Open Storage in the Bathroom: One Room Challenge Week 5

You guys… it’s WEEK 5 of the One Room Challenge! That’s usually the week that we would be wrapping everything up to photograph because reveal would be coming next week. But they’ve given us an extra week this time around so I’m still over here deciding how to manage all the open storage we will have in our space! I’d love to hear your tips, tricks, and see any gorgeous inspiration images you’ve spied.

If you’re new to Lemon Thistle or wondering what the heck the One Room Challenge is… it’s a design challenge hosted by Calling it Home where bloggers join together and take on a complete room makeover in 6 weeks (this time 7!). We are slightly crazy and decided to take on our only bathroom before we bring home our fourth baby. As a side note… I’m officially term! So baby could come any day- we’re totally on the 6 week clock still ;)

YOU CAN READ THE OTHER UPDATES SO FAR HERE:

WEEK 1 (The Plan)

WEEK 2 (Lessons Learned)

WEEK 3 (Ugly Progress)

WEEK 4 (DIY Tiling with Marble)

Big thank you again to the sponsors for this project, Home Depot Canada and American Standard!

Alright… let’s get right into it. My husband is sick of hearing about it… so you guys can help a girl out, right? We only have this one bathroom. And it has drawers… but not nearly enough to hold ALL the things that one bathroom for a family of 5 (almost 6!) needs. Like a zillion toilet paper rolls. And we have a tiny linen closet too- not even a normal size closet- so there’s not much wiggle room in there to jam a Costco size pack of TP in there. So we need to be creative.

The two spots of open storage we have in this bathroom are underneath the vanity (shown above) as well as open shelving over the toilet (to be installed still). Let’s start with under the vanity. I’ve decided baskets are the way to go to maximize storage. A couple baskets full of TP, maybe one full of bath toys. I’ve narrowed it down to either these metal baskets or a wicker version. I honestly haven’t found the right size of wicker basket yet (this is one I’ve been using for my snake plant). I’m totally leaning towards the black since it will tie in the black metal frame on the mirrors… and maybe some other details we have going on in there. BUT… all baskets? Or two baskets with a neat stack of towels down there like in my design plan? Is that even sanitary?

And what about above the toilet? I LOVE the look of open shelving in bathrooms, but let’s be honest. The most beautiful ones are filled with gorgeous decorative items. Not nail polish remover and bug spray. We’ve actually had open shelving over our toilet for quite a while. It just wasn’t as *pretty* as what we’re putting in this time around. I sewed these little dip dye baskets to corral and hide things like bug spray and nail polish remover and they are kind of the best. But I’m not sure if that off white colour of drop cloth is going to look really bad against bright white painted shelves on a bright white painted wall. Probably… right?

So I’m thinking I’ll need to either do something completely different or make new ones. I’m in LOVE with these charcoal velvet ones from HM Home, but just can’t bring myself to drop $60 plus tax and shipping for something that I know is so easy to make. Maybe a trip to the fabric store is in order! And while I’m there… would you swap out that natural coloured basket liner too? I wish you could paint fabric white because bleach never works to get a bright white and sewing is so hard for me.

And what ELSE would you do to maximize the storage while still keeping it beautiful? Any sneaky tips? Any beautiful modern canisters you’ve spied? Share them ALL with me!

Next week, I’ll be back chatting more about decor and accessories for making this classic grey and white bathroom a little more fun and modern! We’ll also be working hard to seal the tile (yeaaaah we still need to do that!), install lights, mirrors, hardware (towel bars etc), and those open shelves AND do all the decor type things… like sewing a new extra long shower curtain and refinishing my DIY bath caddy.

Now that my phone is back in commission (woohoo!) I’ll be sharing behind the scenes updates over on Instagram if you’d like to follow along. And don’t forget you can check out all the other One Room Challenge guest participant rooms over here.