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You are visiting: Home » Decorating/DIY » Decorate Your Home » Eight Pretty Ways to Contain Your Bathroom Clutter

Eight Pretty Ways to Contain Your Bathroom Clutter

by Lindsay Ballard on January 9, 2013 18 Comments

When Tom and I put our first house on the market, our Realtor team had a whole list of things we needed to do in order to “neutralize” the house.  We emptied out the closets to our essentials and boxed up the off-season clothing in the garage.  We took down our eleventy million wedding photographs and put away personal momentos.  I guess the thought is that if a buyer coming through sees evidence that a family actually lives in the house, the buyer won’t want to buy it.  I wish you could see me rolling my eyes right now.

But, honestly, those things weren’t really that big of a deal.  They were one-time changes, so we didn’t have to worry about it on a daily basis.  The one thing that WAS a huge pain to us was hiding our essential toiletries from our bathroom counter.  We had no drawers in that bathroom, so I bought plastic bins to hold our toothpaste, razors, medication and deodorant in the cabinets.  Every morning, we’d pull our respective bins out, get ready for work, and put them back under the cabinets.  And every evening, we’d pull out our respective bins out, get ready for bed, and put them back under the cabinets.

We’re kind of lazy, so this simple act drove us insane.

I love the look of bare bathroom countertops, but it’s not a practical reality for two people like us.  I thought about showing you the state of our bathroom counters right now, but then decided against it.  It’s pretty embarrassing.  We need some creative ideas to corral the clutter STAT.

In that vein, I turned to Pinterest and found a whole host of gorgeous bathrooms – but not much in the way of containing the clutter other than building shelves or baskets, baskets, baskets.  However, from the ideas that I liked, I put together eight of my favorites to share with you today.

Eight Pretty Ways to Contain Your Bathroom Counter Clutter | Makely School for Girls

1.  Use clear acrylic containers to house your disposable products and pretty tools (like makeup brushes or lip gloss).  I really look the wooden cotton swabs featured in this photo, but I don’t recall ever seeing them in stores.  I did some googling and saw that you can buy them at CVS, so I’ll be picking up some of those as soon as my boring white ones are gone.

2.  Store colorful items, like nail polish or ponytail rubberbands, in glass candy jars.  The jars come in various sizes, and I’ve seen them at Target, the Container Store and Walmart.

3. Throw out expired product.  This one seems so easy, yet I will save a 1/4 full bottle of hairspray for 17 years.  Products that have the little lidded jar symbol with numbers inside tell you how long the product should be used.  In this example, the bottle should be thrown out after you’ve had it for 24 months (regardless of the amount of that expensive lotion you still have left).

4. To help remind you when it’s time to free up a little counter space, place small stickers or tape with the date you open it on the bottom of your products.  This is a great idea for those of us (ahem, okay me) who know they are supposed to throw something about in 6 months but don’t remember exactly when you bought that mascara – Was it in May?  Oh, wait – was it last December?  Yikes!

5.  If you are lucky enough to have drawers in your bathroom, you can use inexpensive silverware organizers to keep your cosmetics and other necessities sorted.  I like to put all of my like products in the same section – eyeshadows, lipstick, and hair barrettes each can have their own special home.

6.  If you have a pedestal sink and lack any countertop whatsoever, attach a pretty hook on the wall and hang a bucket from it for your every day essentials.  This sounds like the perfect excuse to use some pretty scrapbook paper, some Mod Podge and some clear acrylic sealant.

7.  You know all of those little pieces of servingware or place settings you love but can’t justify buying a whole set?  Use the pieces to hold necessities on the counter itself.  Mismatched vintage pieces or Fiestaware would be so cute used in this way.

8.  When all else fails, add a pretty little tray to your countertop, display a few essentials like artwork, and own it.

What’s your bathroom counter’s M.O.?  Is it cluttered and crazy (like mine) or beautiful and thoughtful like the ones above?

Images via Real Simple, HGTV, Real Simple, Real Simple, Real Simple, BHG, Real Simple, and Real Simple.

About Lindsay Ballard

Lindsay Ballard is a former college mascot turned political geek turned roller derby playing, DIY fanatic.

Lindsay chronicles her projects, design ideas, and lifestyle tips here at Makely, where she shares tutorials and inspiration. Her DIY designs are bold and graphic, while her spirit is fun and full of color.

Lindsay lives outside of Austin, Texas with her husband (Tom), children (Zack and Emma), and dogs (Duke and Jill). She plays roller derby for the Rockin' City Rollergirls out of Round Rock, Texas.

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Comments

  1. Jamie says

    January 9, 2013 at 9:23 am

    In our main bathroom, it’s a mix between cutely corralled (me) and covered in beard hair (husband). Just keeping it real here. Our master bath (half bathroom), it’s cluttered because the vanity is so small that any amount of stuff makes it look cluttered. I can’t wait to install my new pedestal sink!

    Reply
    • Lindsay Ballard says

      January 9, 2013 at 9:08 pm

      OMG, gag! Beard hair is the worst! Thanks for the laugh, Jamie!

      Reply
  2. LuAnn Braley says

    January 9, 2013 at 10:41 am

    Well, our current apartment has very little counterspace in the bathroom unfortunately, but a few containers for supplies could doll it up a little, I’m sure. Hrm…putting this one on my list for tax return time! :O)

    Reply
    • Lindsay Ballard says

      January 9, 2013 at 9:09 pm

      Hi LuAnn! Try some of those decorative Command hooks and hang some cute little containers on the wall – that would be easy and in expensive!

      Reply
  3. Melissa says

    January 11, 2013 at 1:48 am

    I am just wondering why these simple ways to keep my bathroom neat and tidy, never happened to me. I especially like that 2nd image (nail polish jar). I have an old fish bowl that i guess i can use to store all my nail polish bottles.

    Reply
    • Lindsay Ballard says

      January 14, 2013 at 9:27 pm

      Oooh, a fish bowl of nail polish would be adorable! Do it!

      {And to be clear – I still haven’t done anything about the disaster zone that is my bathroom!}

      Reply
  4. Shannon says

    January 14, 2013 at 12:01 am

    Loving the bucket on the wall idea–that one is new to me and the design you have pictured really adds an extra piece of pop in the room while also holding all those items. Pretty sold on this and now the only task is to find a neat design that will accent or compliment the sage colors I have in my bathroom right now! Thanks for the inspiration and ideas 🙂

    Reply
    • Lindsay Ballard says

      January 14, 2013 at 9:27 pm

      You’re welcome, Shannon! Give it a shot and see how it looks – it’s such a fun idea!

      Reply
  5. C.A. @ How To Be A Heroine says

    January 28, 2013 at 6:59 pm

    Gorgeous! I especially like all the lucite containers. 🙂

    Reply
    • Lindsay Ballard says

      January 30, 2013 at 9:49 pm

      Yes! They are so pretty. I really need to get a few myself. My bathroom is still quite scary!

      Reply
  6. Megan // Honey We're Home says

    July 10, 2013 at 10:44 pm

    This is just awesome! It’s gotten 87 pins from my Pinterest site already:) I’m going to blog about it tomorrow with a link to your blog- So happy to have found you! 🙂

    Reply
  7. Robin says

    August 9, 2013 at 4:40 pm

    I’m a fanatic about food expiration dates but didn’t know about the lidded symbol in #3 … heading to check out my lotions and potions for the symbol. I’ve always used a toss sticker on mascara and anything that doesn’t have a one way dispenser (as in I touch and could deposit germs) but I just assumed 1 yr for mascara and 8 months for lotions / creams, so it would be great to know the true timeframe based on the little symbol. Thanks so much for sharing, Robin

    Reply
  8. ShawnS says

    August 22, 2013 at 1:51 pm

    I like the lidded baskets you can get from Ikea or Cost Plus. They look pretty and provide storage for the little things like sample sizes which you can’t bring yourself to throw away, yet want to hide because a dish of mish-mash of samples looks too funky.

    Reply
  9. Scott says

    September 19, 2013 at 12:37 pm

    My bathroom is kinda crazy and organized, if that’s possible lol. Great ideas here by the way 🙂

    Reply
  10. Kelly Klark says

    December 4, 2020 at 10:53 am

    Props to you for being consistent with your blog. Keeping things organized always makes a house feel more like home. As well as nice and warm heating!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Eight Pretty Ways to Contain Your Bathroom Clutter « Organize by ML says:
    January 10, 2013 at 2:58 pm

    […] Via […]

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  2. Hello Friday! Link Roundup: 4 Easy DIYs | Hello Little Home says:
    September 13, 2013 at 5:21 am

    […] Try one of these 8 pretty ways to contain your bathroom clutter. […]

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  3. organizing chaos with decorating says:
    May 22, 2014 at 3:58 pm

    […] Makelyhome.com […]

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About Makely

Lindsay Ballard is a former college mascot turned political geek turned roller derby playing, DIY fanatic.

Lindsay chronicles her projects, design ideas, and lifestyle tips here at Makely, where she shares tutorials and inspiration. Her DIY designs are bold and graphic, while her spirit is fun and full of color.

Lindsay lives outside of Austin, Texas with her husband (Tom), children (Zack and Emma), and dogs (Duke and Jill). She plays roller derby for the Rockin' City Rollergirls out of Round Rock, Texas.


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