Organized Bathroom Cabinet

I started off the year with lots of big talk about organizing, and showing you pictures of our disheveled bathroom cabinets. And then each weekend came and went, with no progress. But when I came across Laurel at Ducks in a Row's declaration of, 'I'm taking back my home!', I was instantly inspired. Instead of being overwhelmed of where to start (because honestly, the Pantry, Command Center and Gift Wrap Station are the only organized spaces in my house), I just picked a spot and went after it!

I decided on the Kid's/Guest Bathroom because it's a relatively small space (baby steps, right?!), and I knew it would make such a positive impact on our rushed daily routine.

 

A makeover made the room pretty, but I never addressed what was behind closed doors cabinets. With no clear designation for things, it was a total waste of space, and things were scattered all over. This cabinet held toys and random bathroom essentials, a hall cabinet housed towels and extra washcloths, while extra soap and shampoo was in our bathroom. And goodness knows there was never a roll of toilet paper anywhere near this bathroom!

I hopped over to The Container Store, but even with their Elfa sale, a drawer unit for one side of the cabinet was $70. I'm sorry, but I'm not spending $140 to organize a bathroom cabinet! So I scoured the aisles of Target and the Dollar Store for supplies, and whipped this baby into shape for $25!

 

Amazingly enough, I was able to get all the bathroom essentials in this single cabinet. And what's even more amazing, is the amount of space that was freed up in other cabinets throughout the house!

The budget-saver in this project was finding these drawers at Target. They are modular and come in sets or individually, so you can customize to fit your space. Plumbing makes working in these cabinets tricky, so these were great in helping me get around the pipes. The drawers also pull out all the way, making it easy to cut paper liners.

Necessary? No. Cute? Oh yeah. I used scrap wrapping paper I already owned. And keeping everything in the same color family made it more cohesive.

Let's take a tour of the cabinet, and I'll show you how I shoe-horned so much stuff in this single vanity cabinet. The left side contains two drawers and two stacks of bath towels.

Labeling is not only cute, but helps with keeping things organized and functioning properly long-term. I started with sticker labels, but they didn't stay on the plastic very well. The Martha Stewart bookplates don't budge, so I just stuck the stickers in those (leftover from this project).

Each kid has their own drawer, and small baskets and tubs from the Dollar Store help corral the little stuff. Six-year-old girls don't require much, but I know that will change in a few years!

Now let's turn to the right side of the cabinet.

Since this doubles as both the Kids and Guest Bathroom, I followed Courtney's lead and created a small bucket of essentials guests might need when staying with us.

Having this stocked and ready will cut down on last minute scrambling that always accompanies a house guest.

And this Dollar Store bin full of toilet paper assures I'll never be left stranded with only a single square on the roll! I mean really, what is it about men and kids that they can't replace the roll?!

Storing the extra hand towels and washcloths in a drawer means they won't topple over and get lost in the back corners of the cabinet.

My daughter's Headband Organizer was still working well, but I wanted to declutter the counters, so they are now hanging from Command hooks mounted to the cabinet door. When she moves out of the headband stage, I 'll use them for other things or easily take them down.

Now let's turn our attention to the drawers. No Before shot is necessary...you know what drawers full of toothpaste splatter and loose hair look like! Since they will likely get water drops, I couldn't use standard wrapping paper, so I lined them with plain white Contact paper (leftover from this project).

And because I'm demented a blogger, of course I had to cute them up by dobbing circles of craft paint with a round stencil sponge. Custom polka dots, priceless!

I scoured the Dollar Store for alternate storage options, and found these little baskets intended for cutlery, and plastic baby food bowls. The bowls are held in place with adhesive pads, and are the perfect size for narrow, short drawers.

So that's how I consolidated items from four different cabinets, into one tidy space, for less than $25. That's a big organizational punch! My daughter loves it so much she gives friends a tour when they come over. And even my son sighed and said, 'I just love when things are organized and in place.' 

I've made the first step towards taking back my home, and it feels amazing. I'm not sure what space is next, but I'm just going to jump right in, even if it gets worse before it gets better! Have you tackled any organizing yet this year?