Turning vintage furniture into a bathroom vanity

Have you ever thought of recycling an old piece of furniture into your bathroom vanity?

Perhaps an old desk?

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an old sideboard?

I've lost the source

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...or a chest of drawers, vintage wash stand, buffet or cupboard?

When we were planning our bathroom renovations, one thing I was sure of, was that I wasn't going to be buying a modern vanity unit. Not only are the extremely expensive in Australia, but I just don't like the look, especially as our bathroom is at the end of our hallway and when you stand at the front door you look straight into the bathroom.

the view from the front door

 A few years before we did our renovations, I found an old french style cupboard on eBay. I paid around $150 for it and used it in our kitchen storing my platters until we were ready to renovate. I knew it would be the perfect size for the bathroom which is just tiny.

I painted the cupboard in white acrylic enamel paint (water based, as an oil based paint in white will yellow with age and I didn't want this to happen). I made sure I painted the underneath of the feet and legs also so if water flooded in the bathroom the feet of the vanity would be sealed.

You can see the drainage pipe coming from underneath the cupboard to the floor. When you select your piece of furniture it is important to remember you will need to make space for the pipes inside the cupboard. You will also need to cut an additional hole in the back of the vanity where plumbing fixtures and water lines connect. You can use flexible water pipes to the taps so that helps with space but your drainage pipes is what will take up the most room. Sorry but I didn't clean up inside the cupboard for the photos. Keeping it real, baby.

You will also need to decide if you can live with a timber top or change over the top. I knew we wouldn't take care of a timber topped vanity so I removed the top of the cupboard and replaced the top with Caesarstone. I chose the colour Snow as this is what we were using in the kitchen that we renovated at the same time. I had the stone mason cut a whole in the top for the Caroma Liano Above Counter Basin. I chose an above counter basin because it took less internal space up in the cupboard. Any extra storage space I could get is important in our tiny little bathroom.  The mirror also fronts a storage medicine cabinet.

You can see in the photo below that the doors aren't perfectly aligned. This can often happen with old furniture but it doesn't matter to me. These small imperfections add to the charm. But aren't the mouldings beautiful.

I decided to not centre the basin. This was for two reasons. The cupboard I used has a central piece of wood that separates the two sides. I didn't want to have to cut it to put the basin in. The other reason is the main reason and that is if the vanity was placed centrally I would have about 25 cm each side of the basin for storage - this is pretty useless. Having it to one side means I have a good bench top surface on which to place essential items and pretty accessories.

One thing I didn't scrimp on was tapware. These are from Brodware, one of the best tapware manufacturers in Australia. I love them and I am confident they will not rust. I have had friends buy cheap imported tapware and they have rusted and discoloured within a year. There are heaps of other ways to save money but tapware shouldn't be one of them!

It was important to me to have some space down each side of the vanity as I wanted to be able to clean the glass shower screen as well as the sides of the vanity. Make sure you know your measurements before you choose your vanity.

These beautiful soaps and bath oils are both functional and beautiful.

One other feature I love in our bathroom is this metal shelf. I didn't want a soap dish in our bath/shower as I hate how grungy they can get and also we mainly use liquid soap rather than a cake so a soap holder is unnecessary. Instead we have this shelf at the end of our shower/bath (it's above the toilet) and in easy reach when we are showering. It's where we store all our shampoo etc.

Just to show you what a difference a renovation can make - here's what the bathroom looked like when we bought this house.  You can see why I wanted something pretty!

Hideous in all respects

So there you have it. How to save a fortune on a new vanity and get something unique and pretty as well.  What do you think? Do you think you would do this or do you prefer a modern vanity with soft close drawers?

cheers

Fiona

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