Details

Due to lack of storage in both bathrooms, I decided to try a possible solution in the hallway bath. A shelf over the door sounded appealing, but I wasn't sure it would work with the decor.  The shelf could be used to store extra bath linens, cleaning products, etc. With limited floor space, it's not an option to hang a cabinet or shelf on the long wall from the tub to the door (where the floor-to-ceiling cabinet used to be) or it would get in the way of everything.  For about $4 for a 1"x8"x6' pine board, and free 1"x6" pine scraps from old projects, I made a shelf and brackets. I figured if it didn't look right, it could always be used somewhere else. I free-handed the brackets on the scraps and cut them out using a jigsaw. The top braces of the brackets are cut-down grade stakes I ran across in the workshop while looking for the scrap lumber. They had exactly the necessary width and contour, but it was even better because one cut per stake was all I had to make. No rounding edges, etc. like the pine required. Using forstner bits, I routed out for flush-mounted keyhole hangers on the bracket backs to avoid exposed screw heads or dowel buttons on the front. For extra support, the back of the shelf rests on top of the door trim.  Bungalows are all about extra storage and utilizing otherwise wasted space, so it seems to fit with the other decor.  I was really pleased with the outcome.  Of course, I'm counting on the fact that I'm 5'10" now and can reach everything.  We'll see how practical it becomes as I get older.

Another thing that needed to be devised for the same room was something to hide the gap with the furnace register.  The old one was in poor condition and couldn't be saved. The new one wasn't quite as deep, leaving about a 3/4" gap the length of the duct opening on the floor if the register was placed flush against the baseboard. I got the idea to use scraps of backband leftover from the door I just hung and framed in the other bath. There was the right amount of thickness needed to bridge the gap between the wall and register, plus it provided a very pretty frame to an ordinary necessity. This turned out so attractively that I'm thinking of doing it anyplace there's a wall register, as long as there's enough space to spare without encroaching too much on the incoming air.