awesome! Just in case you haven’t had any experience with them, hose clamps are circular bands of metal with screw threads cut into them that can be tightened or loosened with a screw built into one end of the band. They are meant to clamp hoses, but you can use them to hold pretty much anything round.

This project is another one of those deceptively simple projects. The whole thing took me about two hours, tops. And that was only because I used a pallet board left over from making the bath shelf, so I had a lot of work to do sanding it down and filling in nail holes etc. If you use fresh wood this will take you less than half an hour!

Here’s what you need:

  • a piece of wood
  • paint if you don’t want a natural wood board
  • cups, jars, or pots of some kind
  • hose clamps (can be found in any hardware store)
  • wood screws
  • a drill
  • rubber bands (optional)

The cups, jars, or pots are the important part of this project. Most of the character of this project comes from these, so find something fun, or cute, or swanky, or whatever. One note, something with straight sides will work a bit better than something with slanted sides like mine. The hose clamp will hold better and there’s less chance of the thing popping out of the clamp if it has straight sides.

Start with your piece of wood. If you need to sand it or stain it or paint it, do that first. I sanded this board and filled in a bunch of holes. Because I knew I was going to paint the board, I just filled the holes with wood glue and sawdust, but if you are going to leave the board natural, or stain it, check out this simple tip for filling holes with natural wood rather than glue.

Once your board is completely ready to go, grab the rest of your materials.

Materials for DIY bathroom storage "shelf"

I washed the hose clamps in the sink before getting started, but I suppose that’s optional if you’re not super OCD like me. 🙂

First, unscrew the hose clamp so it is fully open. Then wrap a rubber band a few times around one end. The rubber band is sort of like a belt loop for the hose clamp so that the end of the metal isn’t flailing around once you tighten it down. You could also just cut off the extra bit when you’re finished, but I kinda hate doing stuff like that cuz what if I ever want to reuse those hose clamps for something bigger later on?!

DIY bathroom storage: Hose clamp

Anyway, open up the hose clamp fully, even if you decide not to use the rubber band.

I knew I wanted the tightening screws on my hose clamps to be to one side of the pots once I was finished, rather than right in the middle on the front. So I took a hose clamp, wrapped it around a pot, and “measured” about how far the clamp would close once the pot was inside.

Then I took the pot and clamp and held it up against the board and marked with my finger where to attach the clamp to the board.

My screws were too big to fit nicely through the slots on the band, and I couldn’t really just force them in with a drill (believe me, I tried!) So I drilled a hole through the metal clamp band that was just big enough for my screw to fit through.

DIY bathroom storage: Hose clamp with drilled hole

If you’re paying attention, you’ll notice the tightening screw is on the right in this picture instead of on the left. That’s because I needed access to the head of the screw even after it was attached to the board. If the screw were on the left, the head of the screw would be facing the painted board and I wouldn’t be able to get a screwdriver in there to tighten it.

Once all your hose clamps have holes drilled in them, screw them onto your board. You may want to do things like measure and mark your board first. Or just eyeball it. Whatevs! If you have rubber bands on your clamps, make sure to slide them all the way onto the band so they are right next to the tightening screw. Otherwise they won’t be any help at all.

DIY bathroom storage: Hose clamps on a wooden board

Now put your hose clamps back together and tighten the screws slightly. You can slip the end of the band into the rubber bands at this point to help control them.

DIY bathroom storage: Hose clamps on a wooden board

At this point you want to install your board onto a wall before you add the cups/jars/pots and tighten the clamps down. I just used two screws and two hollow wall anchors. I’m not planning on putting anything exceptionally heavy in these cups, so I didn’t feel the need for more than one screw on each end of the board.

Once your board is secured on a wall, slip your cups/jars/pots into the hose clamps and tighten them down. Because the sides of my pots aren’t straight I had to be a bit careful when tightening the clamps. The pots tended to drift upwards as I tightened, so just pay attention here. I tightened the clamps just enough to hold the pots from falling down into the sink, but they are still loose enough that I can lift the pots up and out of the clamps if I ever want to wash them.

Aren’t they super cute?!

DIY bathroom storage

It’s absolutely the perfect solution to some of our storage problems. I have q-tips on the right, cotton face pads in the middle, and weird random stuff like tweezers on the left.

It’s great because everything I need is right there in front of me and I don’t forget anything. I’ve even managed to put eyeliner on for the past two days in a row!

That may not seem like much, but it’s a big deal to me cuz I don’t ever wear makeup. Like, ever. Other than for my wedding, the last time I remember actually putting on makeup was for a dance in college. And even then it was just some eye shadow. I may have worn foundation once, for my high school prom… Anyway, it’s just not my thing.

But now that I’ve put my eyeliner in the pot on the left, it’s so easy that I am actually remembering to throw some on in the mornings! Go me!

DIY bathroom storage

DIY bathroom storage

Bathroom storage with mini flower pots, wood, and pipe clamps

Anybody else have a tiny bathroom? What do you do for bathroom storage and organization?

Any other ideas for using hose clamps? I’ve seen a tiny indoor herb garden made out of mason jars and hose clamps, and I’ve seen bigger hose clamps used to hold flower pots onto the exterior wall of a house. So versatile!

If you’re looking for other awesome bathroom projects, check out these posts:

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I link up at these awesome parties!

Jessi Wohlwend

I believe that anyone can do crafts and DIY projects, regardless of skill or experience. I love sharing simple craft ideas, step by step DIY project tutorials, cleaning hacks, and other tips and tricks all with one goal in mind: giving you the tools you need to “do it yourself”, complete fun projects, and make awesome things!

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Reader Interactions

  1. Kathryn Griffin says

    12 years ago

    Great idea! Thank you for sharing this at Make it Pretty Monday. Hope to see you again on Monday. Toodles, Kathryn @TheDedicatedHouse

  2. Marilyn says

    12 years ago

    I love your flower pots in lieu of mason jars! Looks great!

  3. Tabitha says

    12 years ago

    It’s party time over at Debt Free Mommy Blog and you’re invited!! Please stop on in and link up with Making Space Mondays. We look forward to seeing any post(s) about making your space better. Hope to see you there. -Tabitha

  4. Rona says

    12 years ago

    I’m stopping for a visit from Six Sisters’ Stuff today!
    I’m having so much fun visiting the participants of this blog linky party.
    So many wonderful and creative ideas.
    Now this is a smart way to add storage in small space.

  5. Jill @ Create.Craft.Love. says

    12 years ago

    Great idea! This is such a space saver and cute! Thanks for sharing at the Pomp Party! Pinning to our Pomp Party board!

  6. Danni Baird says

    12 years ago

    I too have ZERO bathroom storage…the price you pay for a beautiful pedestal sink I guess…this is very clever and I can use this idea! Thanks for sharing it!

  7. sara @ applestone drive says

    12 years ago

    Wow, that is awesome! Thanks for the tutorial. We have two very small bathrooms and I’m thinking I need to make one for each. Now to find some cute containers! Great job!

    sara @ applestonedrive.blogspot.com

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