Easy Ikea Bathroom Cabinet Hack for More Storage

Several years ago, I ditched a highly impractical, rickety, cheap bathroom vanity in our upstairs hall bath and replaced it with this one from Ikea.

Solved one problem but it created two more: there's no counter space and the awkward gap between the sink and toilet grew more awkwardly large.

While I was stencil painting the floor, I had oodles and oodles of time to ponder this dilemma but didn't come up with a plan until I randomly purchased a 4' long heavy duty board of edge-glued red oak.

Shelves! Ah ha!

So I sliced up that big heavy board into foot-long pieces and sealed them up with some tung oil.

Be sure to visit my blog Flipping the Flip for more details on this bathroom renovation and for all sorts of other great tips and ideas!

Lil' gratuitous woodworking shot for you, oiled wood versus the non-oiled wood. Niiice!

I wanted the shelves to have a floating appearance so I thought I'd see if these joist angle brackets would do the trick.

After measuring out and doing the math (ugh the math!) dividing the side of the cabinet up for evenly spaced shelves, I traced the little holes of the bracket onto the cabinet and drilled through.

Using machine bolts and nuts, I attached the shelves to the side.

The brackets helped but didn't keep the shelves completely upright so I sank screws into the wood edges from inside the cabinet to pull things tighter.

Once I got everything on there, it had to pass Finn inspection. Which it did.

And there we have it! Super simple! For about $28 or so, the cabinet now has extra counter space as well as storage! Plus, the gap between it and the toilet is less glaringly gap-like.

Be sure to click the link below next to the logo to read about all the other projects in this bathroom, and click here for info on the wood lath wall!