Bathroom Storage Solutions - DIY Door Shelf

Today I am sharing an idea for bathroom storage solutions.

This is the shared bathroom for my 11 and 12 year old daughters. There is no natural light (which is also why the pictures are a little wonky!), there is no room for a piece of actual furniture, there are no drawers in the double sink vanity and the plumbing takes up so much room there is very little storage underneath.

Add to the equation that we really do not have a linen closet to speak of. Tween girls come with a lot of hair items, potions and lotions – and they all need a place to go.

When I saw this shelving unit, I knew we had found our solutions.

It had a lot of storage possibility, but didn't take up a lot of room. I love the rustic wood, and I might make it like this someday. The style of this room, however, called for a painted finish.

I picked up the bins first at a discount store to make sure we made the shelves large enough. We took all of our measurements and set out to pick up all of the wood.

We planned to make the back out of wood glued and held together with clamps. However, when we did one last materials check in the garage we realized that we actually had an old door that was exactly the size we needed.

This is my fourth door over the last few months. First we made an herb planter, then we made some desks and then we made a beverage bar. I realize I am risking being coined the “crazy door lady” by using a door again.

This is what worked for our space – but many options would work including our original idea of glued and clamped boards. I am all about using what you have.

The structure is fairly simple. We simply screwed from the back of the door directly into the shelves. We used 5 – 3.5” screws on each shelf to ensure it would hold. The measurements of the shelves are 3/4” thick, 10.5” deep and 17” wide. We used scrap wood that we had but boards could easily be purchased and cut down to these measurements.

In order to screw in the shelves, we held the door upright and used right angle brackets to hold one shelf at a time in place, using a level to ensure it was straight.

Then we placed the

door face down across two saw horses.and screwed straight down into the back of the door and through to the shelves. We first drilled pilot holes and then added the screws. With such large screws (3.5”), it is important to go slow and drill straight as to not split the shelves.

I then primed, painted and seal coated (2 coats) the whole thing with spray paint.

To attach to the wall, we located the studs on the wall with a stud finder, marked the wall where it was and using a level to ensure the shelves were straight, we drilled right through the door and through the wall stud.

We attached in three places along the left side center (where the stud was) at the top, bottom and middle. We added one additional screw on the right side middle to ensure it was balanced.

Then we just placed the bins on the shelves and filled it with all of their bathroom “stuff”.

The shelves are surprising sturdy at 10.5" deep. We built them that size to accommodate the bins and thought we might have to add a brace to each shelf. We are not planning on adding anything too heavy - so if you are, you may want to consider additional bracing.

And now all their bips and boops have a place to go – and the best place is now that everything isn’t all over the counter, they have no excuses not to wipe down the sink!

If you would like another upcycled bathroom project, you can visit my towel rack made from a footboard.

Or visit our guest bathroom. If you are looking for other decorating ideas you can follow my boards on Pinterest.

Thanks so much for reading and wishing you a great day!