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! We thought about adding a medicine cabinet, but don’t really have the space for that, either. 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?
I love the idea of the modular drawers to separate each kids toiletries, plus it keeps it all hidden. And I am loving the Dollar Store lately for all their organization products.
I need to do this. My kids bathroom isn't in bad shape. It would give me a little more storage to stack some drawers in there.
So much better. I definitely need to do the same thing n all of our bathrooms.
Because I'm demented…..I mean a blogger…..
HILARIOUS! Those polka dots really did make it SO cute!
I love the command hooks for the headbands. My girls are 3 and 5 so their headband stash is just obscene.
The polka dots make me happy! Looking good girlie – my kids bathroom is such a hot mess – I have to put a new vanity in there before I can do any organizing.
Great job and so inspiring! This bathroom cabinet looks terrific and is such a smart use of space while being cute at the same time.
nice work! simple but effective and love that you found a cheaper alternative at target. we have no under sink space in our bathroom (grrr) but something like this might work well under our cluttered kitchen sink area!
— jackiejade.blogspot.com
I love that there were frames stored under your bathroom sink before! Glad I'm not the only one who shoves random stuff under there. Looks great now though 🙂
This looks phenomenal. I'm jealous that this bathroom cabinet has so much space!
After redoing both bathrooms this weekend, I am ashamed to say the cabinets are CRAMMED. You are just the inspiration I need 🙂 Nice work, the drawers for each kiddo makes total sense!
great ideas, love the lining paper!
Love this! I have similar storage in my bathoom, but my drawers are probably 5+ years old…perhaps they need to updating 🙂
I love this! I also need to do something with my sons/guest bathroom. For some reason, I have been stumped as to how to corral the bath toys without hanging a plastic holder on the wall; which is just not my style. My not so awesome solution has been to lay them on the vanity and in the sink. Silly question, do you only have the two towels for that bathroom or are there others in a linen closet somewhere? I have always wondered if there is a magic number for towels. We have tons (enough for one per person for 6 days) and sometimes I think we have too many, especially since we have a severe lack of storage space in our house, but then I remember how nice it is not to have to wash towels but once a week 🙂
Hi Leigh — there are actually 4 towels in this cabinet, two behind the ones in front. And there are usually two hanging on the back of the bathroom door from being recently used. Part of cleaning out this cabinet involved purging all the 'extra' towels I had 'just in case' We have about 6 towels in the master bath as well. Hope this helps!
Printing these pictures for my kids!! Thanks Sugarplum!!
Love me some great under cabinet organization. Cute idea to hang the headbands. Hmm.
Fantastic! I totally needed this today! our master bathroom is tiny and the under-sink area is downright scary!
You have no idea how much I need to do this- my house is like a giant facade…between every closed door is a giant mess. Well done you!
This is so inspiring! I love the basket for the tp rolls… haven't thought of that!
Champagne Lifestyle on a Beer Budget
haha I love that your son said that!
This is so fabulous. Do you find yourself looking in the drawers and cabinets randomly throughout the day? So smile worthy! And all of the little details make it such a fun and inspiring project. Great job with the polka dots, they are my fav! Oh and the labels! LOVE! It all ties together so beautiful and you were so resourceful with your product find! Kudos darling!
xo,
Jen
Yes, cute drawer liners!
It looks fantastic! Super organized and polka dots make me happy! I love that your daughter gave her friends a tour. How cute!
I absolutely love the organization here! We definitely need to get a better hold on organizing our bathrooms.
Wow, really love how you organized this one! Funny though, I also just finished organizing my linen/bathroom supply closet too! not as pretty as yours, but I think cleaning off the mess and making sure everything has a spot makes the task a little more fun! love it Cassie!
It looks amazing! I recently did something similar under my bathroom cabinet. I'm totally with your son — it is so nice when everything is organized and in place!
I really NEED to do this!
This is genius – love how you realized you weren't using your vertical space to its full potential. I really need to take on our bathroom cabinet as well. I'll definitely be borrowing your ideas of the two pull out drawers, and the other mini-basket for toilet paper!! Looks so much more organized, and clean.
Okay seriously. The command hooks for headbands?! Where have you been all my life? Well, the past 2 years? Getting right on that! Going to have to check out those modular drawers. I too want to create less clutter on the counter so I love all these little tips! Big thanks!
So cute! I have been wanting to do this with our son's cabinet since he doesn't have any drawers. Love the idea of the Target drawers and Dollar store baskets! Thanks!
Oh I need to do this ASAP!!! I can never find anything in ours and under the sink is like dominos…you knock one thing over there goes the entire shabang. 🙂
Oh my word!!! I think you've just saved my sanity – COMMAND HOOKS ON THE CABINET DOOR FOR HEADBANDS! Thank you a 100 times over 🙂
Oh my word – you just saved my life!!! COMMAND HOOKS ON THE CABINET DOOR! Thank you 100 times over 🙂
Thank you so much for the idea of putting the handtowels and washcloths in the drawer! Duh! Our boys' bath vanity also stores the guest towels so it's pretty full under there and the washcloths and handtowels always end up strewn everywhere. One drawer unit under a stack of towels will do the trick!
Wow this is genius! I really should show my sisters this because they have a lot of hair products and nail polish all under the sink. We are also getting newHalifax kitchen cabinets so now would be the perfect time to switch!
The pullout drawers are no longer available on Target. Do you know the dimensions?
Each bin is 14×7, and they stack to make as tall of one as you want. I've seen them in-store, so maybe check there! Hope this helps! xo
Just completed my daughter's bathroom after seeing this! Thank you… And she LOVES it. She's more excited that she doesn't have to run to the hall closet for fresh towels. – Kiki
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