Hello everyone! My name is Becky and I’m a contributor at Houzz, a home design site focused on helping design professionals and homeowners manage the remodeling and decorating process. Thanks so much to Debbie for having me!
I’m so inspired by all of Debbie’s refreshing and restyling that I thought I’d share one of my favorite bathroom design repurposing moves: the vanity. Just say no to that builder’s grade boring vanity cabinet and open your eyes to using a unique piece of furniture instead. You can use a table, desk, bureau, cabinet, or many other pieces in place of the traditional bathroom furnishing; as a matter of fact, my downstairs vanity is an antique icebox. To get you inspired to think outside of the standard cabinet, here’s a look at three different vanities that bring unique patina and style to a bathroom, and offer an old piece of furniture a whole new life.
This antique dresser is just the right height to serve as a vanity. You’ll want a vanity that is about 30 to 36 inches high for comfort. If the piece you choose is a little on the low side, using a vessel sink like this one will add some height.
When choosing a piece of furniture to transform into a vanity, note that the top and often the second drawers will not function as usual due to the pipes behind them. You can refashion them to be somewhat functional by cutting some depth from the drawers and moving their backs forward, creating shallow drawers for small linens, soaps and toothpaste.
The vessel sink you choose can add big style to the bathroom, like this beautiful ceramic bowl. Also worth noting is faucet placement: If surface space is shallow, you can mount it to the side, like you see here, or mount the faucets to the wall so that they don’t take up any counter space.
The console table in this traditional bathroom has plenty of room for storage on the bottom shelf for towels and baskets full of bathroom supplies. It also has an undermount sink. When adding an undermount sink it’s best to add a counter in marble or some other type of stone so that the hole can be cut precisely. An overmount sink is easier to drop into just about any piece of furniture, but the undermount sink has a more clean and modern look.
When using a more open piece like this one, be sure to pay attention to your P-trap (the pipe that’s exposed beneath). Choose something in an attractive finish, because you will be able to see it.
I hope this post will have you squinting at all types of pieces of furniture and re-imagining them repurposed as vanities.
Find more bathroom inspiration from Atlanta kitchen and bath designers and more design professionals around the world at Houzz.
Becky had me at repurposing! I might have to replace my vanity. What about you?
Hey Debbie and Becky. Love these vanity ideas…so much that I highlighted one as one of my inspiration pieces today on Curb Alert! If you have any other blue projects (you will see why in my post) that you have worked on I would love for you to link them up as well to help me get the link party kicked off.
Thanks!
Tami @ Curb Alert! http://tamicurbalert.blogspot.com/2013/04/bluesday-tuesday-link-party-starting.html
Wow! Such beautiful vanity upgrades!! Congrats on the Houzz guest Debbie!!
I’m going gagga over the green cabinet!
I’m them all the bases but I’m really loving the middle bowl!
Debbie I LOVE them all but that green one is my fav!!
I love those! I did that about 11 yrs ago when we built our house. Now they can be found in Home Depot etc, but then, we had to use a dresser too! I still love it after all these years.
Blessings, Lorraine
I loved this! We found a great old carpenter’s chest we are using as a vanity in our powder room!
Nice!!! A couple ow=f weekends ago we also took a 6 drawer dresser and turned it into a double vessel sink vanity in the master bath. Almost completed. Waiting for the mirror to be framed. Then I will share it 😀
Thanx for sharing Becky .
What a great collection of ideas. I just love the last bathroom, the “traditional bathroom design by philadelphia design-build Robert Kiejdan”. So gorgeous.
Hey Everyone, I am just pleased as punch that these vanities inspired you! It was such a pleasure to put this post together 🙂
Becky
I’ve always wanted to do that. This post might just push me to go big and just get er done! Lovely repurposes and great inspiration. Thanks Debbie and Becky!
Debbie – great guest post from Becky! I’m impressed that Houzz is here on your blog! You have arrived!
And Becky, thanks for the fabulous inspiration. I’m trying to figure out how I can do just what you suggested … but on my own … in my very own master bath …
🙂
Linda
Great post,thanks I do love custom vanities! I’ve just finished turning an old dining room hutch (that was a media cabinet for awhile) into our bathroom vanity and I think it turned out beautiful! The one thing I would advise is to seal the top – with us having kids around, there’s always lot’s of water everywhere! I used the same sealer as for our butcherblock countertops and it seems to be working just great, no water stains yet.
Debbie,
This is such a fun idea :). I love dressers as sink bases! I’m with Bliss….the white one is a winner 🙂
Have a great Memorial Day Weekend!
blessings,
karianne
Oh just beautiful! I would love to do this in our bathroom. However, I need to find two cool, large pieces! Nice guest post today Debbie.
Each of those vanities is wonderful, but I think my fav is the white one.
~Bliss~
Oohhh – I love the green one in that first image – very pretty!