If you’re tired of doing shower contortionism just to shave your legs, then this little DIY shower stool is the perfect option for you. At roughly $8 and less than 2 hours of your time, you can whip one out and keep your balance while keeping your legs hair-free!
I’m going to premise this post with a warning that this is NOT actually a sitting stool. This is a small stool for shaving your legs in the shower and is more than sturdy enough to handle that. If you want a stool to actually sit on, then you’ll need to make this both bigger, and with cross braces to stabilize it.
Anyone else struggle to shave their legs in the shower? I do, so most often I fill the tub and sit so that I don’t accidentally fall on my head or slice my Achilles trying. Which means the legs get shaved less often than they probably should… and I’m single now summer’s coming, so that’s going to have to change at some point. lol
I decided to whip up a tiny DIY shower stool to fit in the corner of my shower so that I can balance a bit better while tackling these gorilla legs.
No specific building plans here, I bought a cedar fence board and some cedar pickets – for a total of about $8 Cdn.
I cut 2 pieces of the fence board to 12″ long and then laminated (glued) them together and clamped them overnight. I wanted to make sure that the glue had completely set up since it’s going into such a damp/wet area.
Once the glue was dried (and I was certain that the protective paper was strongly adhered – ugh!), I traced out a quarter-circle onto the cedar and then cut it out with a scroll saw.
I then drew a second line 2 ½” in from the outer edge to delineate where I wanted the drainage/decorative notches to go.
The third quarter-circle was drawn 2 ½” in from the corner of the DIY shower stool.
I found the easiest way to mark where I wanted the drainage/decorate paces was to line up the point of my square and then rotate it along the circle so that I had 1″ gaps between 2″ wood pieces.
I drilled holes to feed my scroll saw blade through and then cut out each 1″ notch.
Easy-peasy!
I gave the DIY shower stool a thorough sanding, including in the drainage/decorative notches, and I attempted to round the edges slightly (just with my sander).
Cedar fence boards are 5/8″ thick, so too thin to drill pocket holes into from the underside. Instead I pre-drilled some holes and then attached the legs with 3″ screws (that won’t rust) from the top down into the pickets. I tried not to counter-sink the screws very much because I didn’t want water to accumulate.
I cut 2 of the cedar pickets to 20″ long – which is a comfortable height for my 5’8″ frame. I wanted my shower stool to be tight in the corner of my shower so that it would tuck behind the glass door and not get in the way, so I cut the third leg shorter than the other two so that it would rest neatly on the shower’s edge.
Usually shower stools are built from teak, but teak is a VERY expensive and a very hard-to-find wood, so I went with red cedar; which will age beautifully, can handle moisture and doesn’t require any finishing. It’s also relatively inexpensive, so if I do have to replace this stool over the next year or two, it won’t break the bank to do so.
That’s it folks!
I tested it out this morning and it is perfect for shaving legs on – again, it is NOT an actual stool for sitting – and the smell of cedar in the shower is heavenly!
I’ve been thinking about making one of these for ages and just hadn’t got off my duff to do it. Less than 2 hours this past weekend and done! (insert kicking myself in the pants here). If you’re interested, check out some beginner woodwork projects if you’d like to get stuck into more woodwork projects.
Less bathtub cleaning., shaved legs more often – which is a really nice feeling at bedtime – and an extra little storage spot in the shower.
Love it!
In case you don’t want to make your own $8 DIY shower stool, here are some other (affiliate) options: (for full affiliate disclosure please read sidebar)
Have a great one!
Great shaving stool. Love it, love it.love it.