Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Bathroom Organization 101!

We have started the process of looking for a new house.  We moved into this house with 2 kids and now have 4.  It is not a bad house, it just is not fitting our needs as well as it used to.  Part of looking for a new house is selling the old one.  In anticipation of listing it for sale I have begun some major organizing and accessorizing!  One area that was a complete mess was my kids bathroom.  Four kids sharing one bathroom and 3 of them are girls... you get the picture! My poor son!!!!  So I attempted a few projects this last month to get their bathroom in order.





I did not take any before pictures - I think it was on purpose as I was so embarrassed by how bad it had gotten!  Here however are some after pictures!  Small bathroom - 4 kids - you get the picture!



The towel thing I did a while back.  They each have their own color and a hook on the back of the door.  The idea is that they don't go through 15 towels a week.  Does it always work... no, but I think it has helped.  As you can see 2 of them have forgotten to rehang their towels.  They are probably on their bedroom floors.   That we are still working on!

                                                                                I made 2 of these boards.  Before all of the bows and hair stuff was piled into the 2 deep drawers along with who knows what else.   Now they are a decorative touch and we can actually find the bows we are looking for!  YAY!!!  Keep your eyes open for an upcoming tutorial on how I did this.  It was so easy.  All you will need are some fabric, ribbon, thread, a canvas, and staple gun.  Only minimal sewing involved on the loopy part.  Everything else is stapled!
                                                                                                                                                                                 Next up! The top drawer.  There are a total of 3 drawers in this bathroom and the 2 cupboards under the sink for storage!  Not a lot!  I was tired of the toothbrush/ toothpaste mess on the counter in the jar that gets absolutly disgusting both inside and out.  I was browsing through pinterest and found this spectacular idea.  A silverware tray for the toothbrushes.  No more mess on my counter and easily washed!!!  I recycled a few small containers, but almost all the storage containers in these drawers came from the dollar store!  Cheap storage is the best! 
I have a love/ hate relationship with deep drawers in the bathroom/ kitchen.  They store more, but things just get thrown in and then you can't find anything.  Most of my tray storage is not deep enough to utilize the whole depth.  So, when I was at the dollar store last week I was specifically looking for a solution for this drawer in the bathroom.  I found it!!!  These containers were $1 each and are tall enough to utilize the whole depth.  They have a lid to contain the mess.  What is in them?  Rubber bands, different types of clips, bobby pins, nail polish... all the small stuff that needs to be grouped and contained!  I love it!!!!I think I am going to get more and use them for office storage!  The possibilities are endless!
And the last drawer.  This one is for the overflow.  The things that didn't fit anywhere else.   The green basket has bigger hair items that did not easily fit on the hair bow boards.  The clear container next to it is for the random jewelry that gets left in the bathroom by my girls and then there is the blow dryer and brushes that don't fit in the top drawer.  Those pink foam curlers need to be thrown out.  I think one of my kiddos snuck them in there after I finished organizing and before I took the pictures.  Just goes to show you have to keep on top of it once it is done!  I actually have a better solution for the blow dryer and other big hair appliances, but it involves screws and since we are planning on moving soon I did not want to go there.  Next house!

I didn't take pictures, but under one sink are their towels and under the other is cleaning supplies, extra toilet paper, and extra shampoo, soap, etc.  You get the idea.  I am loving a clear counter with no junk on it.  My favorite thing is not having the toothbrush mess out and the ability to quickly track down the hair stuff that we need!  Hopefully this gives you a few ideas of ways to better organize your kids bathrooms and keep your eyes out for that tutorial on making the bow hangers!