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I have an shallow space which I would like to use for some additional storage, with a mirror as a door. The space is only 15cm deep, so I've not been able to find something that I could buy to fill the space. This leads me down the route of building something myself.

Diagram of wall

In this diagram the black line represents the walls, red the shelves and blue the mirror.

I was planning to use Ikea Mosslanda picture ledges for the shelves, and a Nissedal mirror mounted on hinges as a 'door'.

The picture ledges are obviously not intended to have mirror attached to the front of them. So how can I mount the mirror (which weighs just over 6kg), 12cm from the plasterboard wall?

My first thought was to use two pieces of wood (one for each hinge), and attach the mirror those. However, I'm not sure how to securely attach the wood to the wall. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

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  • Screws into the framing are the usual approach. Your hinges would need to be sized to accommodate that. Did you have some specific concerns?
    – isherwood
    Commented May 16, 2019 at 12:58
  • My concern is that there is no framing. Perhaps my question wasn't clear enough. I want to attach some shelves to a wall, and have a mirror in front of them, but can't attach the mirror directly to the shelves. One constraint is I want to keep it as shallow as possible, so I don't want to put anything behind the shelves.
    – Andrew Wilkinson
    Commented May 16, 2019 at 13:19
  • Good suggestion, I've added a diagram.
    – Andrew Wilkinson
    Commented May 16, 2019 at 15:07

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If you insist on building the entire project, you should use standard lumber boards to construct a box around the shelves. Anything less than an enclosing box will not be strong enough to support and withstand the forces incident to opening and closing a hinged door.

To attach the box to the wall, use internal crosspieces at the back of the top and bottom. Screw through the crosspieces into the studs (you'll want to find those for hanging the shelves anyway).

If you want to skip most of the building, you'll find that medicine cabinets are rarely more than about 15cm deep. They're usually designed to fit into a wall between the studs.

Also, I don't know where you are, but around here in New England I have found in furniture outlets many shallow cabinets obviously intended as surface mounted medicine cabinets. Apparently sometimes builders do not want to cut into the bathroom wall.

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  • I'd rather not build anything, but I've not been able to find anything that matches by requirements, even when looking at bathroom cabinets. Thank you for the comments about an enclosing box, that's what I suspected I would need. I'll go away and see if I can come up with an alternative solution, otherwise I might need to go down that route.
    – Andrew Wilkinson
    Commented May 17, 2019 at 11:37
  • How about a jewelry or curio cabinet? My lady has a wall mounted jewelry cabinet with a mirror attached as a door that's only about 12-15 cm thick (not counting the trim on top). It would be pretty easy to add shelves inside.
    – Eric Simpson
    Commented May 22, 2019 at 11:28

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