My family is concerned with having good hair. I don't mean the way other families are concerned with having good hair, I mean the way other families are concerned with not accidentally setting each other on fire and then eating each others noses.
We're serious about hair. So it makes no sense, as a 3rd generational hair obsessed, that I bought the house that I live in. It has a tiny bathroom with a tiny bathtub, and a tiny medicine cabinet that sits over a tiny sink. If I could leave it at that, it would be dreadful but bearable. But I not only have a tiny sink, I have the most useless of all tiny sinks ... I. Own. A. Pedestal. Sink. Moment of silence.
The bathroom is the last room in my house that needs to be redone and I keep NOT redoing it in the hopes that one day I'll be able to afford to put on a small addition to my house with a real and actual bathroom. If I ever got the chance to do that, I'd completely reconfigure the horrifyingly useless Pedestal Bathroom at the same time so I don't want to put any money into redoing it if in a year or two I'll be gutting it.
I've been thinking this exact thought for the past 16 years. So yeah.
The absolute worst thing about a pedestal sink is there's no storage on it or around it or underneath it. Nowhere. The stupid thing isn't even big enough for a pump bottle of soap to sit on it without slipping and shooting across the room when you use it.
So if there's no room for a bottle of soap, there's definitely no room for the hair obsessed's most coveted item. Our professional grade hairdryer.
I used to have a hair dryer holder that screwed into the wall but it was bulky and ugly so I broke it on purpose.
And then I made a cleaner, neater looking one myself.
Here's how to do it and what you need in 3 easy steps.
Materials:
1, 2.5" PVC coupling (you'll find this in the plumbing aisle)
1, 3X3 white hinge
3, #8 screws
3, 10x24 machine screws -
3, 10x24 nuts
Total Cost: Around $10.00
STEP 1
Place hinge, centred on PVC coupling and mark where the hinge holes are. Drill holes.
STEP 2
Place the hinge on the PVC coupling and insert the machine screws.
STEP 3
Screw on the nuts.
STEP 4
Screw the other end of the hinge into your wall using #8 screws. Going into wood you can just screw them straight in, if you're going into drywall use anchors.
Now all you have to do is shove in your hairdryer.
Because this is a hinge and it swings open you can either use a bit of 2 way tape to stick the two hinge sides together to keep it from opening or you can use a magnet to keep it together. A bit of glue would work too but not too much because you need to be able to pry it apart fairly easily to access the screws if you ever need to remove it from the wall.
Don't wanna DIY? Then by all means, buy! This chrome hairdryer holder is $13 on Amazon.
Most importantly, if you only remember ONE thing from this DIY, remember to never eat your relatives noses.
Angie
We can't have regular plugs, the ones for bathrooms are called ground fault circuit interrupters and they are made for wet environments.
Dawn
HaHa! I own a hairdryer, mostly I use it for defrosting frozen pipes. Seriously, I am and always have been a wash and go kind of person. Winter, summer, it doesn't matter. It's very long, it's thick, it's poker straight. Why fight it? I don't get my hair styled like EVER, cause I know I am not going to do it at home. Sort of simplifies things for me.
Teddee Grace
A woman after my own heart! I thought I was the only person in the world who hated pedestal sinks. Your hair dryer holder is great, but you also have a well-located plug-in. The single plug-in in my bathroom is almost right over the sink. My sister and I created the blow dryer, by the way. It was the beach ball my grandparents had given me for my sixth birthday. I'm nearing 73 so, you see, we were way ahead of the curve. We squirted the air out of the beach ball onto the pin curls we had made in the corn silk hair we had taped to the heads of our life-sized dolls we made out of lath crosses topped with cereal box heads with Crayola faces. You get the picture.
Karen
Well I hope you're getting some kind of kickback on your invention. ~ karen!
TucsonPatty
OMG, you also invented the Barbie Beauty Shop Doll, and hair extensions!! What genius! I only had my little sisters and my cousins on which to practice, because I didn't had the foresight to try a cereal box! I've been doing hair for 46+ years now, and still love it almost all of the time! I love my dryer holder built into my styling station at work, so I never dry my hair at home. Spoiled. I do have a tiny 1955 bathroom, so the dryer would have to live in the closet and then be set down on the toilet seat between brush changes. I had the same question about the dryer being scratch, and figured shorter bolts, but you obviously did the right amount of homework. BTW, the typing on the iPad is doing the wonky dance again...
billy sharpstick
We have an Ikea cabinet right next to the sink. I can put screws right through into the cabinet with nuts on the inside. No hinge this way.
ronda
when I first moved into my house 20 odd years ago, the bathroom light fixture was over the tub! So you had to reach across it to turn on the light! Fast forward a few years to the bathroom reno ... light switch by the door and GFI wall socket above the (pedestal) sink. A hair dryer stand/holder would beat the hook I was thinking of screwing into the beadboard! One question ... do the bolts scratch the side of the hair dryer at all? Or is the dryer tapered slightly and therefore misses the bolts.
Karen
Hi Ronda! No the bolts don't touch the side of the hairdryer. :) You can't use shorter bolts because the next size down is too short. But if you're worried you can hacksaw off the ends of the bolts. But like I say as long as you get the size of PVC and length of bolts I've provided there will be no scratching. ~ karen!
movita beaucoup
My family is concerned with HAVING hair. We don't even care if it's good anymore.
Still, I think any one of 'em would like this hairdryer holder.
Valerie
This is a fab idea for installing a hair dryer in the bathroom. I found it interesting reading the posts here - electrical outlets not being a legal requirement in bathrooms in Africa and the U.K.
When I had a new bathroom installed in our cottage adjacent to our house I was told by the contractor that an electric outlet in the bathroom in Canada was in fact a necessary coded requirement. As to how to accommodate everything in a small room called a bathroom -
a few years ago we stayed at a gorgeous hotel in Vernon B.C. - the Crystal Hotel where the bath tub was located in the bedroom overlooking the lake with only the toilet and sink in the bathroom itself - not my first choice but rather an interesting idea for bath tub placement.
Gaeyl Kanter
I think both concepts are genius DIY or BUY thanks for providing options . I don't have a pedestal sink however the 1 bathroom in my 700 square foot abode is so tight . I can sit on the commode close or open the door , washbasin to my left , tub,/ shower stall combo and reach the not so far wall to my right. . It is workable I just have to be On it at all times. It is bigger & more private than a old fashioned pay phone area .
Miriam
Aw I LOVE your pedestal sink, and the wood on your walls.
Here in Ireland it's illegal to have an electrical socket in a bathroom (other than a special shaving socket), so I dry my hair in the bedroom.
Heidi Ruckriegel
That used to be our bathromm, with a pink carpet. Pedestal sink. Yes, there were cupboards and drawers, but you either couldn't get them open or couldn't shut them and they always had a vague smell of mouse. One of my fondest memories is the day I demolished the bathroom, all by myself, with a sledgehammer. We did end up showering outside the back porch for a while, but I now have a nice new shiny bathroom.
Karen
Good for you! I can't wait for the day I don't hate my bathroom. :) ~ karen!
Jacquie
Electrical sockets in the bathroom are illegal in the UK so absolutely no-one has one; you are allowed a shaver point though. What you've never had, you never miss :-)
Susan
How come you never made a cupboard to fit around the basin. Your DIY skills are super good, mine are non existing.
Karen
Hi Susan. No, you couldn't really make a cover to fit around a pedestal sink. It would just look ... well, DIYish. :) ~ karen!
MrsChris SA
A hairdryer in the bathroom? I find that fascinating.
No electrical appliances in my bathroom - it would be too easy to commit murder for the people that keep leaving the toilet seat up..................................
Thandi
Isn't it so bizarre that other countries have plugs in their bathrooms? I find this very strange. In South Africa, as far as I know, electricity is definitely not welcome in the bathroom.
Weird.
Irene
Yup. Electrical outlets in South Africa are definitely not a thing. It amazed me the first time I saw that, decades ago. We were raised on the idea that electricity near water is a big no-no! ☺
Jo
I am thinking your bathroom is looking pretty big ? It is all about perspective. My bathroom is 4 by 6 floor and that includes a toilet, sink and a tub that originally càme out of à camper. I have been in my house for 25 years and finally got around to redoing part of the bathroom. Now that that's done ( it was just a minor facelift, ) I've decided to put some money into this room and change the bathtub into a walk-in shower. There are several government grants available to re do part of your house to assist in your disability Mobility. I think a walk-in shower would really be helpful. Lots of paperwork though. So I may not be earning any additional floor space, I am at least I think using it better. Love the hair dryer holder. Definitely making this and sorting out one for my flat iron also. Maybe smaller diameter pvc?
Karen
LOL. Yes my bathroom is positively luxuriously proportioned at 5" x 7". ~ karen!
Milton
Very clever, Karen! People stuck with pedestal sinks are inspired to come up with clever ideas to compensate.
Brenda AKA Gardenbre
Oh gawd - my brother gave me a pedestal sink and I was thinking of putting it in my bathroom ... with a linen skirt ... I just throw my hair dryer on the floor by my mirror in the hallway (I live alone) sometimes I tuck it behind the mirror (when guests come over) ... speaking of not biting off noses - I now think maybe - I could certainly do with a hoop on my wall to stick its' nose in!
Phylicia Mann
Nevermind ... here's my photo comment. Lol!
Karen
Pedestal sinks mean you're always dragging something into the bathroom to act as storage that doesn't belong there, look stupid and mish mashy and doesn't really work. Even a tiny powder room needs somewhere to store toilet paper or towels! Down with pedestal sinks! ~ karen
Phylicia Mann
I can't add a photo comment, or else I would show you the basket I store my hair dryer in
BUT I was just bitching about this to my husband this morning!!!! We are residential contractors for a living leasing a home until we build our own.
I said, "Who the hell designs a bathroom with two pedestal sinks!!??!!" No counter space, no storage! Just two soap bars shooting off the sides!
Every morning my hairbrush falls off and nearly destroys my glass bathroom scale (ok that would not be such a bad thing)
dana
We moved 4 months ago from a house that had a pedestal sink in the one and only bathroom. Three people in a 1 bathroom house does not work. I detested that sink! The toilet was 6 inches from it. If we were lucky, stiff slid into the sink. If not, things slid between the toilet and sink which required putting our head way back in there to retrieve the item. The sink was so curvy that there was not one flat part in it. There were no outlets in the bathroom either.
Nancy
I just went to an open house and unfortunately, I have learned to scout out this kind of thing. No electricity in the first floor bathroom. And it did have a pedestal sink, but that quickly became the least of my concerns. It was a very attractively redone older house but WTF, no electricity. I asked the real estate agent about it, maybe I was missing something, and she called my attention to the cute squirrels making a racket outside. It made me sad. Pay attention, people, no one is on your side.
Paula
I too, have a pedestal sink and a shower - that's right...no bathtub. I hook my hairdryer over the towel on the towel rail but your idea is much neater.