Vitamin In A Bottle

Just call me Kevin Costner (circa 1999 when he filmed Message In A Bottle).  Except nix the “message” part and replace with “vitamins”.  And with that, I give you our “vitamin in a bottle” vitamin organization project result.

Shortly after installing the first aid cabinet in our bathroom, which was also going to house Colby’s vitamin collection, I scrounged up all the cabinet items and set it up to get a good judge of how everything would fit.  I probably should have tested this out before altering the old wooden box with a shelf AND before painting it AND before attaching it to the wall.  Thankfully things fit…just not so well.

Many of the the vitamin bottles were bulky and didn’t quite fit within the cabinet.  Technically they fit, but they were just a little too pudgy to close the door.  Poor pudgy vitamin bottles.  They need a diet.  Thankfully there are vitamins for that!  Even our bottle of peroxide was a bit too hefty for the cabinet.  And then the vitamin bottles that did fit inside the cabinet, wasted alot of vertical space since they were midget bottles.

And what precisely are you stashing in that baggie, Colby?!  Hmmm?  Suspicious…non?!  We need to chat about this!  Haha!  Is this a “the snozberries taste like snozberries” situation?!

Needless to say the vitamin situation and first aid cabinet contents needed a little organization.  I was on a mission and thankfully not mission impossible since I already had a mess of glass bottles at my disposal to use to organize the vitamins.

I had originally purchased these bottles (from AC Moore on sale for $0.84 each) to use to display sand from some of the local Maine beaches I’ve visited along with beach sand from our Puerto Rican honeymoon.  But apparently vitamins trump sand and the bottles quickly became vitamin storage instead.  Have I said vitamin enough?  Should we turn this into a drinking game where every time I say vitamin, we drink?  Vitamin, vitamin, vitamin, vitamin, vitamin!  Why yes…I am THAT person!  No wonder I never got invited to drinking game parties!

Anyway…the project was as simple as (1) dump the vitamins into each bottle (post glass bottle cleaning of course), (2) label each bottle with the vitamin’s name/dosage using a strip of masking tape and a black pen, and (3) recycling all those hefty and half empty vitamin bottles.

And miracle upon miracles…everything fit!  I even picked up a new, smaller bottle of peroxide so all of our BandAids and ointments fit nicely inside the cabinet.

I absolutely adore the impact of a consistent set of glass bottles for vitamin storage.  The vitamins look SOOO much cuter all lined up in their matching bottles and labels than they did before in their random groupings of original bottles.  Added bonus…now that the vitamins are all in one space, clearly labeled, and easy to get to (they were jammed into baskets on the bathroom shelves before) Colby has admitted that he’s already taking the vitamins more often than before.  Apparently ease of access is key in vitamin taking.  And now everything is one place, in the easily accessible old box turned first aid cabinet.

So I’m officially checking off “first aid cabinet” from the bathroom to-do list, which I don’t think I’ve shared with you yet (hanging…head…in shame):

• Find a dresser/buffet to convert into a bathroom vanity (we found a buffet on Craigslist for $75)
• Hack up said dresser and paint it (vanity hacking post here and here during installation; the vanity is painted Gray Owl by Benjamin Moore which you can read about here)
• Demo out the old “temporary” vanity that had been in our bathroom for nearly three years and patch the sheetrock (vanity demo go boom…note…Colby challenge me to spoof the KFC “Game Day Bucket Go Boom commercial in every post…challenge accepted)
• Prime and paint the bathroom wall a cool, minty color (we painted the bathroom Mantis Green by Benjamin Moore)
• Add bead board above the built-in shelves and paint the bead board and the shelves glossy white (for shame that we haven’t yet painted the bathroom built-ins…it’s been three years!)
• Build a first aid cabinet for the space above the toilet paper holder (we didn’t build it though…we found it…for six bucks…here’s the post)
• Organize, organize, organize!
• Build shelves for the blank wall space beside the vanity (coming soon…I’m tackling this for the Spring Pinterest Challenge)
• Build another shelf, maybe one out of driftwood, to hang over the back of the toilet
• Find or DIY some interesting towel hooks (picked these up during our recent Brewer School House Antiques shopping excursion, just need to paint and install them)
• Finish off the space by hanging a little art and accessorizing here and there (I’m sensing some Etsy art I’ve been drooling over in our future!)

Progress is being made!  Woot woot!  And I am SOOOO thankful we’re no longer knocking down walls, plumbing, electrical-izing, sheet rocking and all that other heavy lifting type stuff and now it’s all about the details and decorating!  My favorite!

Pssst…Our Etsy shop is officially open and aptly named “Roostic“.  We only have one product up so far, the iPad stands that we built back here, but we’re hoping to add a few more products in the near future.  Baby steps, folks, baby steps!  Have a great weekend everyone!