Creative Storage Solutions for the Bathroom

Creative Toilet Paper Storage Idea

With the newer, more modern designs of Bathrooms, storage space for toiletries can be at a premium.

Even when, at first glance, there is quite a bit of storage in the washroom, once we start filling the cupboards, there never seems to be enough.

Creative storage solutions for the bathroom mean thinking outside of the box.

Toilet Paper Storage for a Small 2 Piece Washroom

In a small 2-piece washroom, there may be a cupboard space, or if there's a pedestal sink, no cupboard space. Hmmmm...What to do????

When storage is limited, I've come up with a creative

Inside View - Neat & Tidy

solution:

I had an old standing vase from way-back-when, that I decided to use in my main washroom to store toilet paper. 

We do have a cupboard in the washroom under the sink, but that's being used for other items. By having the toilet paper in the vase, the cupboard has room for many other items instead.

If you don't have an old vase to use, you can always pick one up at a flea-market or via online or local shopping. 

However, don't limit yourself to just a vase, any type of decorative storage container about 2 feet tall, that's quite narrow, will work.

Additional Storage Ideas for the Washroom

You can also acquire a bathroom floor storage cupboard system. As you'll see here, there are numerous designs, colors, and styles to choose from. Be sure to check them out.

Some come in extremely narrow designs (approximately 6" wide), so they can fit in that small space beside the toilet. 

Other style options are slightly larger and are being designed for corners. If your washroom has unused corner space, consider a corner storage cabinet. Most offer a small counter surface enabling you to put something decorative (or practical) on top of it.

When you're doing this year's spring cleaning, remember to think creatively when it comes to storage. In fact, if you're getting the itch to sell your home, try re-organizing a room before you jump through that very large hoop! It may even scratch that itch for change.

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Weapons of Mass DIY Destruction

Black Ops "Do or Di" - Anything is Possible

There are construction tools and then there are weapons of mass destruction.  We’re not talking nukes here.  Who needs nuclear fire power when one has a reciprocating saw that can pretty much destroy anything in its path? 

Yesterday, when I pulled that DEWALT saw out of its case, nothing seemed ordinary about my DIY mission.  Pulling the trigger on that bad boy transformed a seemingly mundane task into a black ops mission. 

Suddenly, I was able to rip through wood, metal, drywall—you name it—with ease.  The power at my fingertips made me invincible.  When put in a “Do or Di” DIY situation, this is the tool you want in your arsenal.

Check out my new product review, featuring current covert activities, then give Squidoo a try.  What is it that awakens your inner ninja?  Is there a product in your life that transforms you into a force to be reckoned with?  We want to read all about it.  

And now I am being called to duty.  There is a top-secret mission with my name on it. #TrySquidoo

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Writing Down the Bones

Anatomy of my Future Playshop

There is something powerfully transformative about the act of creation.   I have always known that the opportunity to create is my greatest motivator.

Each day, as I stand within the skeleton of the twelve-by-twelve DIY studio I am building, I feel a sense of awe at what can be built with one’s own hands, mind, and will.

If you are a DIY or HGTV junkie like I am, perhaps you have heard talk of homes that have good bones.  In the world of construction, bones matter.

I find it astonishing that these thin sticks I nail together in the right configuration of joints and ribs are so incredibly strong.  There is elegance in the simplicity… an understated beauty.

When the time came, yesterday, to cover the bones, for the exoskeleton is an important part of the structural integrity, I took a few moments to appreciate that which I would not be able to see moving forward. 

Having thoughtfully selected each individual bone, and cared for it during the process of building an inner sanctum for nurturing creativity, this was a moment to savor and celebrate.

This morning, as I write this post, I think of Natalie Goldberg’s classic book, Writing Down the Bones.   Freeing the writer within is about bones just as building a life is about good bones.  Writing down the bones is about expressing essence.  In writing about the essentials of our lives, we experience the creation of the world over and over again. 

I encourage you to write down your bones.  Free the builder within by becoming an essential part of our Squidoo community.  I can’t wait to see what you create with your own hands.

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A Penny for Your Thoughts

Will Work for Pennies

My DIY reality this week is all about pennies.  Not the kind I used to purchase penny candy when I was a child, or the bright copper ones I put in my penny loafers forty years ago.   My pennies these days are 12d’s, 8d’s, 6d’s, and everything in between.

As I pounded in several hundred nails over the past few days, I had lots of time to think about such things as the medieval system for classifying nails.  This is my brain hot-dipped, galvanized, common, shanked, ringed, sinkered, and bright box nailed.

So why are they called 12-penny nails… those three and a half inch nails that are giving me blisters and hammer elbow?  It goes back to how many pennies were needed to buy 100 nails back in the 1500s.  It turns out that the letter “d” after the number is an abbreviation for the most commonly used Roman coin (the denarius).  The number refers to the length of nail.

If I’m doing the math correctly, which is never a given, twelve pennies bought 100 nails back in the day.  I paid 445 pennies for 96 ring-shanked nails this past weekend.  Kind of made me long for the days of yore.  Can you picture it?  Me in a toga, eating figs, tapping in twelve denarii worth of nails? 

In the process of building a studio addition onto my mountain cabin, I am learning invaluable lessons that go beyond the importance of purchasing and using the right nails.  It seems each stage of the building process needs a different kind of fastener.  Early in the process I was tempted to use screws to make parts of the job easier and faster to complete.  It turns out that would have been a big mistake.  Screws don’t have the sheer strength provided by 12d nails.

Isn’t that true of building a life also?  Finding the strength that matches each phase of the process of becoming?  Just as I used the right kind of anchor hardware in the foundation stage of this do-it-myself project, I seek to live a life anchored in ways that ensure the stability to weather any storm.  

Isn’t it amazing that something we often take for granted, nails and pennies, are essential to building something lasting?  I invite you to join me in creating something worth every single blister.  As Squidoo's Home Renovator Contributor, I'm looking for a few kindred hammer swingers.  Please stop by today.  I'll give you a penny (worth at least $4.45 with inflation) for your thoughts.

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Operation Sunbeam

Solar Oven (Photo Credit)

When I was growing up, I wanted to be a spy.  How I loved all those top-secret codes and 007 spy gadgets.  Of course, one of my favorite TV shows was Mission Impossible.

Today, my mission, which I have chosen to accept, is far different from those Jim was offered over the course of the series.  Though the overall operation has changed, there are still zeros in my aspirations.  These days I am working on zero waste and zero emissions—perhaps the Ground Zero of those seeking the ultimate green lifestyle.  Just imagine how our world would be different if everyone accepted that mission.

I recently wrote a review of a book, Cooking Green, about how we might each reduce our cookprints (our kitchen’s carbon footprint).  In that book, author Kate Heyhoe compared our ovens to Humvees because of their horrible waste of energy.  She really got me thinking about how I might create greater efficiencies with my cooking.

Kate mentioned that the closest we can get to zero emissions when baking is to use a solar oven.  That thought has been bouncing around in my brain for several days now.  Intrigued with the thought of building and using my own solar oven, I have been a woman on a mission. 

First, I gathered up resources for learning more about solar cooking.  A topic search of web pages led me to many excellent resources.  I’ve since checked out solar cookery guides and cookbooks from my library and have conducted a number of Internet searches.  These combined resources have only increased my enthusiasm for making my cooking as green as possible. 

Curious?  Your mission, which I hope you will accept, is to take a minute or two to explore the potential for tapping into the greatest underutilized power source on the planet (sunshine).  I encourage you to think about the possibilities by visiting How to Make and Use a Solar Oven.  Don't delay.  This link may self-destruct in 30 seconds.

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Do or Di DIY

My Third Eye

When I was taking a high school Probability and Statistics class, believe me, an improbability in itself, my good friend and I sat in the back row repeating our mantra over and over again: “Ours is not to question why, ours is but to do or die.”  Then we would laugh.  Crisis averted. 

Sometimes DIYers get in a situation that begins to feel a little do-or-die.  I know I felt that way at least a couple of times during my recent kitchen renovation project.  That’s when you begin to ask: Whose idea was this?  What was I thinking?  How do I get myself out of this mess?

Home renovation, like grief, can offer up many stages: denial, anger, acceptance, and, finally, thank goodness, relief.  Geesh.  All I wanted was to reface my cabinets.  I didn’t know I was signing on for any heavy-duty emotional stuff.  I must admit, it was pretty cathartic.

I’ve decided there really should be home renovation support groups.  It is not unusual to need some therapy while in the midst of living in a home that is torn to smithereens.  DIY adventures are rarely neat and tidy.  We can all use a little encouragement to stay the course and push through to the other side.  It really is worth it.

Because I didn’t have a support group cheering me on during my kitchen facelift, I have decided to start one for all of you DIY brave hearts out there.  Our group meetings will take place on Facebook and Squidoo.  Therapy and cookies will be provided free of charge.  Just bring your renovation issues.  Of course, you are entirely welcome even if you have never experienced one single moment of DIY angst.  You can be our well-adjusted home renovation poster child. 

We have a new Facebook hangout.  I call it “Do or Di DIY” (the “Di” is me, Squidoo’s Home Renovator Contributor).  Please stop by and use your greatest DIY tool, your thumb, if you feel moved to do so.  A little love goes a long way.  And now, please pass the cookies... greatest therapy known to womankind.

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