My DIY Makeup Vanity

WARNING! PLEASE EMAIL ALL QUESTIONS, COMMENTS AND PHOTOS OF YOUR CREATION TO ME at laurenvarga4@gmail.com. I have had a hard time replying back to people any other way. Thanks :)

As some of you know I just got a job as the Assistant Manager of the MAC at Nordstroms in Downtown Portland. I start tomorrow, May 29th, and in my last days of unemployment I decided I would build a vanity! I figured it would be a great project and very useful since I will be doing makeup more again. Although you can just purchase one for about $100+ dollars, I wanted a whole lot more than a stool, table and mirror. This project took me a while and was a little harder than I expected so I decided it would be a great first post on my blog! 

I have a lot of make up from over the years. I wanted to make sure it was accessible, clear where everything is and not sore on the eyes. This desk is actually a shelf that I put legs on! It's from Ikea and it's the Ekby Gruvan shelf. It was 39.99 and it is 47 inches long. It's very narrow so it's great for a small space. After I screwed on 4 Vika Adils legs. They were 3.50$ each. The chair is from Ikea from the Stefan line and it was 19.99.

This is the Musik vanity wall lamp from Ikea. It was 14.99. Though there are lots of unexpected prices that come with them. The light bulbs I got at Ace Hardware and they are by Reveal. They are typical vanity lights, 40w but they have almost a blue tint when they are off. This helps for makeup application because it doesn't have that yellow glare that most light bulbs can produce. They were 4.99 for a two pack, so $15 total. The mirror was from Target for $30.

Now this lamp didn't come with a cord so I had to twist the cords with those of an electrical outlet cable pack (8.99 for a 8 foot from Home Depot) in order for it to get juice. After twisting them you apply wire nut connectors. (They look like little cones.) This is needed for the wires to stay together. 

These are the Bekvam spice racks from Ikea 3.99 each. They work great for taller things that need to stand up light foundations (top rack). On the bottom tack I have my nail polishes and some oils on the right. The racks are wood and very easy to assemble. I painted them this red orange color with paint that I made. After being disappointed with a color I purchased, I combined three different acrylic paints to get the desired brightness. I recommend using a semi gloss finish. 

These are from Homegoods. They were all on clearance for under $8. They are actually bathroom tumblers, aka fancy toothbrush holders. The flower is from Ikea .99 cents w/ a .79 cent vase.




This makeup divider (left) was actually made for jewelry. My mom got it for me years ago from TJ Max. The clear one (right) was 3.99 from Target. It's a little large for this narrow shelf but you can barely tell because its clear. 





This vanity mirror is from Target. Its from Conair and was 24.99. It was a complete waste of money. Don't buy it. You can barely tilt the mirror up to get a different angle. I have one back in California that my mom got from Costco that was way nicer but needed one for here so I went cheap.








These blue boxes were 6.99 for a pack of two from ikea. The small 5 drawer thing was 6.99 from Target. Now the clearish drawers below were difficult to spend the money on but they are perfect for under this shelf/desk. Since the desk is very narrow, most drawer units are too larger and would stick out past the table. These are even more narrow than the shelf... and best of all, you can pick out the size drawers that work best for you! They are called the Kupol pull out storage unit. You can change up the sizes of each one. The large one was 14.99 at the bottom, the 2nd level ones were 8.99 each, The top left two were 6.99 for a two pack and 6.99 for the larger top right drawer. This added up but it was worth it since I couldn't find anything narrow enough to go below it.

If you have any questions email me at Laurenvarga4@gmail.com!