20 Best Pool Storage Ideas DIY Cedar Cabinet Towel Bar

A pool area without proper storage is a pool area that never quite reaches its potential. The towels end up draped over chairs or fences and never fully dry. The pool toys get piled in a corner where they block the path and slowly deteriorate. The chemicals sit on the ground where children can reach them. The goggles and floaties and sunscreen and pool noodles exist in a state of perpetual disorganized chaos that makes the whole space feel less relaxing than it should be.

Cedar is the answer to almost every pool storage problem, and it has been for a long time. Cedar’s natural oils make it genuinely weather-resistant in a way that no paint or sealant can fully replicate in other woods — it resists moisture, repels insects, stays dimensionally stable through seasonal temperature swings, and develops a beautiful silver-grey patina over time that makes it look more beautiful outdoors the longer it is left there. It is the material that pool storage was made for.

The DIY cedar pool cabinet with integrated towel bar takes that material advantage and turns it into something that functions as both serious practical storage and genuine outdoor design. A well-built cedar cabinet beside a pool does not look like an afterthought — it looks like it was planned as part of the pool installation from the beginning, a piece of outdoor architecture that organizes the pool area and elevates its entire aesthetic simultaneously.

These 20 ideas show you every direction this project can take — from the most minimal single cedar cabinet with a simple towel bar to full poolside storage walls with multiple zones, every design variation, every finish option, and every functional configuration that makes a cedar pool cabinet genuinely worth building.

1. Classic Cedar Cabinet with Double Towel Bar

The foundational cedar pool cabinet design uses a simple two-door cabinet body in natural cedar with two horizontal towel bars — one mounted directly above the cabinet doors at approximately 150cm height, one mounted at approximately 180cm height — creating a double-layer towel drying zone that can handle the full towel load of a large family pool session. The lower bar holds fresh dry towels ready for use. The upper bar receives wet towels coming off the pool for drying. Inside the cabinet: three full-height shelves for pool accessories, sunscreen, goggles, and smaller items. The double towel bar configuration is the most practical single improvement over a single-bar design — the separation of wet and dry towels is the functional upgrade that makes pool days genuinely more organized.

2. Cedar Cabinet with Towel Bar and Open Cubby Storage

Combining a closed cabinet section with an open cubby section — the cabinet storing chemical supplies and items that need protection from weather and sun, the open cubbies providing quick-access storage for pool toys, pool noodles, and beach bags — creates a cedar pool storage unit with genuine organizational intelligence. Build the open cubby section on one side of the cabinet — a series of rectangular open compartments sized to hold specific items: a tall narrow cubby for pool noodles standing vertically, wider cubbies for beach bags and floaties, smaller cubbies for smaller toys and accessories. The towel bar spans the full width of the combined unit above the closed and open sections. The result is a single cedar structure that handles every pool storage category simultaneously.

3. Tall Cedar Wardrobe-Style Pool Cabinet

A tall, full-height cedar cabinet — approximately 180cm to 200cm tall, wardrobe-proportioned — provides a completely different storage capacity and visual presence from standard chest-height pool cabinets. The extra height allows for hanging storage on the upper interior section — a cedar dowel at the top on which wet swimwear and towels can be hung on hooks to dry in the interior — while the lower section has shelves for organized pool supply storage. The exterior of the tall cedar cabinet presents a genuinely architectural face to the pool area — a full-height warm timber form that looks deliberate and designed. The towel bar mounted on the exterior face at approximately 150cm height handles the immediate post-swim towel need.

4. Cedar Storage Bench with Towel Bar Back

A cedar storage bench — a long low bench with a hinged top that opens to reveal storage inside — with a towel bar integrated into the back of the bench provides seating at the poolside simultaneously with storage below and towel organization above. The bench can seat two to three people while the hinged top lifts to access the storage cavity below — perfect for pool floaties, large inflatables, and items that are not needed mid-swim. The towel bar integrated into the bench back panel at approximately 130cm height creates a towel display that is visible from the pool while in use. The bench form is lower and longer than a cabinet, making it feel more outdoor-furniture-like and more naturally integrated into pool seating zones.

5. Cedar Cabinet with Towel Bar and Side Towel Hooks

Adding multiple individual towel hooks to the sides of the cedar cabinet — in addition to the horizontal towel bar on the front face — creates a cabinet that can handle a large family’s post-swim towel needs simultaneously without any towel touching the pool deck. Mount five to seven individual aged brass or stainless steel hooks on each exposed side panel of the cedar cabinet, staggered at slightly different heights so towels hang without overlapping. The side hooks handle the overflow when the front towel bar is at capacity and provide dedicated hook positions for each family member’s towel. The combination of front bar and side hooks turns a simple cabinet into a complete poolside towel management station.

6. Cedar Cabinet with Lockable Chemical Storage Compartment

Pool chemicals require secure, weatherproof, adult-only storage — and building a dedicated lockable compartment into the lower section of the cedar pool cabinet creates the safest and most organized pool chemical storage solution available. The lower compartment sits below the main storage cabinet, approximately 40cm tall by the full cabinet width, with a separate door that locks with a simple keyed lock or a combination lock. Inside: adjustable cedar shelving sized for chemical bottles and containers. The upper cabinet stores pool accessories and towels normally. The single cedar cabinet with two separate zones — one standard, one lockable — handles every pool storage need in one beautiful cedar structure.

7. Built-In Cedar Pool Storage Wall

A full built-in cedar storage wall — spanning the entire width of a pool house wall, pool fence section, or outdoor wall — creates the most permanent and most impressive pool storage installation available. Design the built-in wall with multiple zones: a full-width towel bar across the top section, a central cabinet zone with doors for chemical and equipment storage, open shelving sections on each side for pool toys and accessories, and a lower bench section with storage below for large items. The full built-in cedar wall treatment makes the pool area feel like a genuinely designed outdoor room rather than simply a functional space.

8. Cedar Pool Cabinet with Integrated Changing Room

Extending the cedar cabinet into a compact changing room enclosure — a three-sided cedar structure with a simple fabric or cedar slat privacy curtain on one open side — creates a poolside changing facility that makes pool days dramatically more convenient and more private. The changing room section sits beside the main storage cabinet and shares the same cedar construction and aesthetic. Inside the changing area: one cedar hook rail for hanging clothes, one cedar bench at sitting height, natural light from above. The towel bar is positioned on the outside face of the changing room section — towels hang on the outside and are pulled in when needed. The combined cedar cabinet and changing room is the most comprehensive pool area storage and facility build available.

9. Weathered Grey Cedar Cabinet — Natural Patina Finish

Allowing or accelerating the natural greying patina that cedar develops when left outdoors and untreated creates a completely different aesthetic character from the warm honey-red of natural oiled cedar. The silver-grey patina of naturally weathered cedar has its own extraordinary beauty — it looks timeless, it references driftwood and weathered seaside structures, and it becomes more beautiful the longer it is left to develop. You can accelerate the natural greying process by applying an iron acetate solution made from steel wool dissolved in vinegar — the iron reacts with the cedar’s tannins to grey the surface within hours rather than years. A grey patina cedar cabinet with a contrasting aged brass towel bar and hardware is one of the most visually sophisticated pool storage options available.

10. Cedar Pool Cabinet with Mirrored Back Panel

Installing a large mirror panel on the back interior wall of the cedar cabinet — or on the inside face of one of the cabinet doors — creates a pool cabinet with a genuinely unexpected and genuinely useful feature: a poolside mirror for checking hair and appearance before and after swimming. The mirror in the cedar cabinet context is framed by the warm natural cedar of the door interior, making it feel like a considered design detail rather than a functional afterthought. Mount a marine-grade or outdoor-rated mirror panel into the cedar cabinet door back using simple cedar frame strips. The cedar door frame surrounding the outdoor mirror creates a beautiful warm wood mirror that looks like a piece of furniture rather than a pool accessory.

11. Cedar Floating Shelves with Towel Bar for Small Pool Spaces

For small pool areas, courtyards, or plunge pools where a full-size cabinet would occupy too much floor space, a wall-mounted cedar floating shelf system — three to four cedar shelves at ascending heights on a pool-adjacent wall, with a horizontal cedar towel bar mounted between or below the lowest shelf — provides organized pool storage without any floor footprint. The floating shelves can hold sunscreen, goggles, pool toys, and small accessories on their surfaces. A small cedar basket or open cedar box on each shelf contains loose items. The towel bar below handles the towels. The whole system exists on the wall, keeping the pool deck clear and unobstructed.

12. Cedar Cabinet with Chalkboard Door Panel

Painting one of the cedar cabinet door exterior faces with outdoor chalkboard paint creates a functional writing surface for pool rules, family messages, pool chemical schedules, or fun daily pool activities for children. The chalkboard panel on one cedar door face, surrounded by the warm cedar cabinet frame, creates an unexpectedly charming and genuinely useful poolside communication feature. Write pool chemical treatment dates, water temperature, or funny pool rules directly on the chalkboard. The chalkboard cedar cabinet door is one of the most family-friendly and most genuinely useful adaptations of the basic cedar pool cabinet design.

13. Cedar Cabinet with Planter Top

Mounting a cedar planter box on the top of the storage cabinet — essentially a built-in planter that runs the full width of the cabinet top — creates a pool storage unit that doubles as a planting bed, bringing living greenery directly into the pool storage structure. Fill the top planter with trailing plants — portulaca, sweet potato vine, trailing petunias — that spill over the cabinet sides in summer color. Or plant fragrant herbs — rosemary, lavender, thyme — that scent the air around the pool area. The cedar of the planter box blending seamlessly with the cedar of the cabinet below creates one cohesive structure where storage and garden are integrated rather than separate.

14. Cedar Pool Cabinet with Outdoor Shower Attachment

Adding a simple outdoor shower riser — a copper or stainless steel pipe riser with a shower head attached — to the side or back of the cedar cabinet creates a poolside outdoor shower facility that is completely integrated with the storage structure. The shower pipe attaches to the cabinet’s structural frame using simple plumbing fittings, with the water supply run along the ground from the nearest outdoor tap. The shower head height is adjustable to suit the tallest family member. The shower runoff drains toward the pool drain or a small pebble garden beside the cabinet. The cedar cabinet with integrated outdoor shower turns a simple storage build into a complete poolside facility.

15. Cedar Cabinet with Solar LED Strip Lighting

Installing solar-powered warm LED strip lights on the inside edge of the cedar cabinet’s top frame — so they illuminate the cabinet interior when the doors are opened and also cast a warm ambient glow on the pool deck when the cabinet is open in the evening — creates a pool cabinet that is beautiful and functional after dark as well as during the day. The solar panel charges during the day mounted on the cabinet top. In the evening the LED strips activate automatically, casting warm amber light on the cedar interior and creating a warm glow on the pool deck that makes evening pool sessions feel genuinely atmospheric. A second LED strip can be mounted under the towel bar to illuminate the towels and the pool deck area below.

16. Cedar Cabinet with Personalized Name Routing

Routing or carving the family name or a simple design — a wave motif, a sun form, a simple compass rose — into the cedar cabinet door face creates a personalized pool cabinet that feels genuinely custom and genuinely made for the family that uses it. Use a router with a simple pattern guide for a clean routed line design, or use a wood burning tool for a more casual, hand-drawn quality. The routed or burned design in the cedar door creates a shadow and texture detail that is most beautiful when the sun rakes across the door face at an angle, showing the carved depth. The personalized cedar pool cabinet becomes a genuinely special outdoor piece that no purchased storage could replicate.

17. Corner Cedar Cabinet — L-Shape Pool Storage

Building the cedar pool storage as an L-shape corner unit — one section running along one wall and a second section perpendicular to it, meeting at the corner — creates a pool storage installation that makes efficient use of corner space and provides more storage capacity and more towel bar length than any straight single-section cabinet. The corner unit wraps the pool corner or the pool house corner, with towel bars running along the front face of both sections. The inside corner can incorporate additional hooks or a small additional shelf. The L-shape provides a natural enclosure effect that creates a more defined pool area zone.

18. Cedar Pool Cabinet with Integrated Cooler Compartment

Building a dedicated cooler compartment into the cedar cabinet — an insulated interior section lined with foam insulation and a waterproof liner, sized to hold ice and drinks — creates a pool cabinet with a built-in outdoor bar feature. The cooler compartment opens via its own front panel at a convenient height for reaching in for cold drinks without bending. A simple drain hole at the base of the cooler compartment with a small hose allows meltwater drainage. The cedar cabinet exterior maintains its beautiful natural appearance while the interior cooler compartment makes afternoon pool sessions genuinely self-sufficient — cold drinks stored right beside the pool without requiring trips to the house.

19. Cedar Cabinet with Outdoor Speaker Integration

Routing or cutting a recessed panel into one cedar cabinet door face and mounting a weather-resistant outdoor speaker behind it — covered by a simple cedar slat grille that allows sound to project while protecting the speaker from direct water contact — creates a cedar pool cabinet with integrated sound that makes pool music feel genuinely designed rather than rigged with a portable Bluetooth speaker on a chair. The cedar slat grille over the speaker cavity looks beautiful and feels intentional. Wire the speaker connection through the cabinet interior to a connection point at the cabinet back. The towel bar remains on the front cabinet face above the speaker-grille door, making the complete cabinet face a unified design of speaker grille, door hardware, and towel bar.

20. The Complete DIY Cedar Pool Storage System — Full Pool Area Build

The final idea is the complete vision — a fully realized DIY cedar pool storage system where every element of the pool area has been addressed with a cedar build. A primary storage cabinet with double towel bar and lockable chemical compartment beside the pool equipment zone. A storage bench with towel bar back along one pool side for seating and large item storage. A corner L-shape unit with full-width towel bars. A vertical planter wall section with terracotta pots. A floating shelf system above a wall-mounted towel bar for small accessories. Integrated outdoor shower on the primary cabinet. Cedar planter boxes along the pool fence or wall. The result is a pool area where every storage need has a cedar solution — a complete outdoor room defined by the warmth and the weather-resistance and the natural beauty of cedar timber.