Bathroom Bliss

Achieving Bathroom Bliss

After having to move from a home with two spacious bathrooms to a home with one tiny bathroom, I have had to get creative with bathroom storage. You don’t realize how many bottles of must have “things” you need in your bathroom, let alone how many you access daily. Flowing soap, moisturizer, antiseptic cream, deodorants, hair products, make up, tooth paste, hair brushes, hair ties, perfume, to name a few that seem to live on top of our vanity. Once a week, I clear them all away so the bathroom looks neat and tidy, then one by one they make their way back on top, and the mess begins all over again. The funny thing is that we have a huge vanity, that has quite successfully managed to house two bathrooms into one much to my surprise. The problem seems to arise from the users. Easy and instant access to all those must have products is great but the easy access to put them away seems to be missing! There is only so much a designer can do to make the bathroom look elegant. Having drawers and cupboards to store everything is a must. I also have baskets to put extra toilet rolls, nappies, towels and laundry. So the principals of good design and easy maintenance should prevail – if everything has a home the room should be able to stay tidy as everyone knows where everything lives.

I just think my family – well the smaller examples in the family simply cannot follow instructions. Put things away when you have finished with them doesn’t seem to make sense.

So as a designer, I have failed at training my family to use the areas provided for the purposes intended.

So I will give you some tips anyway, it may help your family achieve bathroom bliss, I’ll keep trying to train mine!

Bathroom Tips

• Make sure that the vanity has enough drawers or shelves to house the everyday necessities.
• Add shelves for frequently used products, this frees up the vanity top and makes it easier to clean.
• Use hooks on the back of the door to store bathrobes.
• Use hooks to hang the hair dryer in a tidy fashion.
• Have a separate towel holder for the hand towel to dry your hand rather than everyone using your bath towels and pulling them off the towel rail.
• Provide easy use baskets for laundry.
• Have something to sit on ( if space prevails) to get changed, this can double up as storage if you choose a stool with a lid for example.
• Select a molded shower cubicle so you can have shelves for shampoo etc. Or build in shelves if you have a tiled shower, or purchase a hanging rack if you can’t achieve any of those. It will make it easier to keep your shower clean.
• Always wipe down your shower after use. This does sound labor intensive but it isn’t if you get the right tool. A simple rubber blade works wonders. This removes all the water off the glass and it dries clear, and doesn’t leave all those terrible round water marks on the glass that eventually become impossible to remove. It also reduces cleaning time each week.

More reading about bathrooms –

Bathroom Accessories

Bathroom Makeovers

Bathroom Design Ideas