Bathroom Closet Makeover (& link up)

Ahh – what a beautifully, organized closet, eh? Not so much. I’d reorganize the closet, and within a week, it would be a mess again. Even with containers. Some containers were labeled, and we still couldn’t get the right items back in the right container.

The top shelf stored medicine and extras – mostly. Three containers were for medicines: cold/sinus/allergy medicines, tummy & bum medicines, and pain medicines. Another container stored medical related items: medicine cups, thermometers, Vicks vapor plugin, etc. The fourth container has my nail related goodies: polish, files, etc.

All three medicine containers were labeled with a sharpie, but the hassle of finding the right container, taking off the lid, putting the item away, putting the lid back on, and stacking it back on the shelf proved too much. Especially when you’re feeling miserable. If I didn’t want to do it, how could I expect the kids to?

The second shelf stored hair things, cotton balls, Q-tips and the Paraffin Wax machine. I never did label these containers, but the same issue applied here. Too much trouble to go through to put things away properly. And what was I thinking using a hot pink ribbon to hold hair things?

The last shelf stored towels, and a couple of bigger items. Notice the hair containers are down here. Oh and look, band aids – anyone else have kids who think these are body stickers? And no, I don’t have a clue why my crochet thread is sitting in the bathroom closet. Sigh.

The bottom of the closet is where we toss our dirty laundry – sometimes there’s even a basket to catch it. Most often not. We also kept an ugly plastic stool there.

This space needed a makeover. BAD. I wanted something easy to maintain, and pretty. Everything came out of the closet. A lot of things got tossed. Then I assessed what I had left. A boring, white closet with ugly brown shelves. Hmmm…

I knew what color I wanted to paint my bedroom, so I decided to bring that color into my bathroom, too. Off to the store we went. Armed with Kilz ceiling paint in white (from Walmart) and HGTV Home in Minor Blue (from Sherwin Williams) for the walls. Once we painted the closet, it seemed a little two blue and dark. But wait…inspiration hit. Why not dry brush white stripes in the closet. It would add a touch of whimsy and soften the blue a little. Back to Walmart to pick up Better Homes & Garden in Cotton White. Doesn’t that name sound so pretty? Cotton White.

My beautiful assistant, and daughter. She has a heart for Jesus as you can see on her jeans.

We set to the task of adding the strips of blue tape. Oh. My. It took FOREVER. You would be taping one spot, and down came another spot. So we taped and painted in sections which worked much better.

To dry brush the stripes:
1. Put a little bit of paint on your brush
2. Start painting your stripe.
3. Keep brushing up and down even when the brush runs dry.
4. This makes it so the stripe is stronger in some spots, and faded in others.

The shelves needed new life, and I remembered the roll of (shelf liner? wallpaper?) something I’d picked up at a yard sale last summer. I used spray glue to adhere it to the shelves. Mod Podge did not work. It bubbled. Horribly.

Now, how to reorganize the stuff? Obviously, we needed open containers to store the items in. Jars and baskets are much prettier than plastic containers. I grabbed my spare jars, and fit a lot of the little things in it. Then I planned out how many and what size baskets I needed for the other items. I bought mine from Walmart. I love how my closet turned out:

The top shelf has a basket for non-liquid medicines, and a basket for vitamins. The bottom shelf has a basket holding the medical supplies, and another basket for pet grooming supplies. Our new towels will go on the bottom shelf, too. We also got a hamper for our clothes.

Notice the extra shelf? We took it from the original top shelf, and hubby will be installing it above to make a new top shelf. More baskets? Maybe.

I replaced the tacky hot pink ribbon with some pretty white, lacy heart ribbon leftover from our wedding (renewed our vows) in September. These hold our prettier hair clips. I also hung a couple of our pretty hair things as decoration. I have a jar for: cotton balls, cotton pads, Q-tips, elastic hair bands, barrettes, bobby pins, rag roll strips, big hair clippies, and tiny hair clippies. The basket holds headbands and scrunchies.

So pretty and cheerful. It makes me smile every time I see it. Stay tuned for the rest of the bathroom makeover sometime this year…

Whimsical:
adj. spontaneously fanciful or playful; quaint, unusual, or fantastic

Wednesdays are fun days where creativity abounds. Share your D.I.Y. projects, home decor creations, room makeovers, handmade items – anything crafty and creative is welcome. Link your beautiful work, or maybe your ‘oops that didn’t come out right’ posts. We love tutorials. Before and after photos are sublime. Showcase your stuff, and see what others are doing, too. You may pick up another must-do idea.

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