Master Bath Tour and Organizing Ideas

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Thanks for stopping by and joining the Peeping Moms Home Tour – Master Bath edition.  Four blogging moms take you on tours each month of their homes.Peeping Moms

 When you move every 1-3 years and live in military quarters where it’s not your house to renovate, you find creative ways to make a house your home.  When you have over 20 moves under your belt and never know when the next move is coming, you learn to use practical and flexible organizing tricks.   Because each new house is not yet our home, I make sure to make the space our own by using our favorite items to decorate and organize with. Here, let me show you our master bath tour and organizing ideas.Master Bath Tour & Organizing - Organized 31

Let me sum up my master bath in 2 words – Nineteen nineties. 

There are miles of white tile.  I love white in decorating, but not this white tile.  Yawn.Master Bath Tour & Organizing - Organized 31

There are also these boring cabinets that I don’t like.  Not only are they unattractive, they’re very short.  I’m a short woman who is 5′ 3″ tall.  These cabinets are even short for me.  I feel like Alice in Wonderland every morning and evening using the sink.Master Bath Tour & Organizing - Organized 31

Since I’ll be living with the tile and cabinets for a while, let’s focus on what I do like. I like all the natural light that comes in these windows. And I like the blue paint on the walls.Master Bath Tour & Organizing - Organized 31

I’m accustomed to making a house our home without changing much about the house itself.  What I do is use favorite items to decorate and organize each room.  Since we don’t have a special connection to or memories of the house, I surround my family with pictures and objects that are special to use and invoke favorite memories.

Let me start with the bathtub.  It has a ledge around 3 sides so I figured why not display some memory-evoking treasures.

The blue fishing float is one of my favorite purchases.  I bought it while stationed in Japan at a shrine sale (like a flea market, but held on the grounds of a local shrine).  Not only do I love the color and shape of the fishing float, but every time I see it memories of our time in Japan come flooding back. The shell next to the float is special because my dad got it for me when were stationed in Turkey.  Every weekend, my family would go snorkeling in the Aegean and my dad dove to retrieve this shell for me … many years ago.  The white shell on the right was a gift from Santa when I was 7 years old… many years ago.  And the vase on the left was gift from my best friend from college.Master Bath Tour & Organizing - Organized 31

On the other side of the tub, I displayed perfume bottles that my husband brought back from Egypt.  These are special, because I told him early in our marriage not to bring me trinkets back from his deployments or trips  (I didn’t want him to have that pressure of finding the right gift while he was deployed), so it was an extra special surprise when he brought a bottle back for myself and each of my daughters.Master Bath Tour & Organizing - Organized 31

And then, just because I have a goofy sense of humor, I had to add my favorite art project from my son’s preschool years in a hidden corner.  It makes me smile every time I see it.Master Bath Tour & Organizing - Organized 31

On the walls, I’ve hung some art from Hawai’i that reminds me of home when I’m feeling homesick (which is often enough that it’s good to see these pictures every day).  These pictures have been in many of our homes.  They’ve hung in the living room, the dining room and even the laundry room.  I joke that I must have Garanimals art; art that can mix and match with each other and fit almost any room of the house.Master Bath Tour & Organizing - Organized 31

I like to use special memory items in my organizing as well. I picked this container up in Japan as a keepsake when we were stationed there because it’s so adorable.Master Bath Tour & Organizing - Organized 31

 And also because it’s perfect for organizing in the bathroom.  It’s a twofer – a travel souvenir and an organizing container.Master Bath Tour & Organizing - Organized 31

Our vanity cabinet is large, but it has tiny drawers.  Because the drawers are so small, it’s critical that they stay organized to be usable.Master Bath Tour & Organizing - Organized 31

I use containers and bags to help keep everything organized.Master Bath Tour & Organizing - Organized 31

Because we move so often and I can never anticipate the size or design of the next house, years ago I purchased small organizing bins that can fit into small drawers.  You’ll also notice that I’m using another keepsake for organizing, a clay pot my son made for me in kindergarten.  It makes me smile every morning when I open this drawer.Master Bath Tour & Organizing - Organized 31

For storage in the cabinets, I have also purchased over the years smaller, flexible storage bins that I’ll be able to use no matter how small the next house is or the next one or…Master Bath Tour & Organizing - Organized 31

In the left cabinet, you’ll see the wire storage basket that I love for organizing my hair appliances.  And again I’m using keepsakes to organize.  1.  A Longaberger basket that I received as a gift from my mother-in-law 14 years ago.  2.  A decorated Mother’s Day gift from my youngest daughter about 10 years ago. 3.  A souvenir from my high school prom just a couple of years decades ago. These items make me smile when I open this cabinet in the mornings. I purposefully use them every day to make me happy rather than pack them away or put them high on shelf where I’d only see them when I dusted them.Master Bath Tour & Organizing - Organized 31

On the right side, the organization is all business.  I have the flexible  shelves and bins that I can reconfigure for smaller cabinets or spread out in larger ones.  They’ve served me well in many different homes.Master Bath Tour & Organizing - Organized 31

I guess you’ve gathered by now, that practical and flexible is my focus when it comes to organizing the master bath (remember we’ve lived in over 20 homes, so practical more than glamorous makes sense).  I often look at those lovely creative organizing solutions that I see on Pinterest and drool.  But after you’ve moved 5 times in 6 years, you give up the dream of glamorous organizing solutions and go for (yep, you guessed it) practical and flexible.Master Bath Tour & Organizing - Organized 31

This “potty room” (as our real estate agent in Alabama called it) is so very tiny (it’s kind of like doing your business sitting in a coffin).  There’s no place to put the TP, feminine products or reading material.  In a Pinterest world, I’d build the perfect tiny cabinet or shelf, but in my practical world, I use a basket.  This basket has served my family holding toys, stuffed animals, magazines, coloring books and now TP.  It has earned it the flexible organizing award.  Although I choose to be practical, I also choose to add a sentimental picture to make me think happy thoughts and not regretful I-wish-I-didn’t-have-to-be-so-practical-all-the-time-woe-is-me-thoughts.Master Bath Tour & Organizing - Organized 31

 My dear friend from high school gave me this picture.  When I look at it I smile and think  oh-isn’t-that-cute-and-I’m-blessed-to-have-such-wonderful-friends thoughts.

If’ I’ve learned anything from 20+ moves about organizing and decorating in our master bath, it’s to use practical and flexible organizing tools with a liberal dose of keepsakes mixed in.  Those keepsakes immediately make every new house our home.Master Bath Tour & Organizing - Organized 31

 If you haven’t already, be sure to drop by my good friends’ homes on the Peeping Moms Home Tour – Master Bath edition.  And keep an eye out for the Peeping Moms Home Tour each month.

wondermom

 Decorating and Organizing the Master Bath from Wondermom Wannabe

More Bathroom Decorating Ideas 

Bathtub Staging Tips from the Pros

Vanity Lighting Buying Guide

Picking the Perfect Bathroom Faucet

Bathroom Sink Makeover Guide

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7 Comments

  1. Pingback: Peeping Moms Tour: The Master Bathroom - WONDERMOM WANNABE
  2. Pingback: 4 Easy Ways to Add Glam to Your Bathroom - The Coconut Head's Survival Guide - A Lifestyle Blog with a Twist of Cancer Survival
  3. Love your bathroom and all of the wonderful mementos you have. I think it is so nice to be able to look at an item and have a memory attached to it. I love the color of your bathroom walls, I have been thinking of a color like that for my home too!

  4. Susan, I love all of the cute and whimsical decorative touches! As always, you’ve proven to be a master at making a house a home without having to spend a fortune or a lifetime making it that way. That photo is adorable. My BFF is now on the hunt to find a bunch of photos in a similar style to redo her bathroom decor.

  5. Hi Susan – I am loving those blue walls. You did such a wonderful job working around what you didn’t like and making it beautiful and full of such special memories. I love how you have taken precious items and use them in ways that are practical and also like you said, make you smile first thing in the morning. So much fun joining you on the Peeping Moms tour! Hugs, Holly

  6. I have a Japanese grandma, and my mom grew up moving all the time! I don’t have much experience with it though. You must be an expert packer and organizer!

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