You don’t have to compromise on clean to be green.
This weekend we tackled our bathroom. Remember a week before my scheduled c-section with baby #3 when we gutted the bathroom? We finished it just in time and there it sat.
This weekend it got a good cleaning, some reorganization and some style, because let’s face it–that is the fun part. I re-organized the shelf above the toilet. It use to house pull-ups for Eleanor, but I found a new home for those. Now it has toilet paper, towels and this fun bathroom art.
You can find the bathroom art in a few colors at the bottom of the page. I feel like the bathroom looks so much more finished now!
The cabinet above the sink got reworked too. I moved one shelf down to better accommodate our things. Now the tweezers and nail clipper hang up, instead of down. I also ditched the impossible-to-clean toothbrush holder in favor of a plastic cup. I can throw this bad boy in the dishwasher every week and avoid the impossible to clean build-up.
Thanks to the wipeable contact paper and the Clorox Greenworks All-Purpose Spray the inside of the cabinet got a good rub down. I also decided to store the Clorox Greenworks compostable cleaning wipes in the vanity for quick rubdowns of the sink and shelf. Obviously, if you want to keep something up– you need to make it as simple as possible. Especially when husbands and kids are involved.
As time went on, I realized that the kids were using the towels on the hooks to dry their hands after they washed them. This resulted in a wet floor and towels falling on the floor. They could reach the bottom of the towel to dry their hands, but when it fell–had no way to hang it back up. This drove me crazy. And heaven forbid we help Eleanor do anything. Again, when you want something to work–you need to make it simple. We added this towel bar over the weekend.
So simple for the kids to access, no more towels on the floor! WooHoo. And those pull-ups (oh how we love potty training said no mom ever) are now stored right in their step stool, which has a lid that lifts.
In general, keeping a bathroom clean is about controlling the amount of stuff you keep in your bathroom and how you organize it. Once again, especially if you expect other people to keep it up, you need to keep it simple.
This is the primping station, so to speak. We brush teeth, wash our face and put in/take out our contacts over the sink. I do my hair, apply makeup and otherwise get ready here.
I like to refer to this as my medicine cabinet, because it is full of my stuff. My daily lotions and potions. The blue bag holds my everyday makeup.
In this cabinet is everything else. All of it organized and labeled. Obviously I have more makeup then what is in that bag–what if I need a smokey eye, or dramatic lips? That is all stored in the bins below, since I only bust that stuff out for special occasions.
I added this lazy susan to the bottom shelf so that we could easily access everything without knocking things down and making a giant disaster. I also stashed some Clorox Greenworks all-purpose cleaning spray so that we can stay on top of the mess.
On top of the cabinet I added a glass jar for cotton pads (I prefer them to cotton balls, since cotton balls kind of just disintegrate), and a candle. We light it when we are having company or I want to feel special.
On the glass shelf is a silver tumbler that holds Q-tips and a dish for things like my earrings when I take them out or a hair tie for when I am washing my face.
The truth is, this bathroom stays pretty clean all.the.time. Please let that sink in. The trick is only keeping what you need, simplifying, making things accessible, labeling and keeping cleaning supplies handy.
Sure, it is a lot of work initially, but it saves so much time in the long run and really equates to a clean and manageable space. No matter how fantastic a space is, you always need to come back and assess. Get rid of the stuff that isn’t being used, add storage and function if you are using the space differently and give it a good cleaning. That is what spring cleaning is all about after all.
Did I mention that this is the ONLY bathroom that we have in our house?
What will you be tackling this spring?
Sharing this project at: Link Party Palooza, Thrifty Decor Chick: Before and After Party
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