We’re sharing more creativity building when it comes to storage in a farmhouse. The struggle is real. And we’ve come to realize that taking the lack of storage matters into our own hands is the only way to survive the organizational hurdles that come along with living in a farmhouse. This time around, we’re zero-ing in on the bathroom. A place that can be a sanctuary or, well, strictly business. It depends on the situation.
The bathrooms in our farmhouse are less than ideal, but they had been re-done a few years before we bought the house, so we decided to keep them for the time-being. We did have to spruce and clean them up a bit. Of course, our other task was to create storage without adding any additional furniture or closets (since none of our bathrooms offer much room). This was tough. I got smart to the idea of shelving and so we cleaned up a wall shelf that was there with a fresh coat of paint. I purchased a few personalized toiletry bags in white. I added each of our daughter’s monograms on them in different colors to brighten up the space a bit. Five boys had lived out of this bathroom prior to us moving in, so the room called for a bit of girl charm! Toiletry bags work so well in this space for a few reasons. One, our girls share the bathroom so they each occupy four toiletry bags. This offers them their own “drawer” space without having to add more cabinetry. Second, the items in the bags are covered so they will not get a dust or steam film. Third, they are portable so if one person is using the bathroom, the other can grab a toiletry bag and finish their nail painting or hair styling!
It was hard for me not to get stuck on the lack of under-the-sink storage. I am a person that likes to organize and stay organized. My motto is “everything needs to have a place”. I learned early on in my marriage that if our “things” did not have a designated space to live when not in use, my husband would never put anything away. SO this has been my mantra ever since and it certainly helps now that we have kids in tow!
There are so many professional organizers out there, so what I like to do is hop on their Instagram profiles and steal little tidbits. One I snagged from a trusty professional home organizer was a spinning compartment organizer for under our sink. Our “master bathroom” (does not exist most of the time in home from 1890 that has not been renovated!) definitely took a backseat for the past five years while we’ve focused our attention on updating other parts of our home. The vanity in our bathroom drives me bananas. It is meant for a powder room and has very limited storage. So, I bought two spinning compartment organizers for my husband and me and those have kept us (sane) decently happy until we can start dreaming up a proper master bathroom set up. Here I thought sharing one sink would be the hardest part. Nope, the lack of storage gets me every time.
Another tidbit is to add hooks where possible. We realized that the only wall we were able to hang towel racks in our daughters bathroom took up any space for hooks (bathroom robe, shower caps). So, we add a couple of hooks on the small wall to the left of their bathtub/shower. They use these to put their clean towel on so it is ready for them when they are done with their shower or bath. Otherwise they would have had to walk to to grab their towels on the further wall. Not ideal!
Play with options for your space. Some bathrooms do best with no closet because the open square footage is more important. In this case, think outside the box with shelving ideas or towel racks and/or hooks. Maximize your under the sink storage with shelving risers or spinning compartment organizers. The good news about not having a ton of space in a farmhouse bathroom? There isn’t room to collect junk, so purging becomes part of the mainstream day-to-day tasks! Happy organizing, bathing and, well, you know.
