How To: Organize the Top of a Dresser

I recently moved home and moved into a room that is much smaller than what I was used to my last year of college. Therefore, I rely heavily on being organized in order to not have to get rid of everything I own. Living in a small space means that it's a lot harder to keep your items out of sight so it's important that they are organized so that you still feel like your room is still peaceful. For the past two months I've been slowly organizing the top of my dresser and I've finally reached a point that I'm happy with so I thought I'd share it with you in case you need some ideas to do your own! For me the items on my dresser are things I use every day.

Here is an overview of what you see.

 Starting with the left side, this is a jar that I used to keep just bobby pins and hair ties in. I'm a huge believer that you need a specific spot for these items or else they are guaranteed to just disappear. I decided that I wanted my makeup brushes out and accessible so that when I wash them they can dry, so I decided this jar could be used for this purpose too! The bobby pins and hair ties still hang out at the bottom. The jar was a gift from when I graduated high school and it came with a red lid, but a mason jar could do the exact same job.

 This black velvet jewelry holder was a steal! I found it on amazon for only $6. Here is the link to it (Although I noticed it went up a few dollars after I got it). I used to keep my necklaces and bracelets in a hanging pocket closet jewelry holder but I decided I wanted to take out my most worn bracelets and display them since a lot of them are really pretty. This is what I ended up with and I love it so far. If you have a larger dresser top space and more bracelets Amazon has a lot of 2 and 3 tiered holders as well. The only negative I've found is that the velvet collects dust easily so if you don't dust a lot like I do, this may not be the best option for you.

I used to keep all of these items just placed on a decorative plate on my dresser but I really wasn't happy with how it looked. I was searching through the office section of Target one morning for a notebook, but came across this paper tray organizer and I got the best idea. If I placed it on my dresser I could hold a lot of important things. It's just a simple cardboard tray and it was only $4.99! I love how it's shallow so it doesn't feel huge on my dresser yet it keeps everything contained. In the back I keep a Michael Kors watch in the box. Then all of my body sprays and perfumes, a few mini hand sanitizers, a nail polish in whatever my nails are painted, as well as a top coat, two of my most worn pairs of sunglasses, a box of lip products (better shown below), and a container of bobby pins. 

Below is a close up of the lipstick holder I have. I'm not huge on lip products so this is really all that I have but I like having them out on display. The little box is a decorative one that one of my best friends gave me shot glasses from Barcelona in. It was so cute I didn't have the heart to throw it out so here it is being reused! It holds my lip items perfectly! (As you can see I'm a sucker for Revlon Lip Butters and Tarte LipSurgence products)

 Lastly, I'm a huge candle person so I always have one burning in my room and some backups. The one on top is a small soy one from Target but the one on the bottom is a Bath and Body Works one. The little tray in front is an old candle jar lid from Target and I use it for all of my rings and most worn earrings. The little clay jar with the sun held some earrings from Mexico that a friend gave me and I use it now for my most commonly worn studs.

So that's how I organize the top of my dresser. Feel free to leave a comment with how you organize yours! I hope you found some helpful tips that you can use in your room. 

Have a great day :)

-Andrea