BATHROOMS

In today’s blog post I’ll be sharing my process for organizing your bathroom, and then I’ll be sharing my experience (and the products I’ve used!) organizing multiple bathrooms.

We’ll start with the process:

1. SORT- in this step you will want to completely clear everything out - and I do mean EVERYTHING. You’ll want to throw out anything that has expired - if you want more details on how long things last sign up for my FREE weekly emails where I go even further into all the little details. This is really the time that you can take an inventory of all that you need to store, and decide if your current storage options are working or if you’d like to try something else. *See the end of the post where I talk about my own experience.

2. CLEAN - I mean I think you know what to do here my friends, but if you want more details (there are a few things that you might not think to clean…) realsimple.com has an article that details every little thing when it comes to cleaning your bathroom (except of course how to clean your cabinets so I’ll attach another article for that!). Just search “how to clean your bathroom.”  Alright for those cabinets and drawers - HGTV.com has an article titled “how to clean wood cabinets.”

3. SHOP - what is working? What do you want to keep? What isn’t working? What do you need? Want more help? Check out my Pinterest page (@xoxoKylieRose) for product ideas. HOT TIP: you can actually shop from my pins - just click the link at the bottom of the picture.

4. ORGANIZE - this is the step where you put it all back together. Here are my tips for organizing: 

     1. Organize like with like. I personally keep my items organized by body part so I have all the supplies I use for my hands and feet together, everything for my hair together, etc. 

     2. Organize based on how often you use items. Most of us have items we use everyday and items that we might use only once a week or less. Make sure your everyday items are easy to access while your here and there items can be hidden out of the way.

     3. Organize by person. If you share your space with others make sure to keep items organized by who uses it. This can be especially helpful with kids - giving them their own basket or drawer helps identify their items versus their sibling’s items.

There are many ways to tackle this process. If you have more than one bathroom you may want to complete the bathrooms one weekend at a time - the whole bathroom start to finish in one weekend, and then the next weekend move on to the next bathroom, or you may want to sort all your bathrooms in one weekend, clean them all in one weekend, etc. If you’re like me and only have one bathroom, then you’ll probably be able to tackle it all in one weekend (or even one night!) if you want.

Now we’ll move on to my experience organizing in multiple apartments over there last few year. I’ve had more than one apartment over the years with bathroom cabinets so we’ll start there. Here’s my before:

I put this together with what I had, but I think we can all see that it was not working.

So here’s my process: I ran to Target and purchased two options. Sometimes you just need to buy multiples, try them out and then return what doesn’t work. Also I shared both options for you to see that there is really no right or wrong here. Each option has its own positives and negatives. Here’s option number one:

Some great things about them is that: 1. they take up the whole space from front to back so it keeps everything visible and they use the vertical space really well, also 2. they have baskets that pull out so you can easily access everything, 3. they came with dividers to help keep your items sorted by category, and finally 4. they have a built in space for you to label each basket. The negatives for me ending up being: 1. price - they were double the cost of the other option, and 2. they didn’t hold everything I needed them to.

And here’s option two:

The advantages are: 1. they are very sturdy with handles which make them easy to access, 2. I was able to stack them in the back to use up some vertical space, and 3. because of the different sizes I was able to put the small ones in front with all my products grouped by category so I can see them really well. Also, and this is completely preference, but they came in two colors - frosted white or frosted gray - I bought gray and personally just liked that they hid a bit of my clutter. It’s organized but also hidden so not everyone can see every single item I own. The biggest negative for me was that it is less convenient to reach the bin on the bottom in the back - not to mention that I have to remember what I put in there! I might add labels down the road to help with this.  

*If you want product details contact me either by filing out the form on my website or send me a DM on Instagram.

In the end, while both options worked, I decided option two was a better fit for me personally. The price was a huge factor for me at this point, but also I decided down the road it would be easier to move, and also I felt it would be easier to alter for a new space. Plus for some reason I just liked the way it looked more. To me it looks cleaner and I really liked that. And it was great.

Until I moved to an apartment without a bathroom cabinet - only a pedestal sink and a small medicine cabinet. I added a shelf from IKEA (ikea.com) to the wall over my toilet and started with the items from above.

It was fine, but it just didn’t sit quite right with me so I ended up donating the items, and starting fresh. I bought baskets from the Container Store with beautiful acrylic labels (purchased separately), and reorganized.

And this was the ticket for me in this new space. It felt lighter and fresher, and while I originally bought the gray bins because they hid my clutter, I’ve actually found that I’m using up more of my products because I can see them! Sometimes a new space just needs new organization.

No matter how much you love to organize, or how good you are at it, there is always room for improvement. For me personally I buy new things, but then have no place for them so they just get shoved wherever there is room for them. This was a fun evening project (ok multiple evenings for multiple spaces) that actually did make a big difference. I know it will make a huge difference for you as well. 

XOXO, Kylie