Inspired organizing ideas abound in these real-life bathrooms, which also feature our favorite space-saving solutions.

It may seem counterintuitive, but adding the right furniture to your bathroom can create a more open, organized space. In the master bath of this Texas duplex, a custom-made orange steel vanity opens up the area beneath the sink for more storage. 

A wooden flea-market cupboard makes a great towel cabinet. Keep your regular supply in the cabinet and use the top for extra storage. Having all towels visible makes it easy to keep track of your inventory. Open shelves on the sides hold glass jars full of cotton balls and soaps.

Outfitting a tiny bathroom with just one material -- Carrara marble -- keeps it from feeling cramped or cluttered; a frosted glass door with a transom admits sunlight from the backyard.

Martha Stewart Living's creative director, Eric Pike, decided on a glass shower to make this room feel as spacious as possible. The bathroom is basic yet luxurious, with clean lines and an abundance of natural light provided by a skylight.

Living's Kevin Sharkey gave his bathroom a complete renovation. Our favorite organizing element is the undersink shelf for sleek storage.

Vintage planters are a playful spin on more traditional bathroom accessories. Displayed on a metal-and-glass table, they hold bottles of shampoo and liquid soap, sponges, bar soap, and hand towels. Tuck a new toothbrush, soap, and a washcloth into a planter and put it in the bathroom cupboard -- you'll have the perfect guest package ready at a moment's notice.

A shelf placed just underneath the mirror adds a place for toothbrushes and soap, since space around the sink is limited.

Since a window over the sink stands in for the typical mirrored medicine cabinet in this Santa Barbara, California, home, a simple woven basket is used to hold towels and other bathroom necessities.

This bathroom is both elegant and organized. The bases of each sink serve as their own towel rods, and the added rack over the tub holds both folded and hanging linens.

Color-code your linens with hanging loops so your family and guests can tell them apart.

Keep the bathroom tidy by hanging towels from the rungs of a progressive or apple-picking ladder propped against a wall. To prevent the ladder from slipping, attach rubber tips made for chair legs to the ladder's feet. You can also secure the top of the ladder to the wall with hooks and eyes.

Grouping clear glass storage containers on the ledge of this sunny window makes it easy to find supplies.

In Martha's East Hampton bathroom, a zinc-topped pastry table is used as a vanity; on its broad surface, toiletries stay neat and accessible. To make a useful -- and comfortable -- set, Martha pairs the table with a white-painted button chair that's just the right height.

A simple way to make your bathroom look tidier is to hem your shower curtain. This shorter curtain looks tailored and won't trap dust and moisture.

Make space for supplies over the bathroom door so that they'll be accessible when they need to be replenished.

Few bathrooms have enough places to hang towels. Stacking towel bars behind closed doors is a great way to remedy the shortage and use space efficiently.

Maximize space in a tiny medicine cabinet by making use of magnets.

No room for a bathroom cabinet? Install a hotel-style multitiered rack on the wall next to the tub to hold bath towels and washcloths.

Central bathroom cabinets can be fitted with roll-out wire trays (the kind used in kitchens). Here, one tray contains a first-aid kit and miscellaneous toiletries. A pair of hooks fastened to the inside of the door hold a hair dryer and a flat iron. In the adjacent cabinet, a second sliding track holds the bathroom's waste bin.

Rather than fighting tight spaces with awkward angles, turn them into additional storage. Here, one cabinet was built into the wall beneath the roof eaves and another was put into a crawl space to the left of the sink.