If you didn’t already know, I’m spending the summer in a sublet in Tacoma. When the gal who usually lives here told me that she had her bed in the living room and the bedroom was pretty much empty, I immediately had visions in my head of a dance room! Well, it turns out the bedroom is TINY and I actually have more dance space in the living room, even with a bed, desk, and chairs in here.
But I wasn’t about to let that room go to waste! Since there was already a dresser and a mirror in there, I had visions of turning it into a vanity and dressing room. How luxurious!
This apartment is a really cute 1920s place with lots of age and character, so it would have been appropriate to comb the antique stores and flea markets to find something vintage… But vintage stuff is heavy and I live up a couple flights of stairs. Besides, I don’t know if I’ll have space for a vanity in my next few homes, so I wanted something cheap and versatile that I can either repurpose into a computer or craft desk, or give away on Craig’s List if I really don’t have space.
I gave myself a $200 budget, and $208 later I had everything I needed for my vanity room, plus some miscellaneous kitchen stuff I needed! Score! Now I’m here to tell you how you, too, can build your own IKEA vanity.
(Note, IKEA does have specific vanity tables that are pretty cute if you’d prefer something with built in mirrors and drawers, but I like my system.
- The table/desk. IKEA has a lot of affordable table-desk options. I went with a table top and legs. I didn’t even get the cheapest table top, I think I could have gone $5-10 cheaper, but I wanted the white and green one, so I went with the LINNMON table top and 4 ADILS legs in silver. The table top and legs are pretty light weight so they were easy to take up the stairs, and I should be able to disassemble it when I move.
- Makeup storeage. I knew I wanted the HELMER cabinet in green because I had wanted to purchase a similar one at The Container Store, but it was more expensive there and not big enough to hold all my makeup. I don’t have all my stuff here so this is more than enough room for what I do have, and once I move the rest of my makeup up here I can use this to store beads or I dunno, actual paperwork. I had seen this cabinet under this table in the store, so I knew it would fit perfectly.
- Seating. Originally I was going to just roll the desk chair from the living room into the vanity when I wanted to do my face, but since my table was so cheap, I decided to get myself a cute chair. NILSERIK comes in the same white and green palette as the rest of my furniture, and it was pretty comfy and good for my posture. Plus it fits under the table when not in use. This was a little expensive and there’s a lot of more affordable stool options you could choose instead if you want to save some cash.
- Lighting and mirror. The lighting in my vanity room sucks so I decided to grab the cute HARTE LED lamp, which is adjustable, comes in a few colors, and can be plugged into an AC outlet or a USB port. I might end up using it as a beading light too! The KAITUM mirror also has LED lights, and is battery powered, so I can bring it with me for gigs as well if I want to. Honestly, the lighting still sucks so I think I may need to put in another, more powerful lamp.
- Accessories. The cup on the desk is actually a SKURAR candle holder but I liked the lacy pattern and figured it was perfect for collecting my used brushes as I do my makeup. I might go back for the matching candle tray to hold my perfumes and a few other objects I want to have at hand. The FNISS trash can is super cheap and just the right size for any trash I make while doing my face (q-tips, tissues, makeup packaging, whatever). The jade plant is not from IKEA, it was left here by the tenant but it looks cute on the desk!
I did my makeup for both of last weekend’s gigs at this vanity and it worked well. I had my makeup sorted into the different drawers, which made it easy to find things. There was plenty of room to work. I could have even brought my laptop in if I had wanted to follow a YouTube tutorial. Really the only thing that needs improving is the lighting situation! I’m really glad I did this because there is literally zero counterspace in the bathroom here, so this vanity is going to make my life so much easier.