Bathroom Organization Ideas

The bathroom is a vital part of the daily routine. It can be small and efficient or oversized and luxurious, with household and guests alike occasionally lining up for access. An organized bathroom looks tidy and clean and sets a comfortable aesthetic for every visitor. 

Keep reading for ideas on how to organize a bathroom, including a few DIY tricks to add a personal flair to the space.

Benefits of an Organized Bathroom

If you have a countertop cluttered with soaps, lotions, extra towels, or hair and makeup supplies, it can be hard to find what you're looking for quickly. The idea behind most bathroom organization tips is to find a predictable place to store the exact item you need, as quickly as possible, every time.

Learning how to organize your bathroom may take a little time and effort up front, and then pay off over the long term. The goal is to keep a clean, orderly, and tidy space to make life easier. 

• Cleaning is effortless without the clutter, since you don’t have to put away loose items before you clean the countertop or shower. 
• The time spent clearing countertops is freed up to use toward other parts of your daily routines. 
• With everything you want stored in easy reach, no more searching for the right brush or lotion for each part of your morning or nightly habits. 
• Minimizing the clutter helps eliminate extras, wasted, or lost products, and can help save you money.

How to Organize a Bathroom

There are a lot of bathroom organization ideas out there and the trick is to choose those that complement your individual style and bathroom. When planning how to organize your bathroom space, it's important to be creative and work with a variety of solutions in order to find what fits best.

Start with making sure you have the bathroom storage solutions in place. 

• Updating the medicine cabinets or bathroom vanity cabinet allows you to customize your shelving options to your needs.
• Bring in freestanding bathroom storage options, like linen towers or wall cabinets. 
• Every bathroom should have a laundry hamper to keep dirty towels from piling up on the floors. 
• For smaller bathrooms, look for over-the-toilet storage cabinets, or install shelving over the door and along the walls. 

Trendy do-it-yourself bathroom organization tips aren't hard to find. DIY tricks can be a fun and creative approach when planning how to declutter the bathroom. Be careful not to create more clutter by going overboard with the DIY tips, and keep in mind that costs can add up with some DIY alternatives.

Many bathroom organization solutions can be easily found already assembled from your favorite home improvement store. Looking outside of the typical bathroom supplies, efficient organizers may be labeled for office use, like mesh trays, or kitchen use, such as cabinet slides or spice racks. 

The important consideration is whether or not the item will help your bathroom stay organized. Think outside the box and you'll find a lot of bathroom organization ideas are easily implemented.

Basics of Organizing Your Bathroom

While there are different areas of the bathroom to be tidied up — such as the countertops, the space under the sink, vanity drawers, medicine cabinets, even linen closets which can catch clutter, — the most successful process looks much the same for each. There are a few important steps for any bathroom organization project.

1. Empty everything out of the space you're working with.
2. Sort out anything old, outdated or expired, or that you don't use. Throw the item away and replace it as needed. 
3. Have an idea of the amount of space available in the area you are organizing, taking note of shelf sizes, or permanent features like pipes or windows.
4. Put toiletries and supplies back in places they will best fit. Arrange the items based on the size of the available space and also by how you use them in your daily routine.
5. Work with small, detailed spaces first before moving to larger zones.

How to Organize Cabinets and Shelves

Starting with an empty medicine cabinet or shelf is the best way to create an orderly space. It allows you to customize the shelf space as more items are put in place. 

From that starting point, you can customize any of the following bathroom organization ideas in a variety of ways to fit any space.

• Arrange the shelf with the most often used items toward the front. 
• Group together similar items — such as bottled soaps or lotions — with extras or duplicate products stored behind the items currently being used. 
• Gather small, loose items on  trays or in clear jars. 
• Use magnetic strips to keep things like hair pins or a nail trimmer kit together and easy to find.

If you are looking to update your medicine cabinet, choose a cabinet with adjustable shelves. Moving the shelf height to accommodate taller items can create narrower spaces for small items and help utilize every inch of space in the cabinet.

Bathroom Counter Organization Ideas

The countertop takes up a lot of visual space in the bathroom. Even when perfectly clean, it is a natural eye-catcher, so if there's too much clutter, the mess is noticed quickly. The goal is to minimize the number of items on the countertop, so it is especially useful to keep smaller items sorted away in the cabinets or drawers.

Good bathroom organization ideas involve combining similar, smaller items into larger containers to keep them at hand and orderly. Trays, cups, small bowls, and specially-designed organizers take up little space and can hold different types of common bathroom clutter.

• Display multiple hand soaps or bottled lotions on a tray located near the faucet. 
• Toothbrushes and makeup brushes can be creatively arranged in easy view, using everything from mason jars, to cups specifically designed to be hung from the wall or mirrors above the vanity.

Keep decorations to a minimum. Make space on the counter for those basic everyday care items used in your daily routine. Whenever possible, choose decor that is functional, such as multi-tiered baskets or personalized organization systems. Clear glass votives or shallow glass jars filled with colored beads can be used to hold brushes upright and creatively display personal style.

How to Organize Bathroom Drawers

Most vanities don't have a lot of drawer space, so there shouldn't be a catch-all, “junk drawer” in the bathroom. When space is at a premium, plan ahead to use it wisely. 

A few key bathroom organization ideas will help keep the vanity drawers orderly while providing plenty of storage.

• Utilize organizers or shallow trays to keep smaller items in one spot and easier to find at the bottom of the drawer. 
• Custom dividers can be adjusted to fit the unique sizes or shapes of individual items. 
• Arrange larger items in deeper drawers, toward the back of the space to prevent the drawers being overstuffed or blocked closed.

It is also important to keep drawers in mind when you place any free-standing furniture. Be sure nothing is placed too close to a vanity or cabinet that it might prevent a drawer from opening fully.

How to Organize Under Bathroom Sinks

The out-of-the-way space under the sink can often be used as bathroom storage. Plan to work around the sink drain pipes to utilize this area. Some bathrooms may also have the water shutoff valves in this area, and it’s important to have access to these valves in case of plumbing emergencies or other home improvements. 

That also means that anything stored under the sink should be water resistant in case of potential leaks. Under the sink is a popular place to store extra toilet paper rolls, but those could be stored somewhere less likely to be exposed to moisture, such as wall-mounted shelves, or the linen tower.

Under the sink is a good place for utilizing plastic bins for storage to keep the contents dry and organized. Plastic stacking drawer organizers with sealing lids can store anything from hair care products to makeup, or even toilet paper.

The cupboard door can also be utilized to hold shelf organizers such as a repurposed shower caddy. Bulk supplies such as shampoo bottles or bath towels can be stored under the sink. A small garbage bin can be hidden alongside baskets or trays with cleaning supplies.

Be creative, but don't clutter. Keep in mind that this useful storage space may need emptied at a moment's notice to provide plumbing access.

How to Organize a Bath or Shower Area

Because the bath and shower are slippery, it’s best to only keep things in the area that will be used. Too many bottles, soaps, toys, or hand towels can be tripping hazards and invite injury.

Hang shower caddies to keep everything you use off the floor and within easy reach. Corner shelves also work well when there is room in the shower or bath enclosure.

Whenever possible, condense the number and size of bottles stored in the shower area to save room on shelves or in shower caddies. Simply pour the contents of large bottles into smaller containers that are easy to access, and store the large bottles in a cabinet, closet, or under the sink.

There are many bathroom organization ideas to help contain kids’ bath toys to prevent them from cluttering up the bath. Plastic or coated, non-rusting metal wire baskets will hold the toys and also allow them to dry. Mesh laundry bags can be used to round up, dry, and hang toys out of the way. Look for the bathroom organization tips that best fit your space and lifestyle. 

How to Organize a Bathroom Closet

Just because the doors close to hide the contents doesn't mean the bathroom closets can't be just as organized as the rest of the room. 

Larger cupboards, separate closets, and stand-alone linen towers are ideal for fluffy towels, seasonal floor mats, and items that aren't used often. Bulky and awkwardly shaped items, like hair dryers, don’t always fit easily into vanity drawers. Store them on a closet shelf for easy access. 

These spaces should be kept organized with the most often used items in the front. Group similar items in trays or baskets to streamline your daily routine.

Towels are easy to pull from the shelves when arranged with the folded edge out, facing the closet opening. Another option is to store towels on  wall-mounted towel organization solutions like towel racks, towel warmers, or robe hooks.

Creative DIY Bathroom Organization Tips

Whether you’re looking for bathroom counter organization ideas or just wanting to add a personal touch to a smaller bathroom, there are many creative ways to make the most of your space. Common household items can be turned into multi-purpose bathroom organizational tools as you plan out how to organize your bathroom.

Here are a few favorite DIY bathroom organization ideas:

• Use spice racks to hold bathroom toiletries and makeup supplies.
• Kitchen slide out trays also come in handy in the bathroom cupboards.
• Office file boxes can also organize bathroom supplies, like bulky bottles, hair dryers, curlers, or brushes.
• Shallow office pencil trays fit in drawers as customizable drawer organizers.
• Mason jars can be used as organizers or apothecary jars.
• Votive holders are the perfect height to hold many makeup accessories.
• Hang a basket or small crates from the wall as an open-faced shelf.
• Dedicate an extra towel rod to small hanging baskets instead of towels.
• Wall-mounted wine racks are perfect for holding rolled towels.
• Use a Lazy Susan for under-sink storage or as a useful countertop display, especially when paired with tiered baskets for extra storage space.
• Drop magnets or magnetic strips into the bottom of trays or cups to keep metal items tidy and easy to find.
• Use a magnetic message board for creating vertical magnetic display storage for small items. Simply attach magnets to the backs of items that you want to hang on the wall instead of in a drawer.
• Create a hair styling rack on the inside of a cupboard door with large robe hooks or towel rings.
• Hang an extra shower rod in the shower to hold toiletries in waterproof baskets.