How To Keep Bathroom Countertops Clear
Of course, simply throwing away all the things you keep in your bathroom isn’t an option. You need a better strategy, which is why we’ve asked professional home organizers to tell us how to keep bathroom countertops clear. Here’s what they told us.
1. KEEP ONLY WHAT YOU NEED ON YOUR COUNTERTOPS
Sounds easier said than done? Well, there are a couple of ways you can declutter your bathroom countertops and organize a bathroom with too much stuff. Firstly, make an assessment of what physically cannot go in a drawer or storage basket. Janelle Azar, a professional organizer and the owner of A Meaningful Space, recommends focusing on ‘items that don’t work well in a drawer like a bottle of lotion, contact solution, face wash, or your favorite fragrance.’ Even fragrances sometimes come in compact bottles that don’t really need to sit on your countertop, so focus on items that are packaged in a way that means they really can’t be stored horizontally.
2. CORRAL THE CLUTTER BY USING A VANITY TRAY
Vanity trays, at Anthropologie, are a great way to keep bathroom countertops clear. Janelle Azar believes that a tray ‘keeps your items neat, tidy, and in one location, and it also adds a nice visual element to your counter.’ The great thing about vanity trays is that they are much more appealing aesthetically than other bathroom storage solutions, such as boxes, while achieving the same result of grouping things together. You’re much less likely to knock things over when they sit snugly in a tray.
3. USE THE POWER OF DRAWER ORGANIZERS
Drawers are your biggest friends in a bathroom. They allow you to keep most things out of sight. However, many bathroom drawers, including vanity drawers, are too big to contain all the smaller items from your countertops. What you can end up with is a bathroom drawer that’s full of items of different types and sizes that all get jumbled together. Carrie Ypma recommends solving this issue by using drawer organizers; these will ‘contain bathroom items, allowing you to keep the countertops clear.’
4. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF VERTICAL SPACE
If you have free wall space in your bathroom, you have an opportunity to clear your bathroom countertops. Janelle Azar advises that by ‘using shelves, hooks, and wall-mounted organizers or cabinets you can keep your counters clutter-free and still have items within easy reach.’
5. KEEP MEDICATION AWAY FROM THE BATHROOM
Many people keep their medications on their bathroom countertops. This is actually not a great idea, and not just because of bathroom clutter. Bathrooms are humid spaces, and the humidity and high temperatures can make your medications ineffective or even spoil them. The best place for your medications is in a cool, dry place in your bedroom or living room, in a dedicated cabinet that’s out of reach of children and pets. Or even better, invest in an airtight medication storage box with a lock on it.