25+ Brilliant Bathroom Organization Ideas

These brilliant bathroom organization ideas will help keep your space neat and tidy so you can get ready for your day more efficiently!

25+ Brilliant Bathroom Organization Ideas

Oh, bathrooms! We use them all the time. They’re an essential part of our getting ready process in the morning and our bedtime routine at night. But they can get cluttered and messy so easily!

Our morning and evening routines will run so much more smoothly when our bathrooms are neat and tidy, so today I wanted to share the top tips I’ve learned after years and years of organizing that help keep the bathrooms organized.

Here we go!

Top Tips for Bathroom Organization

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.

1. Declutter like crazy!

No matter what space I’m tackling, I always start with decluttering. If we don’t declutter our space before we start arranging our items, we’re not organizing. We’re just rearranging our clutter!

I’m willing to bet that most of us have a bunch of stuff in our bathroom drawers and cabinets that we no longer love/use often. So the first step toward transforming cluttered spaces like this…

Disorganized bathroom cabinet

…is to remove anything that doesn’t belong.

  • Throw away/recycle anything that is no longer usable.
  • Donate/sell anything that is still in good shape that you no longer use.
  • Relocate items that don’t really belong in the bathroom.

The more we can declutter from the space, the easier it will be to get organized!

2. Declutter first, THEN buy storage pieces.

I know that buying cute bins is the fun part, so it’s tempting to start our organization project by doing just that. But we’ll be doing ourselves a huge favor if we wait a little bit.

Before we head to the store, we’ll want to declutter anything that no longer belongs in our space. Then we’ll sort the remaining items into categories.

Bathroom vanity items sorted by category

This helps us see exactly what we need to store and how much space it will take up. Once we’ve done an inventory of all the items that need to be stored in the space and have taken measurements of the space itself, then it’s time to figure out what containers to use.

I always like to check around my house first and see if I already own any bins that will work in the space. Once I’ve exhausted all of the options that I already own, then I head to the store to fill in the gaps.

3. Divide up drawers with bins.

Drawers can easily become like a black hole. It’s so easy just to throw everything in them and worry about finding it later. But our drawers will function so much better for us if we split them up.

The best containment options for drawers will depend on the size of the drawer and what we want to store in them.

For my deep bathroom vanity drawers, I used a 6″ x 6″ square bin to hold some of my hair gels and sprays and smaller divided bins for my hair ties and bobby pins.

Bathroom vanity drawer with hair supplies in bins

In my boys’ shallower bathroom drawers, I used shallower bins to split up the space and give every item a designated spot.

Shallow bathroom drawer organized with acrylic bins

4. Use Museum Gel to keep bins from sliding around in the drawer.

Bins in drawers are awesome, but sometimes they can also be frustrating if they slide around too much!

My favorite solution for this is Museum Gel. Just a little dot of the clear substance on each bottom corner of a bin will hold it firmly in place and keep it from sliding.

Museum Gel

5. Add stacking drawers to maximize vertical space in cabinets.

It can be tricky to utilize all of the available space inside bathroom cabinets, but drawers are one of my favorite ways to do it. I like drawers better than stacking lidded bins because I don’t have to unstack and re-stack them to get whatever I need.

I have these small mint drawer units under Donnie’s sink…

Mint Stacking Drawers to Organize a Master Bathroom Vanity

And these clear acrylic stacking drawers holding items under my sink.

Stacking Drawers in a Bathroom Vanity Cabinet

6. Use stacking pantry bins to maximize vertical space in cabinets.

Another strategy I’ve liked for maximizing space under the bathroom sink is to use stacking pantry bins.

Again, everything is immediately accessible– I don’t have to unstack or re-stack anything to grab what I need!

In our current house, I use clear stacking pantry bins to hold the toilet paper in my boys’ bathroom.

toilet paper stored in clear stacking pantry bins in a bathroom cabinet

And in our last house, I did something similar with white pantry bins.

Stacking pantry bins in a bathroom cabinet to maximize vertical space

7. Label!

I think labels can give a little extra polish to any organizing project. But even more than that, they help other people in our household maintain the systems we’ve created! No one can tell me, “I didn’t know where the hair brush went!” when I have a bin with a big label that says, “Hair Brushes & Ties.”

Plastic stacking drawers in a bathroom vanity, labeled with gold adhesive vinyl labels

I created the labels above using my Cricut cutting machine + adhesive vinyl.

The label on the cleaning caddy below was created using a label maker + clear labeling tape.

mint caddy with cleaning supplies, labeled

8. Only keep items you use often in your vanity.

It’s tempting to load up the drawers and cabinets of our vanities with everything we might possibly need. But then we waste a ton of time rooting through items we don’t use to find the ones we do.

To keep the vanity tidier and make our frequently used items more easily accessible, I try to only stock the vanity with the things I use all the time.

Gray Bathroom Vanity with Organized Toilet Paper and Hand Soap

So what do I do with everything else? I’m so glad you asked!

9. Have a catch-all basket for items you need but only use occasionally.

The catch-all basket strategy has worked incredibly well for me, both in my bathrooms and in our kitchen. For items that I still need to keep around but only use occasionally (think: bubble bath, extra cotton balls or q-tips, hair products I only use for special occasions, etc.), I keep a basket in my closet, which is right next to the bathroom.

Catch all basket in primary closet
My catch-all basket is the wicker basket on the top shelf on the right.

This way, my items are still easy to get to, but they are not in the way of my everyday items and aren’t cluttering up the vanity.

10. Keep hair appliances tidy with an organizer.

Hair appliances can be a pain because they often come with long, unruly cords and can take up a lot of space in a vanity.

I found this organizer, which ended up being perfect for holding my hair dryer, curling iron, and flat iron.

curling iron, hair dryer, and flat iron in an organizer

Whenever I can, I try to purchase accessories with a retractable cord (like the hair dryer pictured above) so it stores neatly out of the way.

11. Use a caddy for cleaning supplies.

It’s helpful to be able to easily move cleaning supplies from room to room, and a caddy is perfect for that job! Bonus points if they’re a cute color– maybe cleaning will be just a little bit more fun?!

mint cleaning caddy with cleaning supplies

12. Utilize a wall cabinet in the water closet to store toilet paper.

Because our the toilet in our main bathroom is in its own little separate room, it was important to store the toilet paper in that same space!

There isn’t a ton of floor space available, so using the vertical space of the wall was the best solution. I used a simple cabinet like this one to store the toilet paper and display a few cute accessories as well.

Toilet Paper Stored in Cabinet Above Toilet

13. Use a tray to corral items on the vanity counter.

One of the easiest ways to keep the bathroom looking tidy is to make sure the counters are as clear as possible!

We’ll inevitably need a few key items out on the counter though, so corralling them with a tray or cake stand is a great way to display a few things while keeping them neat at the same time.

tray on vanity counter with hand soap and a candle

14. Hang a spice rack to store often used items and get them off the counter.

Spice racks aren’t just for spices! They’re great for holding all sorts of items, including makeup, skincare, and other necessities we’d like to keep close by.

Install them on the wall next to the bathroom sink for easy access while still keeping items off of the vanity counter.

makeup organized in acrylic spice racks on the wall

I use these acrylic spice racks to hold my makeup in my closet, but the same system could be used in a bathroom as well.

15. Install floating shelves for extra storage.

Especially if we’re working with a small space, we don’t want to let the area above the toilet go to waste!

Installing floating shelves in this spot is a great way to display a few decorative items and store some bathroom essentials at the same time.

floating shelves above the toilet in guest bathroom

16. Opt for towel hooks rather than a towel bar.

One of my top organizing rules in our house is, “Make things easy to put away!” Towel bars don’t follow that rule, so I install hooks instead whenever possible.

In our last house we installed a small trim piece on the wall and attached hooks to that in our boys’ bathroom…

towels on hooks in a bathroom

And there are plenty of pre-assembled hook racks as well.

towels on hooks in bathroom

17. Add a basket on the back of the toilet for more storage.

This is another way to add storage and decor at the same time. We use a basket to hold a few extra rolls of toilet paper or any other accessories that would be helpful in this space.

basket sitting on back of toilet with a shelf above it

18. Don’t store medications in the medicine cabinet.

This one may seem counter-intuitive. It is called a “medicine cabinet,” after all. But in reality the humidity and temperature changes in the bathroom are not ideal for medications, so they should be stored elsewhere.

In our current house, I have aqua bins in my closet that hold all of our medicines and first aid items…

organized medications and first aid supplies in aqua storage bins

In our last house, the linen closet was in the hallway rather than the bathroom, so I was able to store medications there.

Medications in boxes in a hallway linen closet

19. Add small bins or containers to corral items in the medicine cabinet.

Even though they’re not great for actual medications, medicine cabinets can be a helpful place to store toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss, and other accessories to keep them off of the vanity counter.

medicine cabinet with items corralled in containers

To keep everything in the medicine cabinet neat and tidy, use smaller bins and containers to corral items within the cabinet.

medicine cabinet with items corralled in bins

20. Add storage to your shower area with a floor tower.

Our current house has a nice sized shower… with zero nooks or shelves for storing our shower supplies! At first I tried hanging a caddy over the shower head, but it was always falling down and getting in the way.

Because we have a good amount of floor space in our shower, this “shower tower” ended up being a good solution for holding shampoo, conditioner, soap, face wash, and more.

shower tower with shampoo, conditioner, soap, and skincare items

21. Install a hook above your tile or shower surround to hold a shower caddy.

If the floor isn’t an option with your shower setup, try installing a hook above your shower tile or tub surround and hanging a caddy there rather than over the shower head. That way, we still have a place to hold our items, but it is out of the way and isn’t constantly falling down.

Hook above bathroom shower surround to hold a shower caddy

My parents use this strategy in their bathroom, mounting the hook at the opposite end of the shower from the shower head.

22. Don’t overload the linen closet.

We currently have what I refer to as “the world’s smallest linen closet.” It is half the depth of a normal closet and not very wide at all.

When we first moved in, I tried to keep all of our sheets and towels in this small space, and that was a massive fail. Everything was stuffed in the closet, it was hard to get to anything, and items were constantly falling down.

It didn’t take me long to simplify, only keeping our towels, washcloths, and hand towels in the space and removing everything else.

Small, Organized Linen Closet in a Laundry Room

I ended up getting a wire bin for each bedroom closet, which holds one spare set of sheets for that room. Not only did this free up space in the linen closet, but it also made the sheets closer to their destination and easier to grab when it’s time to change them. Win-win!

Sheets bin in walk-in closet

23. Create solid surface shelving in the linen closet.

I don’t love the look or practicality of wire shelves, so I knew I wanted to find a way to make them solid surface in our small linen closet.

We ended up making super simple DIY shelf covers that sit right on top of the wire shelves, hiding them out of sight. This gives us a solid surface for our items, making it easier to store everything!

Placing a Wooden Shelf Cover Over Wire Shelving

24. Replace a pedestal sink with a vanity.

I get that pedestal sinks don’t take up much room in a small bathroom, but they also aren’t very practical for storage purposes.

We replaced the pedestal sink in our half bath with a small vanity cabinet, and it gave us so much additional storage space. (It was a fairly easy swap to do as well!)

Powder Room Transformation Before and After Photos

25. Utilize a rolling cart.

Finally, I love a rolling cart! They’re especially great for small spaces because you can easily move them wherever you need them. But larger spaces can definitely benefit from the additional storage too.

pink rolling cart holding jewelry, skincare supplies, and hair tools

This rolling cart is set up with jewelry on the top shelf, skincare in the middle, and hair accessories on the bottom and in the cup attachment. But it could also be used for cleaning supplies, extra toiletries, nail care items, and more.

Bathroom Organization Ideas – Shop the Post

I hope this post has given you some ideas for your own bathroom organization strategies! You can find the products we’ve mentioned below– just click on any image for more details.

Want to save this post to revisit later? Be sure to pin the image below so you can find it easily:

25+ Brilliant Ideas for Organizing the Bathroom

If you’re looking for more bathroom organization inspiration, don’t miss these posts:

Our Current Primary Bathroom Organization

Current Guest Bathroom Organization

Our Current Powder Room Organization

Townhouse Primary Bathroom Organization

Our Townhouse Guest Bathroom Organization

Townhouse Powder Room Organization

What your favorite strategy for bathroom organization? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!

Thanks so much for following along! Have a wonderful day!

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.

2 Comments

  1. Great practical advice.you are so organised. I. want to.hide my drawers

    1. Abby Lawson says:

      Thanks so much, Mary! Have a great week! <3

      ~Abby =)

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