Home Improvement: the Bathroom Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Decluttering my wardrobe or That Drawer For Different Things In The Kitchen is hard work, and if I do it once a year, I compliment myself on my courage. No matter how much I sort through my stuff and give away, there are always too many clothes in my wardrobe. Sometimes wonder if the bloody t-shirts are breeding in there. And of course, the cats want to help, so I have to be careful that I don't put Buttons into the collection bag along with an old sweater.
But there's one piece of furniture I haven't dared to tackle for years, and I'd probably ignored it for another decade if I hadn't almost caught a black eye because a glas with bathing salts dropped on me when I opened
Theoretically, bathroom cabinets are practical. They hold all the small things you need to look fresh (or to cover up on days when you don't), and make-up or shaving cream are only a few inches away.
Practically, however, you dread to open the door because you know that you'll be buried under an avalanche of rancid creams, never-opened-tonics, dry mascara, jewellery, hairclips, dusty Q-tips, cotton pads and nail varnish as hard as marble. There's no place, maybe with exception of the tool box, where chaos reigns as unchallenged as here. And the chaos inside the cabinet isn't improved by its bland, boring outside.
Why the chaos, Mrs. Joyful?
So I armed myself with a binbag, turned up the stereo and had a bit of vanilla cream liquor to get in the spirit of things. The target was to have only one item of things I don't need in different colours (eyeliner, mascara etc.), and sort out everything that I don't use or doesn't suit me.
I took every piece out of the cabinet and either put it in a basket (to keep), in a bag (to be donated) or binbag (way of the dodo). Then I went through the items in the basket for a second time, again eliminating what I don't need. Then I put all make-up in the Hello Kitty box; that way I would have all I need for warpaint in one place. "Travel bottles " (showergel, shampoo and conditioner) were put in a tin so I won't have to look for them when I go on my next journey.
This is the cabinet after my big declutter morning (I should have taken a "before" picture, but some things are probably best kept in the dark!):
Next I thought about the best way to store my bazillion of hairclips. Eventually, I fixed a leftover piece of wire in the door (see below) and clipped them all on it, like socks on a clothing line. I also added a hook for some of my necklaces. Rather than cluttering up the cabinet, I have now all my clips in one place, and it also looks cheerful (at least I think so ). This would also work with self-adhesive hooks, of course (please notice my nifty Tardis necklace with matching earrings!)
This is the cabinet after the main job of decluttering, sorting and organising:
Much better, but not finished yet. Step two involved glue (the removable type) and postcards. I bought them specially (I went for a "women are great" theme, as you can tell), but this would also be a great way to use postcards, birthdaycards etc.
The (almost) final product:
Now for the details. Many beauty products come in beautifully designed tins or bottles. Here you can see how I used the design talents of the people at L'Occitane and Burt's Bees to spruce up my cabinet:
When it comes to decoration, I often use items for a purpose they weren't originally made for. The red thingy above, for example, is a bowl for olives. I also added some pretty stones and shells - not only because they look beautiful, but also to keep me from putting things there!
Another example of "misappropriation": I found a children's breakfast set at the local thrift store of the Salvation Army. It consists of a mug and a bowl, showing a gnome drinking - coffee, I hope! - with a robin who's wearing lederhosen. Needless to say, I couldn't resist, and so I have a very funny and original new beaker and soapdish!
The last postcard was glued to the front (it says "Pimp my life") and - finis!
While digging my way through the thrift store, I also found this lovely key box. Until now, all my keys were hanging from a hook, with the result that I was constantly looking for them. Buttons loved to steal them, so more often than not, I had to fish for them under the bed in the morning. Now all keys are in a cat-proof place:
The Doctor, the Daleks and the stones ensure that no cat, not ever Buttons, make any attempts to jump on the box.
Mission accomplished! :)
Molly originally posted this entry at http://joyful-molly.dreamwidth.org/325184.html. You can comment on LJ or DW, using OpenID.
But there's one piece of furniture I haven't dared to tackle for years, and I'd probably ignored it for another decade if I hadn't almost caught a black eye because a glas with bathing salts dropped on me when I opened
Theoretically, bathroom cabinets are practical. They hold all the small things you need to look fresh (or to cover up on days when you don't), and make-up or shaving cream are only a few inches away.
Practically, however, you dread to open the door because you know that you'll be buried under an avalanche of rancid creams, never-opened-tonics, dry mascara, jewellery, hairclips, dusty Q-tips, cotton pads and nail varnish as hard as marble. There's no place, maybe with exception of the tool box, where chaos reigns as unchallenged as here. And the chaos inside the cabinet isn't improved by its bland, boring outside.
Why the chaos, Mrs. Joyful?
- Inability to throw something away, even if it's beyond the use-before-date ("but it's been so expensive!")
- I might need it in future (no, you don't. Trust me.)
- Buy two, get the third for free: sounds great, but chances are that the two extra pots of creams you bought will go bad while you use up pot one.
- Try something new: it's better, dries quicker, or makes me look brighter. I just have to have it. (No, Molly, you don't!)
- Samples - cute little cream bags and cute little perfume dispensers and cute little other things that are hardly ever used.
- Hotels - those cute little bottles are so tempting! And we paid for them! So we take them home where they gather dust.
- Beauty products are among the most popular presents, and those "gift packs" from Lush or Boots or elsewhere are very lovely. But there's only so many showers a woman can take, and bathing salts, no matter how wonderful they are, won't be of much use if you don't have a bathtub or prefer to take showers.
- If make-up has expired, throw it away. Powder and rouge are playgrounds for bugs of all kind, and you won't do your skin a favour by "using it later".
- If you haven't used something for months, it's highly unlikely you'll use it now. Off it goes.
- Unopened products which are still useable? Please consider donating them to a homeless shelter. Small tubes and bottles (the hotel-ones, or those gift packs mentioned above) are very popular among our visitors. As the small bottles aren't heavy, they can carry them around without problems, and wash whenever they have the opportunity.
- Samples: if you know you'll soon go on a journey, put them in your sponge bag and use them while on the road. This will save you the extra-weight of large bottles. If there's no chance you'll use them any time soon: throw them away.
So I armed myself with a binbag, turned up the stereo and had a bit of vanilla cream liquor to get in the spirit of things. The target was to have only one item of things I don't need in different colours (eyeliner, mascara etc.), and sort out everything that I don't use or doesn't suit me.
I took every piece out of the cabinet and either put it in a basket (to keep), in a bag (to be donated) or binbag (way of the dodo). Then I went through the items in the basket for a second time, again eliminating what I don't need. Then I put all make-up in the Hello Kitty box; that way I would have all I need for warpaint in one place. "Travel bottles " (showergel, shampoo and conditioner) were put in a tin so I won't have to look for them when I go on my next journey.
This is the cabinet after my big declutter morning (I should have taken a "before" picture, but some things are probably best kept in the dark!):
Next I thought about the best way to store my bazillion of hairclips. Eventually, I fixed a leftover piece of wire in the door (see below) and clipped them all on it, like socks on a clothing line. I also added a hook for some of my necklaces. Rather than cluttering up the cabinet, I have now all my clips in one place, and it also looks cheerful (at least I think so ). This would also work with self-adhesive hooks, of course (please notice my nifty Tardis necklace with matching earrings!)
This is the cabinet after the main job of decluttering, sorting and organising:
Much better, but not finished yet. Step two involved glue (the removable type) and postcards. I bought them specially (I went for a "women are great" theme, as you can tell), but this would also be a great way to use postcards, birthdaycards etc.
The (almost) final product:
Now for the details. Many beauty products come in beautifully designed tins or bottles. Here you can see how I used the design talents of the people at L'Occitane and Burt's Bees to spruce up my cabinet:
When it comes to decoration, I often use items for a purpose they weren't originally made for. The red thingy above, for example, is a bowl for olives. I also added some pretty stones and shells - not only because they look beautiful, but also to keep me from putting things there!
Another example of "misappropriation": I found a children's breakfast set at the local thrift store of the Salvation Army. It consists of a mug and a bowl, showing a gnome drinking - coffee, I hope! - with a robin who's wearing lederhosen. Needless to say, I couldn't resist, and so I have a very funny and original new beaker and soapdish!
The last postcard was glued to the front (it says "Pimp my life") and - finis!
While digging my way through the thrift store, I also found this lovely key box. Until now, all my keys were hanging from a hook, with the result that I was constantly looking for them. Buttons loved to steal them, so more often than not, I had to fish for them under the bed in the morning. Now all keys are in a cat-proof place:
The Doctor, the Daleks and the stones ensure that no cat, not ever Buttons, make any attempts to jump on the box.
Mission accomplished! :)
Molly originally posted this entry at http://joyful-molly.dreamwidth.org/325184.html. You can comment on LJ or DW, using OpenID.