Your Bathroom Needs a Phone Shelf

In the moment that would change my life forever, I was standing in Target looking at toilet paper holders. I like a freestanding holder, since it does not have a “front” or “back” for the roll debate; you just pull from whichever side you prefer. But for some reason all the freestanding TP holders had a little shelf on the top. That’s silly, I thought. What would you even put on that shelf?

But those were my options, so I bought a holder with a shelf. On the way home I thought about what I might put on it. The hand soap dispenser, because we’ve never found quite the right spot for it? No, it could drip. A little decorative plant or fake flower? Too high maintenance. I’d just leave it empty and see what came to me.

So the shelf stood empty. The first time I used the bathroom after that, I pulled my phone out of my pocket, so that it wouldn’t drop on the floor or (yikes) down the toilet when I pulled my pants down. The little shelf was a handy place to put it. I’ll miss that once I figure out what we’re going to put here, I thought.

You see where this is going. After a few weeks, I realised I’d been putting my phone on that shelf every time I visited the bathroom. It was also handy for a water bottle or a book, or any other item(s) I happened to have in my hands when I went into the bathroom. It took me a while to realise that this is what it’s for.

And sure enough, if you search Amazon for “bathroom phone shelf,” there are a wide variety available. The freestanding toilet paper holders have a phone shelf. The wall-mounted toilet paper holders have a phone shelf. There are even little standalone shelves you can buy and mount to the wall for this purpose.

You can, of course, make or designate your own. (I realised that I’d been using the windowsill of our other bathroom as a dedicated phone shelf for years; I just never thought to call it that.) So whether you buy a phone shelf or just clear off a space on am existing bathroom furnishing you already have, give yourself and your guests a place to empty their pockets before sitting down.