You will probably remember that moment when you opened your bathroom cabinet and three bottles of shampoo rolled out of it onto your countertop. That was me last week, in my towel, as I watched my expensive hair care products roll off the wet countertop. The bottles rolling out of the cabinet were a metaphor for my entire approach to storing things in the bathroom just shove everything in however it fits and rely on luck that gravity won’t let you down.
This disorganization had been going on in my bathroom for months. I kept telling myself I’d “get to it eventually.” But there’s something about watching your favorite serum go under the radiator that makes you realize eventually has finally arrived. So I spent the next several weeks completely thinking through how I would store everything in my bathroom and I have to say, it’s been a total game changer.
First up was the medicine cabinet. My medicine cabinet is one of those recessed cabinets that came with the apartment. Nothing fancy. Basic white metal with two shelves. However, I was treating mine like a junk drawer. Prescription bottles, old vitamins, loose cotton buds and somehow a tube of mascara had ended up in there (no idea how that happened).
I removed everything from the cabinet and measured it. Sounds stupid, right? But I’m guessing you’ll be surprised at how many people just eyeball things. The interior of my cabinet was approximately 24 inches wide, 30 inches tall and approximately 4 inches deep. Not large, but usable if I was creative enough about how I stored things.
Small, clear containers quickly became my best friend. I purchased a set of stackable acrylic storage bins not expensive, just basic ones from a home goods store. What I did differently was get a variety of sizes. Narrow ones for my daily meds, larger ones for my cotton balls and small tubes. All of a sudden I could see everything at a time and nothing was falling behind in the back corners.
The real lightbulb moment occurred when I attached a magnetic strip to the inside of the door. I had seen this trick online and thought it looked a little gimmicky, but it works amazingly well for tweezers, nail clippers, and all of those other little things you have no clue where to put. This cost me about £8 and saved so much room in my drawer.
But the medicine cabinet was just the beginning. The biggest storage crisis was occurring underneath, in the vanity area. I’ve got what I would call a ‘cozy’ bathroom the vanity is approximately 60 cm wide and has two drawers. Those drawers seemed to have an insatiable appetite for beauty products.
The bottom drawer was by far the worst offender. It’s deep, which sounds great in theory, but in reality it meant everything was being buried. I’d purchase new foundation because I couldn’t find my current one, only to discover three half-used bottles weeks later. Not exactly budget friendly behavior.
So I totally flipped my approach to how I use this area. I created zones. Left side = skincare, right side = makeup. And I used drawer dividers to ensure that every item stayed in its zone. The dividers were nothing special just adjustable bamboo ones from a kitchen store. But they dramatically improved how this space functioned.
But the true game-changer was purchasing a pull-out drawer organizer to slide into the very back of the deep drawer. Essentially it’s a sliding tray that pulls everything to the front when you pull it. I paid approximately £15 and it’s saved me my sanity. No longer do I need to perform an archaeological dig to find my lip balm.
My linen situation needed help too. I don’t have a proper linen closet. I simply have a tall, skinny cabinet that’s about as wide as a broom closet. For years I had stacked towels and sheets in there like some sort of textile Jenga game. If I moved slightly wrong and everything would come crashing down.
The answer was embarrassingly easy: shelf dividers. You know, those wire things that keep books straight in libraries? They work wonderfully for keeping stacks of towels from becoming landslides. I also began folding my towels in thirds instead of halves. They take up less vertical space and they’re neater.
As for my sheets, I discovered this trick to store the entire set inside one of the pillow cases. Simply fold the flat sheet, the fitted sheet and the remaining pillow case together, and then stuff the entire bundle inside one of the pillow cases. It may seem strange, but it looks neat and you’ll never again have the experience of reaching for what you believe is a full set, only to find out you’re missing the fitted sheet.
Above the toilet was a complete waste of space. It was literally just empty air mocking my storage failures. I installed a simple floating shelf above the toilet. Not too deep, because I didn’t want it to look claustrophobic. It’s perfect for holding additional rolls of toilet paper, candles, and a small plant that somehow survives the bathroom humidity.
One thing I learned the hard way: not everything needs to be hidden. I always believed that good bathroom storage means hiding everything behind closed doors. But some things really look nicer on display nice bottles of hand soap, pretty jars of cotton balls, and that expensive face oil that makes you feel like royalty. An open shelf, either a small one or just the edge of your vanity, is a beautiful place to hold these types of items.
The built-in potential in my bathroom was minimal. However, I was able to install one custom solution that has greatly impacted the functionality of my bathroom. There is an odd space near the shower that was basically a dead zone. Too narrow to hold anything truly useful, or at least that’s what I thought. I had a simple recessed shelf installed in that space, matching the tile of the shower walls. It currently holds my shampoo, conditioner and shower gel without taking up any space on the floor of the shower or making me hang those pesky plastic caddies that never remain in place.
What I found the most surprising aspect of this entire process wasn’t the individual storage solutions most of which were relatively common sense. It was how much better my mornings were when everything had its own designated spot. No more frantically searching for my moisturizer while running late. No more purchasing duplicate products that I already owned, but couldn’t find. Just peaceful, organized mornings where I actually knew where everything was.
Total cost of the entire project? Approximately £80, over a period of a couple of weeks. Not a lot of money, and significantly less than I’d been wasting on duplicate products I couldn’t find. Sometimes the best home improvements aren’t about spending more money. It’s about spending it more intelligently.
