Could we see a picture of your bathroom vanity? You can utilize the space under your sink by putting baskets under there with one for shaving stuff, one with cosmetics, etc. etc. As far as drawers are concerned, you can put dividers in them to keep things separated. On top of your vanity, I would put a soap dish, a glass or cup and that is all. Easier to clean with the least amount of things. I have a small lamp, soap in a container near the sink and a small plant inside a small birdcage sitting on my vanity.

I used divided trays and baskets in the drawers. Under the sinks, I use stacked bins. All purchased at office supply stores. I'm not home so no pictures, but I can post some later.

Our drawers are deep so I have an organizer tray that slides to expand, and the lip rests on top of the drawer box. Nail stuff, my glasses, specialty makeup, stuff I don't get out every day, go underneath in an acrylic basket with dividers, it's really a Cutlery Holder! One side is easily accessible from the top; that's where my glasses and emery boards are.

Those cutlery holders are really handy for storing tall stuff.

Under the cabinet, baskets.

If you have a medicine cabinet, see if you can find shallow toiletry organizers to fit. They keep my little stuff (like floss) from toppling.

I love the acrylic "Cord Clips" from Container Store for corralling blowdryer cords etc.

Best way to keep it organized? Less stuff LOL!

I can't stand clutter and if it is out of site - it is out of mind. I stay organized, but if I can't see it, I soon forget what is stored where. Storing items in clear containers is a must for me.
I love, love, love these canning jars in the bathroom, and they will be easy to clean. At this time, one jar contains nail files, etc., and the other jar has small/sample travel size bottles. Got to go now, and straighten that frame!

We leave very little on the counter itself because there is so little counter and we have a very ambitious cat who likes to throw everything off the counter when we leave something there. We keep a lot of items in baskets, plastic zip locks, plastic boxes. I don't use much makeup, so all of that goes into one of my dresser drawers and I just bring what I want to use into the bathroom if and when I want to use it. We keep just what we use every day in the bathroom and everything else is in a closet in the other room, ready to be pulled out and used as needed. I have to say it is the ziplocks that seem to help the most, keeping smaller items in their own category and not getting them messed and tangled with other things in the bottoms of drawers. They can all be put in one drawer or basket but it really keeps digging around for one certain item to a minimum.

We have far too much stuff in our vanity and we are fortunate to have two full baths with two large vanities upstairs...but they still get crowded and messy at times. Part of our issue is that we don't have wall medicine cabinets, and we have a hallway linen closet that is the smallest closet ever built.

We have plastic drawer dividers/trays, too. In one cabinet, I have a lazy Susan thing with the hair products on it.

We have a bank of small drawers in the center of our double vanity. In the tiny top drawer, I have all my makeup. In the middle drawers there are misc things like tweezers, toothpaste, razor refills, deodorant. The bottom drawer is bigger and that's where the blow dryer and brushes go.

Now that DH and I are, cough, middle aged, I'm wishing we had put in medicine cabinets when we remodeled our bathroom because he has about 4-5 medicines now lined up on his side of the vanity, out on the counter, and it harshes my decorating buzz.

Love those jars in the pic above!

This is making me want to run upstairs right now and clean out the vanities. Already wondering what I can put in canning jars...

Oh, and in terms of the counter top, I wish I could say I had nothing but a vase of flowers on ours. But I try to corral most of it on a pretty marble tray -- that's where I have hand soap (pump bottle), daily moisturizer, face cleansers, etc. Then I have a cute antique cup that stores eye pencils and makeup brushes. That's pretty much it besides the toothbrushes (electric ones that sit on chargers, another decor buzzkill) and DH's drug stash.

We have a pedistal sink, medicine cabinet, and 84" H x18" W X 12" D tall cabinet to right of sink

Nothing goes on pedistal sink except for hand soap.

Medicine cabinet: oral hygene, shaving, lotions, deodorant

Tall cabinet: Extra shampoos and soaps, toilet paper, tissues, makeup caddy to hold makeup, blow dryer and brushes, hand mirror. Everything in cabinet is organized by shelf.

Extra towels go into hallway linen closet.

Bathroom organization, my nemesis. My kitchen is organized to the nth degree, after all, I drew a map and planned every cabinet. But the bathroom? My nightmare. I hate a cluttered bathroom but the "master" bath is one room I can simply never get organized. And this bathroom is probably the worst offender.

I am reading with interest. With all the "spa" focus, you'd think organization would be key to that aesthetic. But seriously, no one's Sonicare looks "just right" beside the sink.

And in my space, the PO's Big Glass Salad bowl vessel sink doesn't help.

We finished updating ours approximately a year ago. Organized storage and access to items was a major focus.

We gutted a linen closet and built a cabinet with drawers and adjustable shelving in the space. Also a matching vanity with drawers sized for items. Everything has a place so does not remain on the counter.

Photos linked below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Master Bath

I have a hanging shoe organizer on the back of my bathroom door which keeps a lot of things handy and fairly out of sight.

I also have one of these hanging on the back of my pantry door, ditto. Great for frequently used spices and stuff.

Useful thingies!

I hide everything except the cotton balls displayed/stored in a huge clam shell and my vanity has a makeup mirror and a crystal tray of perfume bottles. Otherwise, Everything else is in the bathroom closet or the drawers. I do have decorative things around, however.
My bathrooms are not large either. Drawer storage involves drawer organizers and thoughtful, consistent maintenance.

Like Violet, we used a clear shoe organizer. Worked great, especially since I could keep medicines at the top, out of reach of little ones, and could find the toothpaste with one glance.

We found them useful in the garage, in the craft room, and the bathroom.

Nothing stays on the counters. We each have our own vanity with 6 drawers and a medicine cabinet.

Top right: toothbrush, toothpaste, day nd night creams, medicine. Top left: make up. Middle right. Hair dryer, brush, hairspray. The other 3 don't get used much and store travel stuff or extras. Medicine cabinet ahs contact lens stuff and a few other things.

Lolo: Sharing your problem and eagerly reading responses...hoping this isn't taken as a hi-jack!

fnmroberts: am impressed with the thought put into the organization of your bathroom, especially making the most of the door cabinets in your vanity with the adjustable shelf and pull out drawer-how clever!

allison0704: I would love to see pictures of your stacking baskets.

Liz

My vanity has no drawers, so I have a tall cabinet with open shelves to one side and a smaller, vanity height cabinet with a door on the other side. I keep everythign in dedicated baskets on the shelves. All OTC meds go in one, Toothbrushes, toothpaste-all oral hygiene items go in another. One to hold lotions, cremes, anything you apply to your body. One holds hair related things that I don't use all the time-straightener, extra boxes of color. A smaller basket holds hair ties, clips etc.

I have a large vessel my DD1 made in HS that stores hair brushes, combs, blow dryer, etc. It sits on the counter. Toothbrushes, toothpaste, etc are in a basket.

I keep my make up and personal grooming things in an over the toilet cabinet. I store tubed items, pencils, brushes-anything with a longer handle in pretty highball glasses. Nail utensils are in another. Small, pretty baskets hold make up, manicure items, cotton balls...I have small containers for groups of like items. I hate having to dig to get to what I want, so if I group them by like items, it's easier to find.

I keep my medications in a basket that I have near my chair in the family room-I take them with my morning coffee-but if you have some you take at night, keep a pretty basket in the bathroom.

In the other bathroom (DH uses that one) I have decorative jars to hold/hide his contact lens stuff, grooming items and in the cabinet I keep plastic containers that hold first aid things, extra hair products, his personal grooming things-deodorant, after shave, etc. I really hate to see things out in the open, so generally the only things on the counters in the bathrooms are the soap dispensers.

I like hearing everyone's suggestions - I am definitely going to put some into our new bathroom plan.

But for those of you storing medications (OTC or Rx) in your bathroom - PLEASE DON'T! I am a chemist who works on pharmaceutical formulations, so I know the bathroom is probably the worst room in the house for storing medications because of the heat and humidity and could potentially cause your medications to degrade over time, which could be dangerous. Ideally they should be kept in a cool, dry and even dark environment and secured from children. I keep mine in a cabinet at the end of the kitchen away from the heat-generating appliances. Hall linen cabinets or bedrooms are also usually good choices.

Plus, if you move them out, it will be one less thing cluttering the bathroom!!

I use a small plate rack on my main counter~there are 2 counters, but since I live alone, only use one. It holds saucer size plates so is much smaller than the one pictured. There is space for 4 plates, and i've used 4 glass vintage plates to hold Qtips, small hair clips/pins, safety pins, fingernail clippers/nail files/Emory boards, and other small personal accessories, keeping these small things organiged. I also keep a small plastic 4 drawer cabinet for larger things in the bottom of the cabinet, as well as a long arrow basket for anything in a tube(extra toothpaste, ointments, etc.). The other cabinet holds small jewelry boxes for costume jewelry, as well as the cleaning supplies.

On top of the countertop I do use is my perfume, crystal lamp, toothbrush/toothpaste/night cream/makeup remover, which gets put away when company comes. The second counter top holds a vintage jewelry 'casket', 2 French Guilloce perfume bottles, and a small Glass Tiffany bowl holding earrings I wear daily. I need to have a few of my 'pretties' to look at. ;o)

Here is a link that might be useful: plate holder

All great ideas, but for those remodeling I found putting an electrical outlet inside a hutch between the sinks took care of getting the Sonicare out of sight.

For my daughters' bathroom, they have one of those oh-so-practical-but-not-so-pretty 3 part medicine cabinet mirrors which held a ton of stuff that teenage girls seem to find essential. It kept the majority of stuff out of DD1's room as I didn't want her using all her beauty products in her room, making a mess, etc. I also added an over-the-john type open shelving which had a mix of spare towels, wicker storage basket for blow dryers, curling irons and hair straighteners (after they had cooled) and one decorative shelf. DD1 just let for college this past weekend and so I'm in process of cleaning out all the drawers and medicine cabinet of all her stuff so DD2 has a clean and organized space (fortunately she likes things to be neat and organized as do I). The problem I find is when one person likes to have things out of sight and the other wants them in plain view. This is case with my DH and I (who share the master) and DD1 and DD2 (who were sharing the hall bathroom up until a few days ago).

Thanks for all the great feedback! I will try to post pics of the bathrooms and the vanities. I have some storage but not a lot. Both the doors are pocket doors, so no over the door hangers. DH for some reason hates that look (my shoe organizer got "lost" during the move :).

Master Bath --> 3 drawers to share between DH and I with 2 cabinets on either side under the sinks. The top shelf of these are taken over by the Ptrap. No Medicine cabinet. I do have a shallow shelf on one wall that is covered where containers can be stored. I am thinking the drawer dividers may be the trick to keep these organized. I am going to check out container store near me for some suggestions.

The other Bath --> Vanity with 6 drawers to be shared between 2 people. There is a medicine cabinet.

jrueter --> I hear ya about medicines in bathrooms. I store them in a medications box in a dark hallway closet as well. I have a ziploc also in there to toss bottles close to expiration. Once a year that gets disposed off in the safe medication disposal at the local hospital.

egbar, playful cats are a great incentive to keep kitchen and bathroom counters clear...and the toilet lid down...don't ask me how I know this!

We had storage built in above the vanity....the glass front obscures the stuff on narrow shelving. Below it is an appliance garage for electric toothbrushes and waterpiks with an imbedded outlet. This way both DH and I can reach it from our respective sinks.

I bought these to organize my shallow drawers (similar, but from Target). I have my q-tips, lens cleaners, toothpaste and floss, scissors - both shears for hair and a pair of utility scissors, nail implements, comb and brush, first aid creams, etc, all in their separate compartments. It's the neatest I've ever been able to keep those sorts of things and I can always find what I want.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cutlery organizer trays