What is it about bathrooms? They can make even sane people look like candidates for A&E’s Hoarders. Well, if you do the math, it makes sense: There are so darn many things we need while in there, but it offers pretty much the least square footage of any room in the home.
A quick search on Pinterest produces lots of cute de-cluttering solutions. Over-the-door plastic shoe holders transform into organizers for toiletries. Hot glue guns and doilies turn a toilet plunger into a toilet-paper stand. Some of these ideas seem more like Band-Aids than solutions. Here’s a handful of less kitschy ideas for the homeowner with a more sophisticated result in mind:
Use more vertical space. You can easily stack towel racks with enough spacing to hang two or three towels on top of each other instead of next to each other. And there are tons of attractive options for vertical shelving, which opens up a ton of storage space.
Roll your towels. If they match or are at least color coordinate with each other, rolled towels look quite classy and can easily be stacked into space-saving cubbies. Again, notice the use of vertical space:
Use towel hooks, not rods. Waste less space—and speed up drying of used towels—by using towel hooks instead of rods. If you stagger them, you can hang quite a lot of towels. Good-quality matching or coordinated towels are also a must here.
Use drawer organizers. Use an organizer from the bath store. Use a silverware tray. Use a tray taken from an art kit or toolbox. We don’t care which ones you use, just use some! This is the surest way to get more of your stuff off the counter and out of sight—the biggest must for de-cluttering.
Use dual-purpose hardware. A towel rack that doubles as a storage space? That’s brilliant and capitalizes on your limited space. Enough said:
Get rid of old stuff. If you haven’t used it in six weeks or more, toss it. Most makeups, lotions, and potions have expiration dates anyway, so this de-cluttering step is also a matter of health and beauty.
Add corner cabinets. Think of all the space wasted in corners. Make use of it with corner shelves. There are tons gorgeous options. These have the added bonus of capitalizing on vertical space, too.
Make things uniform. Why do we tend to have uniform or matching towels? They look more orderly and sharp. The same holds true for storage pieces, whether on the countertop or in the shower. Buy some matching bottles to store your shampoos, soaps, and conditioners, and you’ll see how much cleaner it makes your space look.
Notice that the expense of this de-cluttering is quite minimal? There’s really no need to waste your time on hot glue guns and doilies. On a relatively small budget and in no time at all, you can quickly and dramatically transform your bathroom from cluttered to ordered—and send the producers from Hoarders packing.
