These Cool Thrift Store Finds Organize Bathroom Countertops With A Vintage Twist

Bathrooms, you might be surprised to learn, are governed by the laws of physics. You've probably noticed that they tend toward disorder and chaos, but they can be coaxed toward order with some nifty thrift store finds. There are two types of things you'll be looking for: organizational doodads and storage doodads. Think dysfunctional cookware, picnic baskets, bowls that are profoundly not food-safe, and plates that were apparently bought for the world's only octagon-themed party. From this madness will emerge the structure bathroom countertops need.

With that said, you'll need to shift your point of view a bit. From one perspective, thrift stores are where you go to find things other people have given up on — bread machines, say, or exercise equipment — with the somewhat optimistic belief that you will make them work. But in this scenario, you want to find anything people have given up on and use them in a different way. You won't find things made for bathroom organization — people are using those things to organize their bathrooms. What you'll find are oddball bits of decorative pottery and lavishly ornamented knickknacks that were meant for, well, heaven knows what, but you can use them to store hand towels and cotton swabs. 

Bathroom vanity organizer ideas — giving things a place to live — are where you'll find most of your value in a thrift store, because this is essentially a decorative task. Find an item you like the looks of, put a thing on it, and if the thing doesn't fall off, you have yourself an organizational doodad. The goal is often decluttering without actually removing anything, which generally means containerizing your mess. Use the vessels to define a space where things belong — expected things like toiletries, but also earrings, ring rings, microSD cards, candy, hair containment devices, mystery keys, nuts and bolts, that sort of thing. Containers like this double as decor, which is why you're looking at a thrift store rather than using cardboard boxes.

The sorts of things you might use include pretty saucers, weird but cute dishes of unknown original purpose, strangely geometrical plates, cool stoneware bowls, and the like. You might occasionally even find something you can use for its original purpose, like a trinket box or a vintage porcelain ring holder. We're particularly fond of the otherwise useless mortar without a pestle, but if you're lucky enough to spy a brass apothecary mortar, buy it with or without the pestle. One hint: You might be better off with a single decorative dish than a matching set, which pushes the look from found vintage to overly cutesy.

You could argue that a bottle of liquid soap on a counter is being stored, but you probably shouldn't do this. Storage is putting things away alongside like things, and they might or might not be organized. Free-standing bathroom storage cabinets and under-sink storage ideas are great, but if storage is happening on your bathroom countertop, there's probably not a huge quantity of whatever you're dealing with. You might roll up a few hand towels in a basket, for example, but you wouldn't try to stack all of your hand towels next to the sink.

Baskets are great, and countertop basket storage means no one will have to go hunting for things and disturbing hidden organizational systems. Storage doodads often hold more than organizational doodads, which are sometimes more of a space than an actual container. It can be instructive to look at what countertop storage options trusted retailers offer, then look for more attractive versions at thrift and vintage stores: bamboo trays, baskets with and without handles, compartmented boxes, lazy Susans, drawer organizers/dividers, etc.

You will feel some pressure to offload stored items from your countertop to ... well, anywhere else. This is good and proper. You can relieve some of the pressure on your countertop with creative storage solutions, like a stainless commercial bar caddy mounted to the wall or a simple row of hooks for whatever hangs. Look for opportunities to create more countertop space, like a floating wall shelf, adding a narrow bar cart next to the vanity, or building up counter space vertically with tiered or stacked storage doodads.