In case you missed it, we’ve completed our Second Floor Renovation and I shared all of the plans here along with framing and drywall progress here and details on the finishes here. I recently revealed the entire designed space, with links to all products I used to style it here.
Today, I’m sharing a look behind the cabinets to inspire your own bath organization for a clutter-free system to access your essentials to ease your routine! I’m sharing tips for how to approach organizing your bathroom cabinets and at the end of the post, linked all of the bamboo organizers I used to maximize the space without piling in too many products. Lastly – gave a look into how each drawer is organized to inspire your own categorization!
Organization Approach: Tips & Process
In life you hear that it gets worse before it gets better, and that certainly applies to organizing! It will get overwhelming and there will be stuff everywhere. However, if you know that is part of the process, it feels normal and is much easier to take on.
1: Empty & Clean
If this isn’t a new space, completely empty your existing drawers for a blank slate and take the time to completely wipe down and sanitize everything! Now is the time as you likely won’t have as easy of an opportunity to clean your insides in the near future.
As you remove, or after you’ve removed everything, go through and:
- Ask yourself when the last time you used an item was – do you really need to make space for it?
- Check expiration dates! You will likely deplete half of your inventory, especially within medications/vitamins.
2. Group Like Items
Now that you’re looking at everything you’re keeping, group like items for best organization and access. Consider the # of people in your household and factor in children if it is a shared space. Do this outside of the drawers. You can group by the following categories for example:
- Daily Medication & Vitamins
- Pain Relief
- Stomach Relief
- Cold + Flu
- Makeup
- Skincare
- Nail Care/Polish
- Feminine Care
- Hair Care
- Personal Items (section for each household member)
- Travel Size
3. Measure and Order Organizers + Containers
Once you have everything sorted into grouped piles, you have a visual of what types of containers to store them in.
Consider what works best for you – lids vs. no lids, clear for visibility or if certain items are preferred to be covered. Do you want to splurge on a material that matches – ex: white wood, bamboo; or utilize acrylic?
Then, measure your space! Writing down all of the dimensions makes the shopping process much easier as you can quickly reference and order less items knowing what will fit or not. Think about how to maximize each space, without cluttering it. A mistake people make is fully packing in a drawer or opening, but, the result is a space where you have to remove or knock things over to access an item. For example: I knew lazy susans would be perfect for the counter cabinet bottom shelf as I could easily spin it to maximize space and have a variety of short and tall items. They are also much more functional than cramming a bunch of bottles that block one another to get to the back, preventing you from even using half of the items.
Everything I used is linked at the end! But a variety of types are:
- Variety packs of sized containers
- Lazy susan
- Lidded drawer containers
- Spice racks (amazing for skincare and makeup!)
- Lidded organizers (for q-tips, for example)
- Dividers
4: Organize by Access
I hinted at this above, but it’s important to organize by access. You want to make sure the items you use regularly are at a closer reach. Consider the visual view, if it’s important to keep certain products out of reach, and grouping items by person within an overall space. For example, our first set of drawers is shared, the second contains my items and the last set is Greg’s. Items that are extras like toilet paper, q-tips and towels are stored in common areas – under the sink is great for extras!
5. Label (Optional)
I know a lot of people are HUGE on labels, but to me, I don’t think they are necessary and lock you in vs. adapting over time. If organization is done properly, you know what each bin consists of and I just don’t prefer the forced element of labeling something. Now, if you have children – that may be the reason to do so! You can find really easy to use and affordable labels here.
View my Cabinetry Organization
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You can also shop the entire Primary Bath here.
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