Home Improvement: organized bathroom shelving

happy girl here today! there are countless reasons for me to have a smile on this old face. but today that smile is a little bigger. it's brighter and cleaner too now that i've located my floss and teeth whitening strips.

yes, my friends....yay to the hoo, i finally have bathroom shelving!

and a temporary mirror.

and access to everything needed to make myself look human each day. ;-)

am slowly making my way through each area of the house. making it a little more livable and organized with each passing day. for a busy mother of 3, there certainly isn't a lot of primping time scheduled into my day. but it sure is nice to have access to everything once again. yes, for those whole 5 precious minutes of morning time us mommies have to make ourselves look presentable. but, hey....i have it all organized now, and that's what matters.

here is what my bathroom space looked like for the last 6+ weeks...

i was living out of toiletry / travel bags. everything was jumbled together on top of an old shelf.

oh, and i didn't have a mirror...

actually, i do have a permanent mirror for the space above my sink and you'll (hopefully) see that hanging here soon. it's not hanging at the moment because it weighs 100 pounds and i need help not only hanging it on the wall, but making sure it's hung correctly. you know, so as to not pull the wall down with it or fall off the wall, shattering into a billion pieces.

this is the mirror that will soon be hanging over my sink, ever so beautifully...

in the meantime, i finally opened up every last wall hanging box and found a temporary mirror....

p.s. that wall lighting isn't staying either. still searching for the perfect lights...which could take this lady a few years.

enough about mirrors, let's get to talking about that organized bathroom shelving. for the shelf, i ended up with the good ole pottery barn studio wall shelf...

yes, the same shelves i have in my office. i can't help it! they are so versatile, clean, offer tons of storage space, and the shelf fits perfectly on the wall next to my sink. it's also incredibly easy to assemble. did that part all by myself saturday night...

even lugged it into the bathroom and mounted it on the wall. all by myself!...

if that wasn't enough of an exciting saturday night, i couldn't wait to get those shelves filled! oooooooohhh!

oh, and spend a few minutes kissing my new q-tip container...

ok ok, joking aside. it was a productive saturday night around here!

in order to find the best containers for my shelving, i first laid out everything i was planning to put onto the shelves. this is how i operate when i organize any space. first thing, see everything that needs to be contained. if you blindly purchase organization systems, you may find yourself frustrated when it isn't working for you. in this case, i laid it all out...

then i snapped a couple photos using my cell phone. that way when i roamed through the container store i knew exactly what needed to be contained.

after purchasing a few items from the container store, gathering a few items i already owned, and spending a few hours making it all look nice....here's my new organized bathroom shelving...

a closer look, shelf by shelf? sure thing!

starting at the bottom, i have bath towels and a basket for my hair dryer, straightener, curling iron and brushes/combs...

next shelf has a jar filled with bars of soap, a wire basket of washcloths...

i also have a small basket from the target $1 section that holds my beauty samples. these samples are normally hidden away somewhere never to be found again. now they are in sight so i can try out those magical creams and potions...

these 2 pretties were a gift from a close friend in arkansas. love the vibrant color, but also the meaning and thought that comes to mind when i see each sitting here...

on the 3rd shelf i have a divided linen drawer organizer and a acrylic make-up organizer...

inside the drawer organizer i have a section for dental needs and a section that holds my hair products, body lotion, deodorant and a few hand lotions...

this make-up organizer was a total splurge. i have always dreamed of owning one of these! don't ask me why, just did. the container store had them on sale recently so i couldn't resist. i'm not a big make-up lady, but this one manages to beautifully stow away what i do use...

on the 4th shelf there is another linen drawer organizer, a glass jar of cotton pads, an acrylic container of hair bands, and a tray holding various perfumes...

the drawer organizer on this shelf holds my face products. yes, there is a lot of them. won't say how old i am, but let's say that hill is within view. these are a must for me...

found this little tray at the container store, as well...

this little holder is actually the lipstick portion of the make-up organizer i shared above. i'm not a lipstick gal. i do gloss. this little section has been re-purposed and is instead doing a great job holding my perfume samples...

on the top and final shelf...

a large canister of q-tips...

a silver cup full of random needs...

2 more $1 target baskets; one is holding meds and the other is holding travel size kleenex...

one of the $1 baskets is propped up a bit higher with this pretty pink box...

you know how normally those free make-up gifts from the cosmetic counter aren't that interesting/worthwhile? i love this one and think i might actually use something from the set...