Hide Yo Drugs

If you remember a while back I talked about how the previous homeowner installed a medicine cabinet in the bathroom and that I loved it for storage. Well, not long after a friend of mine mentioned that the cabinet looked very cluttered through the glass (what is with everything in my condo having glass fronts?). I knew the issue was all the various over the counter medications in the cabinet and I thought I would tackle a fix for all that to be stored neatly behind glass doors! This type of project would work well for anyone lacking drawers in the bathroom.

I forgot to take a before photo of the inside of the cabinet, but here is what it looked it before from the outside:

All the drugs are on the 2nd shelf. The nail polish you can see on the bottom shelf has already moved into the fridge.

First things first, I needed to find a box. I didn't want to pay for one, and it may be hard to find as the shelf is quite narrow. However, lady luck shone down on me because I remembered I still had the box from my electric screwdriver! Hurrah!

I would need to keep the lid off (I had tall drugs apparently), but I thought it would be the perfect size for the medicine cabinet. But I wasn't just going to put an ugly Black and Decker metal box in the medicine cabinet- that would be ugly. So I thought it was time to break in my new....

....Hot Glue Gun! How is it I never owned a hot glue gun before? I am not even sure if I have USED one before. I did some wedding stuff gluing with my friend last summer, but I think she did the actual gluing. See, this is why you need to put your kids in Girl Guides. I missed out on some valuable life skills.

But what to glue gun to my tin??? Well that was actually an easy one. I had bought this weird mesh stuff from the Ikea As-Is section for $3 a few weeks ago, thinking it would come in handy for a craft down the line. It is great for a bathroom because it is very earthy and natural looking.

Does anybody know what this stuff is actually for? I have no idea what it is. But anyway, I am going to cut it up and use it for my new medicine tin!

First things first, I had to turn the tin white. The mesh stuff is clearly see-through and would look super silly just over top of the busy black and white tin. Instead of wasting time trying to paint the tin, I just taped paper around it.

At first I tried wrapping the tin like a present, but the mesh stuff is thick and heavy and it looked TERRIBLE. I don't even have a photo. So I just cut a strip that was the height of the tin and wrapped it around the entire thing, securing with my glue gun! It was messy and painful, yet fun! It came together very quickly and now I have this pretty tin!

I am not concerned with perfection and this looks pretty darn nice in person!! So I loaded it with my medicines and put it away. My cabinet is now looking super organized...

Just so you know, the pink tin holds some bath stuff, and the clear jar on the 2nd shelf is for travel sized things and soaps (doesn't stuff just look prettier in jars??).

Now another view from the front with the door closed:

Before:

After:

Muuuch better!

By the way, what do you keep in your medicine stash? I have:
- Bandages
- Acetaminophen
- Ibuprofen
- Allergy pills
- Eye drops
- After bite
- Lozenges
- Day/Night cold medication
- Vaseline
- Anti-Nauseates
- Digital thermometer

I think that is all I would need for minor aches and pains...At least, I rarely buy anything else so it must be decent!

By the way, Apartment Therapy just did a post about how long it is safe to use medication after is expires and apparently it is good for FIFTEEN YEARS! Isn't that insane?? I used to follow a 6 month rule and once they were 6 months past the expiry I would toss them. I don't know if I'm comfortable going longer than that. When do you toss? Anyone ever taken a 15 yr old pill??

Check out the article here: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/time-to-toss-172145