Monday, February 2, 2015

Adding a Bathroom Medicine/Storage Cabinet

Our Agile did not come with a medicine cabinet in the bathroom; rather it has a small odd shaped mirror installed above the pull out sink. The stock bathroom mirror looks terrible with rough/ chipped edges and several small cracks around it. Roadtrek did a terrible job cutting the acrylic mirror. To make it look decent, I temporarily installed a decorative trim around the mirror using a chrome automotive door edge molding (pictured below). The original plan was to replace the mirror with a surface mount medicine cabinet with mirrored door for extra storage, but because of its odd shape it needs to be a custom built.

I had few days off from work last week and had the chance to start the project. The medicine cabinet was fabricated using acrylic plastic. I thought plastic would be a better choice as it will be installed inside the shower area. The first step was to remove the old mirror and to make a paper template by tracing the shape of the stock mirror.

Here's what it looks like when done.

Working with acrylic is fairly easy using the right tools. The tricky part is the bending the acrylic to conform to the curved shape of the shower enclosure where it will be mounted. I use a heat gun to soften the acrylic and slowly bend the piece to the desired shape. Fast setting acrylic glue is used to glue all the pieces together, and then light sanding is done in prep for painting. Acrylic comes in many colors, but I was not fortunate enough to find scraps of white acrylic so I just painted it white. Acrylic can get expensive if you buy them by square footage. I usually buy the acrylic scraps which the local store sells for about $2 a pound.

Stock mirror with decorative trim.
 
Gluing acrylic pieces together using acrylic fast setting solvent.
 
 
Partially done.
 
Painted it white, then hinges and magnetic latch were installed.
 
Wall mounted using 6 stainless steel screws.
 
With the medicine cabinet door closed.

14 comments:

  1. All I can say isWOW!

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  2. Seriously, we just bought a 2008 Agile that we will ship to Europe in May. It is located south of San Francisco. We don't have the expertise or tools to install solar or make the medicine cabinet. Are you at all interested in working on an Agile for us? My email is vsherouse@gmail.com I am in awe of what you have done.

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  3. Hi Vicki,
    Thanks for your interest in my DIY projects. I really wanted to help you out, but unfortunately, I am really busy with other things here at home and work and cannot help you at the moment.

    If you are interested in installing solar panel, AM Solar which is based in Oregon is highly recommended by RV'ers for solar panel installations. Check their website at http:/AMSolar.com.

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  4. We are building one right now and were wondering where the heck you find the hinges. Home Depot, Truitt White, and a local hardware do not have them. Can you point where you got them? Much appreciated! Steven / 2007 Roadtrek SS

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  5. Pls disregard the hinge question, we found it in Amazon. It's a Probrico Easy Mount 90 Degree Concealed Cabinet Hinges. Happy Holidays! S&S

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    1. I actually found them at our local Home Depot store. Thanks for the info above, I will add the Amazon link on my post. Wishing you a blessed Christmas. Have fun building!

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  6. Wow, very nice! How thick is the acrylic?

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  7. Beautiful job!! I have not figured out how to successfully work with acrylic yet, but you've obviously mastered it! I've done a lot of mods to my little camper, let me know what you think. Http://WackyPup.Blogspot.com

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    1. Hi Liz, You have lots of great ideas there, nice job on the mods, I like it. Thanks for sharing.

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    2. Thanks! I have a lot of others that I haven't gotten posts written for yet. I'm sure you can identify with that, it always takes a lot longer than you think it's going to write up an article.

      Liz

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