If you don't have an airing cupboard, where do you keep your towels?

[Croissantsandpistachio]

Tiny bathroom, with a heated towel rail. Could possibly put some high level shelving but very limited in capacity.

We've got a reasonably sized terraced house but no airing cupboard. DH, who is usually much tidier and more orderly than me , seems to be happy with them just all being draped everywhere. We never know which are clean or dirty. There is space under the stairs (but obviously this is far from upstairs) or we could possibly do some sort of storage on the landing where the laundry baskets go.

We're actually moving back into the house after some time overseas in a house with 3 bathrooms and loads of storage, so I'm trying to think ahead on how we organise ourselves.

You don’t have guest towels?spare hand towels?

Luckily we have space to keep them in a big freestanding cupboard on the landing.

Guest towels are kept in a drawer under the guest bed. They are kept specifically for guests so that DD doesn’t wreck them with hair dye/foundation etc.

In a sort of antique pine chest in my bedroom ... spare linen in a plastic box under my bed ... DS & DH have beds with drawers so their's is kept in them. (I don't share a bed with my DH ). I do seem to have accumulated years worth of spare bedding and towels so every six months or so I have a cull. I always tell myself that DS will need stuff at Uni, when he leaves home etc ...

@Dumpruntime I always ask guests to bring their own towels. In case someone forgets it's very simple to buy a towel (which I ask them to take home with them, so I dont have to keep it).

In a way we have a spare hand towel, since we have one in each bathroom. We never wash them together, there is always one available. But washing/drying takes only 1h30m.

Storage drawer under the bed.

I don't have an airing cupboard but my spare room is kitted out as an office. I have space in one of the office cupboards and towels and bedding go in there.
@Sanderlings I couldn't manage with just one set. DS was sick over his bed 3 times during a vomiting bug when he was a lot younger.

We have an airing cupboard but don’t keep towels in there - otherwise there wouldn’t be space for drying off washing which would be a waste of the heat. They are kept in a chest of drawers in our guest room.

@Sanderlings that sounds very wasteful - presumably having to always tumble dry towels so dry enough to use again, buying new towels if guests forget then sending them home with them. As a guest I’d find it strange to be asked to bring a towel, particularly if arriving eg by train so having to carry bigger bag. Even as a student visiting friends and sleeping on floors we didn’t bring our own towels.

I keep mine in a wicker laundry hamper intended for dirty laundry. Like a PP said it lets some air in so they don't smell musty. I keep this in my bathroom.

Do you not wash the new towel before it is used?

Having one set of towels and bed linen is .... unusual. Also requires impressive levels of organisation that I don't possess.

Same. Plus some bugs of my own and haven’t made it out of bed quick enough.

Also need two towels after a bath/shower one for body, one for hair.

Bone-dry and kept in a built-in cupboard on the top landing, which also houses the iron, DIY tools, paperwork, and things we’re hiding from the DC. Spare sheets are kept in the same room as each bed they go on, as their purpose is not only to go on while the other sheets are line drying, but for middle-of-the-night baby puke/wee/worse accidents. Everyone has a small drawer in their chest of drawers for this. When I organise the big cupboard I might do their spare towels in there too, but we have matching sets that are washed as a set, whereas the sheets are mixed.

The in-use towels: DP and mine go on the heated towel ladder in the bathroom. DD’s hangs on the back of her door because she likes it there, DS we’ll copy that because it works and makes the bathroom look neater.

Of course, this all goes to pot during any household noro session, or when DP goes rogue and stuffs wet towels in the washing basket instead of putting a towel wash on, or general other rogue towel behaviours.

Oh and then there was a contagious skin bug one of my dc’s had as a child. Even needed their own hand towel to try and stop cross-contamination. Had to be washed more than once a week along with bedding and their bath towels.
Would have been a nightmare keeping on top of that washing and working if only owned one each.

Ikea pan shelf hung above the bathroom door. Spares are kept folded on there.

Shared guest size hand towel on a hook by the sink. Bath towel each - 2 over the heated towel rail, 2 on hooks on the back of the door but 2 hooks each horizontally so they have more chance of drying. All spare towels and bedding under an ottoman bed (brilliant for extra reasonably accessible storage).

Under the ottoman bed in my room.

In two bottom drawers of a very large chest of drawers in my bedroom. Everyone's "in use" towels go on radiator airers in their rooms. Just a hand towel out in the bathroom.

In the drawers in each bed. Same as sheets.

This is a good idea. That little bit of wall is so handy for storage space

Do you have space for an ottoman?

I bought an IKEA narrow but tall bathroom cabinet, and it sits outside the upstairs bathroom with clean folded bath towels, beach towels, first aid kit and spare bathroom supplies.

@Sanderlings
Before having kids I could have been a fan of your way of working this. With 4 kids, not possible. We’ve had yet another sickness bug this week so I’m snowed under with bedding and towels to wash. I cover the beds with towels so I can just replace those in the night, rather than a whole set of bedding. Allows for a bit more sleep in between!

The ones we are using on hooks on the back of the bathroom door.
The spare ones live with the sheets and the extra toilet rolls in a tiny old wardrobe thing that the last tennants left on the landing.

Wow, guests have to bring their own towels and you tumble dry yours? You’ve no beach towels. No spares. No guest towels. Nothing?

It isn't an airing cupboard because there is no hot water cylinder. I can't put things in there to get dry.

I also have frequently used DIY stuff, some cleaning stuff and toilet roll stored at the bottom.