The Small Bathroom Storage Workaround That Comes From A Stylish IKEA Hack

Having a small bathroom is tough. It forces you to either ruthlessly pare down what you need or either live with clutter. After all, there is only so much room a vanity offers, and once you have maxed that out, you're going to have messy spillover into other places like the countertop. If you love your skincare products but don't want to feel like you're surrounded by an avalanche of stuff, there is a third alternative, and that is to do a small-bathroom-inspired IKEA hack. 

This IKEA hack uses a series of TANNFORSEN cabinets to carve out extra storage where there is usually dead space: behind the bathroom door. You might be wondering what kind of black magic they used to make a system fit into such a slender area, but the TANNFORSEN cabinets are built to be super shallow. This allows them to fit into tight nooks without issue. Here is a closer look at how to upgrade your small bathroom storage space.

The TANNFORSEN cabinets are the perfect addition to any tiny bathroom due to their compact footprint. One unit is a spacious 18 inches wide and 37 inches high, but it's only 6 inches deep. This allows it to fit into the tightest of spaces. That's because it was originally designed to be a medicine cabinet, which traditionally requires a slender silhouette. But IKEA items are made to be hacked, so it can work just as great as a floor-to-ceiling storage unit.

To install it, simply build the cabinets and hang them to the wall using the provided suspension rail, which is meant to make the mounting process easier. Simply install the suspension rail into the drywall, preferably into studs, especially if you plan to store heavier items. Then, hang the cabinet directly on the rail. That's it! As for storage, there are five shelves inside, but you're able to move them around to different heights, customizing the space to fit your needs. For instance, you can remove one entirely if you need to fit something tall, like hairspray. In this way, you can maximize your tiny bathroom storage space. 

As of right now, the cabinet comes in two available colorways: white and light gray. This makes it pretty versatile and adaptable to all sorts of bathroom designs. But if you would prefer something in a specific color — like forest green or a moody black — then you can paint the cabinets to match your aesthetic. To do so, you will first need to prime the cabinets to ensure the paint sticks to it and doesn't simply bead and wipe away. That's because IKEA's furniture is wrapped with laminate, giving it a slick surface. You can't paint laminate the way you would paint wood. However, there is a trick to painting IKEA's difficult surfaces, which involves ensuring you pick the right primer.

To make the paint grip, first you will need to gently sand the furniture with 120-grit sandpaper to scuff it up. This will help the primer adhere. Make sure you're not sanding so hard that you begin to lose the laminate's paint coating and see the particleboard underneath — you just want to scuff it. Then, add a layer of a shellac based primer, such as Rust-Oleum Advanced Synthetic Shellac Watercolor Primer. Once dry, use a roller to paint the piece in your preferred color. However, since you're in a humid space like a bathroom, use satin or semi-gloss paint so the condensation can bead off. Then, to seal it all, add a polycrylic sealant to ensure the paint doesn't chip or flake off after months or years of use. An example is Minwax Polycrylic Protective Finish.