Where do you hang your bath sheets (huge towels) to dry?

July 6, 2016 8:03 PM

We recently replaced our ordinary sized towels with bath sheets (approximately 36x72"). A problem we didn't anticipate is that they are substantially too large to hang on the towel rack we have without folding (inhibiting drying) or touching the floor (gross). If you have large towels, how/where do you hang them to dry?

Unfortunately we don't have room on the wall to mount traditional towel bars, so bonus points for free-standing racks or other creative ideas. But regardless, I'd like to hear how others handle this, because they seem too large even for normal towel bars (at least in the horizontal direction).

posted by primethyme to Home & Garden (29 answers total)

Over the edge of the door (so the front and back of a door over the top) or off a railing between floors and people pick up their towel on the way into the bathroom.
posted by raccoon409 at 8:10 PM on July 6, 2016 [1 favorite]

Over the top of the glass shower enclosure.
posted by PorcineWithMe at 8:18 PM on July 6, 2016 [6 favorites]

I use a beach towel that is almost as big as you describe, and I hang it over the closet door in my bedroom. Not the most elegant solution, I'll admit, but it works. The towel gets dry and it doesn't touch anything gross.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 8:19 PM on July 6, 2016 [1 favorite]

I hang my bath sheet on a hook. It seems like it would be ineffective, but it dries fully in 24 hours.
posted by bendy at 8:19 PM on July 6, 2016 [15 favorites]

I fold mine and put it on the rack. It's always dry when I need it again. But then again, I have only one towel hanging there.
posted by possibilityleft at 8:20 PM on July 6, 2016

One of ours goes over the glass shower enclosure (and I nag my husband to leave the door slid back so there's some kind of airflow) but the other goes over a tension rod mounted in the hallway outside the utility room. Occasionally there's a third one (we have an odd rotation) and I hang it as spread out as possible over an over-door hook like this.

Worst case, one of these drying racks, wherever you can make it work.
posted by Lyn Never at 8:26 PM on July 6, 2016

I have a six hook two-tiered over-the-door rack, so I spread it lengthwise across the six hooks, and then let the edges hang down. Dries perfectly, no mildew or anything. It actually has two tiers, so I use one level for my hair towel and one for my bath sheet.
posted by clone boulevard at 8:27 PM on July 6, 2016 [1 favorite]

We hang ours over the railing by the stairs outside the bathroom. Lots of room, good airflow, towels don't need to touch the floor.
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 8:29 PM on July 6, 2016

Towels go on the 4-hook door top bracket thing you can buy anywhere. Bath mat goes over the shower rod.
posted by rhizome at 8:52 PM on July 6, 2016 [3 favorites]

I put two big sturdy metal hooks on the top corners of my door. Large towels go across the two hooks with some swag in the middle, but still pretty much spread out. Railing of the upstairs stairwell works, too.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 8:55 PM on July 6, 2016 [2 favorites]

I recently discovered that there are double shower curtain rods, apparently designed specifically for hanging towels on.

I think I might just hang a second rod next to the first. Two shower curtain rods should function similarly to a double, but give me more control.
posted by amtho at 8:58 PM on July 6, 2016 [5 favorites]

We have all hooks in our bathroom for hanging towels. Originally for lack of space but our super large bath sheets & towels dry fine on them. I actually prefer them now as easier to use too.
posted by wwax at 9:21 PM on July 6, 2016 [1 favorite]

Top edge of the door.

Also: Try beach towels. They work just as well and dry much faster.
posted by Ahniya at 9:41 PM on July 6, 2016

No matter how they are hung, I find they do not dry in the bathroom with the humidity in there...

Hooks or over the closet door in the bedroom. Anywhere outside of the bathroom is fine.
posted by jbenben at 9:50 PM on July 6, 2016 [1 favorite]

Obviously, you should dry your towel on a heated towel rack.
posted by bendy at 10:34 PM on July 6, 2016

I have a drying rack used for drying clothes, and I also use this to dry my towel between showers. I drape it over a couple of bars in order to let some air flow on all sides.
posted by sweetpotato at 10:59 PM on July 6, 2016 [1 favorite]

Maybe clean the floor right before drying?
posted by coberh at 11:03 PM on July 6, 2016

I actually fold mine in half lengthwise and put them on a regular towel bar. I have been doing this for nearly a decade in humid moldy Seattle and have never had a problem with them not drying properly or getting gross.
posted by joan_holloway at 11:22 PM on July 6, 2016

I also fold mine in half lengthwise, but the bar they are on is right over the HVAC vent in the floor. Bath sheet, hair towel, wash cloth, all dry well summer or winter, no problem
posted by Cranberry at 11:35 PM on July 6, 2016

We have these extendable bars that go on the back of the door. I can't find them online anywhere but they're pretty cool.
posted by fshgrl at 11:49 PM on July 6, 2016

I fold mine in half lengthwise as well, and have also lived in humid climates all my life until recently. In humid places mine would dry in just under a day; where I live now it only takes half a day. Never had mold issues, and yeah, where I lived humidity would hit 90-100% pretty often. The key is to ensure good airflow wherever things get moist. I always get box fans with built-in timers for this reason - can put them anywhere, set the timer for half an hour, and that usually does the trick with post-shower humidity.

Have had racks, door hooks, door bars...
posted by fraula at 12:58 AM on July 7, 2016

Get some skirt hangers, hang hanger from hook on ceiling.
I have no towel racks in my BR, so that's what I've been doing for yonks.
posted by james33 at 4:26 AM on July 7, 2016 [1 favorite]

Related: I do a quick dry off with a small hand towel; that gets rid of about 90% of the water. Then when I use the full bath towel, it feels better, I get dryer, and the large towel dries more quickly. I then wash the smaller towel more frequently and the larger one less frequently.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 6:20 AM on July 7, 2016 [6 favorites]

I use my clothes dryer.
In the morning, a few minutes before my shower, while I'm waiting for my coffee, I run the dryer with my shower towels in it - it warms up the towels just so nicely - especially in the winter. When I am done with my shower, I put the towels back in the dryer for a 10 minute run and they're still sitting in the dryer when I get up the next morning. Lather/rinse/repeat.
posted by NoraCharles at 6:59 AM on July 7, 2016

All of my (quite large) towels hang on hooks inside of the bathroom door, which is left open after showers so that they dry out.

They are from Target, and all have a nice convenient loop near one of the ends so that they hang even more nicely. If I bought towels without a loop, I would probably go ahead and sew one on for the convenience.

But yes, I've also seen the double-rod curtain setup and that seems like a nice option too.
posted by amicamentis at 7:54 AM on July 7, 2016

As long as I've folded them once, neatly and with no bunched-up bits, even my thicker towels have dried on the towel rack.
posted by Edna Million at 10:00 AM on July 7, 2016

We put a coat tree in the corner of the bathroom.
posted by 26.2 at 10:06 AM on July 7, 2016 [1 favorite]

I have double hooks that loop over the shower curtain rod. They work well.
posted by Oyéah at 8:33 PM on July 7, 2016

I just throw mine over the shower curtain rod.
posted by Amalie-Suzette at 7:43 AM on July 10, 2016