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The Cabinet I Built in a Day

As much as I miss my husband being gone, I do enjoy the time to get projects done that, if I’m being frank, I couldn’t do if he was here because he would feel the urge to stand there and watch me.  I can’t work under that kind of pressure.

This project was a problem solving venture.  I had 3 issues with my bathroom.
1. I had never really covered my water heater and just had burlap stapled over the opening
2. I didn’t have a full length mirror so to see if my shoes matched my outfit I had to stand on a chair in my bedroom and try to use a mirror hanging on the wall
3. I had all of my necklaces on 3 hooks, which, became a tangled mess every day

So I put my thoughts to this and conquered all three problems at once.

This was the spot before:

A cabinet that solved three problems in the bathroom!

It wasn’t horrible looking, but I still wanted to improve it.  I built a cabinet that covers the entire space side to side, floor to ceiling.  It’s 4″ deep.  Then I used 3 $9.99 IKEA mirrors to create a full length mirror.  And here it is…..

A cabinet that solved three problems in the bathroom!

Here’s another angle:

A cabinet that solved three problems in the bathroom!

But wait!  There’s more!  You can open the mirrored door and voila!  A place to hang my necklaces…

A cabinet that solved three problems in the bathroom!

It counts as a time saver too since I won’t be spending 10 minutes finding and untangling the necklace I want each morning.

The scale in front of it is perfect there because I can still open the cabinet without moving anything.  I couldn’t be happier with my new cabinet/problem solver. (although I won’t be weighing myself naked anymore for obvious reasons)

A cabinet that solved three problems in the bathroom!

I thought about doing a tutorial for you, but after about an hour of building I knew it wasn’t going to happen.  I kind of just made it up as I went along and had to figure out each step as I ran into issues.  Plus, let’s be real here….I actually have no idea what I’m doing and anyone with skills would read my tutorial and turn me into the Carpenter’s Association as a fraud.

But if you decide to make one I will say it was pretty easy and I finished the whole thing, including paint, in one day.

Here’s a breakdown of the cost:

In order to save money I used old slats from my pile of junk wood for the inside back, but you could easily use pallet wood also.  The burlap behind it is what was hanging on the wall before.  Free.  The paint was leftover from another project and the crown molding is a piece I had left from putting crown in my bedroom last year.
The rest breaks down like this:
hinges/screws/cup hooks $10
luan  (I made the door with this) $15
wood  $50  (the bulk of this was in the trim around the mirrors)
mirror glue  $5

Hardware store total : $80

IKEA mirrors  $30.00

Grand total: $110 (plus tax)

I’d love to have added more trim, but I was on a budget so it didn’t happen.  I’m still super-duper happy with it.

And my husband will be so surprised that I did it without being heavily observed.

9 Comments

  1. They were selling something similar to this the other day on one of the home shopping channel and I was drooling over it! I have no delusions of being able to build one myself haha but I’m so happy you shared this project with us. You are amazing!

  2. Cute, cute, cute! I love your DIY projects around the house! It motivates me to try to beautify my own home a little more. I mean, I can use the power tools, too, so why not? Mwahahaha! (mischievous laugh) Thanks so much for inspiring us all in so many ways!

  3. It’s AMAZING! Good job! I love it! You are so creative! If you have a Habitat for Humanity ReStore in your area it is an awesome source for small amounts of crown molding, trim and baseboards – often for 25 cents for a 6′ length – perfect for smaller projects. I think you did a great job staying within the budget too!

  4. Love! But just curious, how do you get to the water heater now? Does the necklace part have hinges too? 🙂

  5. Whoa, that looks wonderful! That goes beyond my level of carpentry skills, so I won’t be reporting you to the Carpenters’ Association any time soon. 😉
    Just curious, seeing Faith? Hope? Patience? at the top wearing pants without a tunic/dress over top, do you have different guidelines for carpentry projects? Again, this is PURE curiosty! 🙂

  6. I am wondering if your water heater needs ventilation….ours does, we had to add vent screens (like floor registers) on the wall of our laundry /utility room to provide ventilation to the water heater area. (It had to be so many square inches big as per how big the utility room was.) Maybe you could just drill holes in a pretty pattern at the top and bottom of your door. Also the fabric next to the water heater is a major problem if the water heater is gas, because of the pilot light, you are supposed to keep combustibles at least 3 feet away to prevent house fires. Something to call an HVAC company, your insurance guy or your city/county house inspectors and ask about, anyway. Better to be safe than sorry.

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