Kathi,

I have a challenge for you:
I have built-in shelving in my bathroom.  It is behind the door and goes from the floor to the ceiling.  Only thing is, they are very, very deep.  The dimensions are 15″ wide x 23″ tall x 35″ deep.  There are 4 shelves.

We would like to organize this space with all of our bathroom stuff (towels, hair stuff, lotions, shaving, bath toys, etc.).  How in the world do we do this?

I had considered just buying some pretty wicker baskets to make it pretty, but still, our stuff would just be thrown into each basket without any order.

HELP!

Dear Help,

You are so lucky to have floor to ceiling built in cabinets in your bathroom. The only real challenge as I see it is that the cabinets are deep and probably act as a black hole with minimal effort.

Here is what you do to keep items form disappearing into the deep recesses:

Separate and organize all items by type of use. Your categories might include toiletries, bathing, makeup, towels, medicine etc.

Segregate each collection into containers. Towels might be able to fit into large plastic bins that will act as drawers that you can pull in and out of the shelf as needed.

Bottles can swirl joyously on a very large (perhaps 24”) lazy susan

Bath toys can be hung in a hammock within the shower area or relegated again to another plastic bin of appropriate size.

Smaller items can be separated and stored in plastic Sterilite drawers

The items that are rarely used wil be tucked into the back of each shelf in separate bins so you can pull them out as needed after you pull out the items in front.

Consider your frequency of use for each ‘type’ of item. This will determine which items are stored at eye level and which are stored below or in the back of the shelf behind other more important categories.

I am assuming that you have already purged and donated the excess items that you no longer need or use. By the way, for all readers, women’s shelters and shelters of all kinds absolutely LOVE the small travel and sample bottles of shampoos and soaps that we bring back from our hotel stays. Please donate these to your local shelters; they are a valuable commodity to these organizations!

Kathi is a professional organizer, image consultant and event planner based in San Diego California.

Please submit your questions to: [email protected].

San Diego Professional Organizer