Bathroom Decor Shelf/Stool

We all like amazing bath decor shelves. They save space, are handy for keeping toiletries organized, and add a modern touch to a useless and dusty corner in your bathroom. Well, I've got an easy DIY that will fix that issue. I made this project for Instructable's one board contest, but in all honesty, I think I and my family will enjoy the shelf a lot more than any other prize. I used the shelf for storing towels, extra rolls of tissue paper, air freshener, lotion, and so much more. We also took advantage of the tabletop and put some soap bars and a plant on top, but since it's so versatile, you can practically decorate with anything. Here's the list of the supplies:

Notice: There may be other supplies you'll need, such as wood filler/glue, screw plugs, etc.

• Single Wood Plank: 15" x 96"
• Screws (A lot of them, have at least 15)
• 2 Plastic Organizer Boxes (or the like)
• Tools
• White Vinyl Faux Wood Grain Trim

I'm 13 years old, so using a power saw was not an option since it was too dangerous to use; so, I ended up having my wood cut at Home Depot, but if you're cutting your own wood, you'd be happy to know that all the sides of the pieces are straight, so they're extremely easy to cut.

1) Grab your wood plank, and cut a 15'' by 15'' square. The width should already be 15'' so all you have to do is make a single cut 15'' across for the square. Consider making traces first, so you have a guide to cut on.

2) Sanding is optional, but if you have raw edges, then consider sanding the edges to make a more clean look.

3) All done with this step, move on to the next step.

I hope I mentioned the fact that making this project is extremely easy before, because this is the last huge cutting step of this project. Now, let's cut the legs. Since we're going for a more modern and clean look, we'll make wide, flush, and full-cover legs to go with our tabletop. It's not too hard to cut the legs. Each leg is 15" wide and 30" long. We need two legs, so all you have to do is make two marks (The first mark should be 30'' away from the bottom, and the second should be 30'' away from the first mark), and then use those marks as guidelines for cutting.

1) Make a mark on your wood plank, 30" upwards from the bottom.

2) Make a new mark on your wood plank, 30'' upwards from the last mark that you just made.

3) Cut across these marks

4) If you need to sand your wood, this would be a great time

5) All done with the legs, onto step three!

I was not entirely sure what to call these, but I guessed they are sort of like bars or beams. Turns out, it was actually a vinyl trim! Now, for this part, I used vinyl trim because it looked best and was small in size too. The width isn't that important here. Mine was 2'' by 4''. All you have to do is cut the Trim's length 28", or else it won't fit in between your wood. We need 4 of these, so in total, you'll need 112'' of this vinyl. By the way, these bars are for holding your plastic organizer boxes, so do make sure that they aren't too small in width.

1) Make a mark 28'' away from the bottom of the trim

2) Make another mark 28'' away from the mark you just made

3) Make yet another mark 28'' away from your last mark

4) Make the last mark 28'' away from the previous mark

5) Cut along the marks

6) Sand if needed

I mentioned earlier that this shelf would have more of a modern look, so we will be making flushed legs. First, drill two screws to one of the legs and the tabletop. This way, you'll be able to adjust the second leg comfortably. Above, I attached a couple of photos of how I screwed the legs together. After I was done with one leg, I adjusted the second leg, and then too, screwed it to the tabletop. I screwed them a little bit deeper than the surface, so I could later fill it up with wood filler. Also: If you are dealing with the problem of your wood cracking, try cutting away from the edges, and more centred; that should give you a lesser chance of cracks. However, if you do have cracks, you can use wood filler to fix them. By the way, don't screw all four screws yet, we'll screw them on last to keep our shelf/stool adjustable.

So, we are pretty much done with the body of our shelf/stool, but now, let's work on the bars. The reason why we need the bars is that without the bars, we won't have anything to set our organizer boxes on. Another thing you may be worried about is this: Your shelf/stool is extremely wobbly and unstable; well, to be honest, I was afraid of this as well, but luckily, after attaching all of the bars, the shelf/stool became extremely sturdy and didn't wobble at all! Anyways, we need four of the Vinyl Bars, and each one has to be 13 3/4''. I used a vinyl artificial wood grain trim. The first (top) two bars were placed 9'' away from the top edge and 2'' away from the edge of the front/back. Screw these in between the legs. I have the images attached. The second (lower) two Vinyl bars were placed 6'' away from the bottom edge and 2'' away from the edge of the front/back. Screw these in between the legs too. I also have the images for this step attached.

Tip: To ensure you get the Vinyl bars straight, make a box around the perimeter of your Vinyl bars. When you screw the Vinyl bars in between the legs, just make sure the bar is within the box.

So, remember when I said "Don't attach the fourth and final screw of your tabletop"? Well, now is the time. Look over the entire shelf/stool and make sure everything is straight, aligned, and is final; if not, then fix it, and then proceed to drilling on the last screw to the tabletop. That's it, we are all done with the shelf/stool, (yea, I am still not sure what it is, so bear with me.) Anyways, the last thing we have to do is find some organizers, move on to the last steps.

!!!SIMPLE STEP ALERT!!!

All you need is some wood filler, and also, try getting a wood filler that matches your wood colour, otherwise, the final result will look odd. Apply the wood filler everywhere you screwed to hide the screws, and if there are any cracks, then use the wood filler to repair as well. The instructions can be found on the package or actual tube of wood filler, and we used Elmer's Wood Filler, Whitewashed Wood Pigment.

We are pretty much done! All we need are some organizer boxes. I found mine at a Dollarama, but any other dollar store should work, such as dollar tree, among others. For the measurements, you won't really be able to find exact sizes. Mine was a little bit of a tighter fit, I used a box 13'' in length, 9'' in width, and 6'' in height. You can take the measurements of the inside area of your shelf and look for similar sizes at a store. You'll have to do some deciding since sometimes, the height will be perfect, but the length won't, the width may be perfect, but the length won't, and it goes on and on. I ended up settling on a white organizer box with the measurements above. Finally, fill up the boxes with necessities and toiletries and put the boxes back in. I filled my bottom organizer with towels (four of them) and the top box with toilet paper rolls, air freshener, etc. The bottom acted as a great hiding place for the bathroom slippers and step stool too. You can put almost anything on the top. I tried two different looks. One was simple with a dish of 3 painting rocks, and an all-out look. For that, I used an IKEA artificial plant, placed it in a plant pot, and then put some natural soap bars beside it. I couldn't decide on what look I liked better, but since putting rocks at a height of my younger brother's reach seemed quite disastrous, I ended up keeping the plants and soap. Feel free to add a touch of your own; I think candles would look great too! The organizer boxes fit right on top of the wooden bars and they slide out for restocking, so that was really helpful. We're all done! I really loved the outcome, and I was even happier that we had it all done within $60! I hope you guys liked this instructable, don't forget to like, follow, and comment about your suggestions, tips, and ideas down below. Bye!