“When looking to downsize, one thing that concerned these owners was getting accustomed to a small bathroom sink with no countertop to store or spread out toiletries. “To solve the sink surround problem, I purchased an 18 inch by 30 inch cutting board (on Amazon for $24.99) and a 12 inch piano hinge (for $13.42) and made a flip-down shelf over the toilet, along with an electrical cord restrainer out of the same material. The cutting board was easy to resize using regular wood working tools. To hold the shelf in the upright position, I used a triangle-shaped scrap piece of the cutting board fastened to a hinge. I also added two shelves over the cutting board and one more in the storage cabinet, made out of scrap wood.”

Additional Tips

“Concerned with not knowing what was behind the wall, I used short 1-inch #8 lath screws in the 14 3/4 inch by 1 1/2 inch piece of cutting board on the lower portion of the hinge. In both positions, forces push down on the screws rather than trying to pull them out. The length of the shelf is oversized by about a quarter inch, and that is trimmed down to about a 1/8” oversize on the top, to create a lip over the existing shelf. I used models made from both cardboard and thin scrap plywood to determine the size of shelf that I needed.”

Submitted By

David Maass

LTV Model

Unity FX

Photo Source

David Maass