Exceedingly Blessed: Space savers for the loo

I have been wanting to share some ideas about space savers for months now, but I haven't been able to locate any before pictures of my bathroom. So, try to picture the smallest bathroom you have ever seen (I mean so small you could sit on the toilet and put your feet in the tub while leaning on the corner sink.) and then fill it with a cabinet with drawers, a back-of-the-toilet shelf full of stuff, and now you are beginning to get the idea.

When my husband and I got married, we both had a lot of stuff. He is, by nature, a pack rat, and I am a minimalist. I don't like clutter at all. At first, we tried to both keep all of our own things and we tried really hard to make it work. After about a year, it was time to rethink, reorganize, and rectify the situation. I wanted to find ways to make the bathroom look nice. I wanted everything to have a place. I wanted everything to have a function. And I wanted to accomplish all of this on a shoestring budget.

First, we decided that the rack behind the toilet had to go. This made a considerable improvement. In its place I wanted a piece of art that would bring some color into our very drab black and white water closet. I searched the clearance racks at every store imaginable and then came across the perfect piece at Kirkland's. It was only $16! What a deal! It is large and it is a much nicer focal point than our toilet:)

gorgeous! I love the dark frame!

Then it was on to some things to really make everything fit back into the teeny room. There is a really great wooden box on the back of the toilet. I found it at Hobby Lobby for 50% off. I think it was only $10. We keep Q-tips in it. They fit perfectly and I think it looks a whole lot nicer than an open box of cotton swabs.

a closer look

I love the look of it! It is resting on a red placemat that is folded in half. Again, the red really brightens up the room. I already had a great cabinet that I bought at Pier 1 a very long time ago. It is really perfect since we don' t have a lot of under sink space or a very large medicine cabinet. It holds everything! There is an entire drawer full of medicines and vitamins. It even has my blow dryer and straightener in it. It is a perfect fit in this tiny space.

Perfect!

On top of this cabinet, there is a little box that is so cute as well. It holds some more bathroom essentials. I love that it is accessible, but not out in the open. Again, I love for everything to have a place.

Here is a better look. On top is a candle holder, sans candle.

The box was something we already owned and the candle holder was another Hobby Lobby find for $2.50. Then for the finishing touches. Our shower curtain was a wedding gift, and it was just what we wanted, so not wanting to get rid of it, I opted for a modification. I bought ribbon for $1 a spool. It took 4 spools to do what I wanted, but I love the look!

Ta-Da! So cute, right?

I absolutely love this look! And I love that I could add that much color for only a few dollars! Then I added some red hand towels to the rack by the sink (4 @ $1 each at the Christmas Tree Shop in Indy), a red ceramic cup for the toothbrush holder ($1 @ Hobby Lobby) and a ribbon to the top of the towel hanger (free! It was used to tie a gift together. I took it off and reused that bad daddy!).