You may recall my recent main floor powder room refresher where I took her from chocolate to vanilla…
But what you didn’t see was what was lurking behind those cabinet doors. I sincerely hope no guest has ever creeped a peek in there…
for obvious reasons.
Oh. Man.
Now, in my defence I’m not a slob. I’m actually a bit of a neat freak. The biggest problem here was the lack of any kind of system. It was just a big space with inadequate containers to hold everything we store in here – mainly my nail stuff, medical supplies, batteries and soaps etc.
But have no fear. It’s all under control and now looks like this.
Yes. My retinas can now stop burning.
I’ll break it all down for you so you can relive it with me (excited?). After I cleared everything out I gave the cabinet a good clean and accessed what I needed. Most of the storage bins are from the Samla line at Ikea with the exception of the one I used for my nail supplies which is from the Antonia line.
Basically I just went through each mess one by one and contained them. First up was our medical supplies. How would you like to dig through this for a bandaid?
I used the deep Samla box and added a top tray to help separate everything.
Goody. Now we can all go out and scrape our knees.
Seeing as we have a five year old, we go through our share of batteries. So we keep a box of ‘new batteries’ under here as well as a box for them to go into when they are ready for recycling.
The old system left a lot to be desired (bonus points if you can guess what kind of yogurt I like).
But the new system is much better. Here is the box for the new ones. The new “to be recycled” one is empty as I’m going to take the yogurt ones to the depot. Everyone loves a good recycled yogurt battery.
My manicure supplies were this breathtaking display of form and function…
But now they too are yogurt free and MUCH better organized (this is my favourite one!)
As for the other miscellaneous stuff we had in the cabinet (soap, wipes, candles etc)…
they all have a new home as well.
But JUST bins just won’t do. Oh no. I had to label these suckers!
I made simple labels and printed them on adhesive laser printer paper. To notch the corners I used a standard single hole punch.
Once everything was put away we had a nice orderly cabinet.
It feels good to get this one checked off my list as it’s been bugging me for quite awhile!
And now if my guests do creep a peek in my cabinet they won’t be horrified by what they find. Unless of course they are offended by nail polish and batteries.
What about you? Done any long overdue organizing lately? Have any go-to solutions or favourite tricks? An organized space makes me ridiculously happy – tell me I”m not alone!
First I just want to say that I love your blog! I just found it and am a new fan. The reason that I'm commenting is because I noticed that you store old batteries to be recycled and I wondered if you taped over the ends. If you do not, those old batteries (and new ones, too, apparently) are a fire hazard. I saw this a couple of months ago about batteries: http://themotherlist.com/fire-safety-video-must-watch/
Hi Holly! Thanks for the comment. No, I don't – I had no idea! Thank you for the valuable info. I will now for sure. Much appreciated!
Where did you get your different plastic organizing containers?
HI Mark,
I got them at Ikea (links in post). Hope that helps!
Where did you get the containers with the shelves in them? And the ones that have separate compartments?