In a small bathroom, storage is pretty tight, and often times there isn’t a simple solution (especially one that actually looks good). So, to save on floor space, we went vertical with a modern DIY bathroom organizer that you can hang on the wall.
Materials for DIY Bathroom Organizer
- scrap wood (mine is a scrap piece of plywood from this project and is 21.5 x 12)
- simple wood tray (mine is 10 x 5) OR more scrap wood
- circular mirror (like this – mine is 9 inches)
- 1/2 – 3/4 inch leather strips
- heavy-duty glue (like super glue or Gorilla Glue, etc)
- screws
- power drill
- ruler or tape measure
- pencil (for marking)
- sturdy wire (that’s also bendable – this is to hang the piece when finished)
- (optional) table clamp
- (optional) gold leaf paint and paintbrush
How to Make a Bathroom Organizer
1. Start by deciding where you want to place the tray/shelf and mirror in relation to the backboard and mark those areas off with a pencil.
2. Flip the board over to the backside and mind the middle point of the width. Use that as a guide for marking off two screws (2-3 inches apart from each other), that are 3-4 inches down from the top of the board. Screw in the screws and wrap wire around the two again and again to form a sturdy loop as shown for the finished piece to hang from.
3. Next, starting with the tray (which will be your shelf), measure and mark off 2-3 points that are evenly spaced out for your screws to go. We measured and marked the back of the tray lip that would be facing the backboard.
Note: If you’re using scrap wood instead, steps 3-5 will be a little different for you. You’ll want to create a lip on the back side of the scrap wood first, that will attach to the wood backboard piece. Then, you can drill holes and screw in, or as another option, you can use a simple piece of scrap wood with small brackets underneath to attach to the backboard and o the shelf to keep things sturdy.
4. Then, drill pilot holes for each mark you made to make the next step a little easier. We thought of using table clamps while drilling to keep everything safely in place.
5. Place the shelf onto the marks you made in step 1 (on the backboard). Screw the screws through the pilot holes and down into the backboard, through the shelf, as shown.
6. Using heavy-duty glue, attach the mirror to the backboard – be sure to line it up with the marks you made in step 1.
7. Add leather loops to the bottom of the backboard (underneath the shelf) with screws and a drill. You can obviously make the loops any length you’d like though – longer loops might be more practical.
8. If desired, add a very small leather strip (like 2 inches long) to use as a toothbrush holder, up top near the mirror, with a screw on each side, as shown.
9. And lastly, paint all the exposed screws with gold leaf in a well-ventilated area. Let dry according to instructions on packaging and then it’s ready to hang and use.
Side note: Check the sturdiness of your shelf before adding heavy items to it. If it’s just a handful of things like mine, you’ll be fine. But it’s not a miracle worker, it’s just a shelf, so don’t overload it with super heavy stuff unless you feel confident in how you built it and how many screws you put in.
