The most important piece of furniture you will buy for the space could make or break a project. Here are some possibilities.
A great bathroom vanity blends storage with style, like this one designed by AM Interior Design. “The vanity can make or break the design of the bathroom,” said Hema Persad, founder of Los Angeles-based interior design firm Sagrada Studio.
“It takes up a lot of square footage, no matter how big or small the bathroom is, so you have to think about it really carefully.” There are two key points to consider: how to maximize storage space and how to bolster the design vision for the room.“The vanity should always meet a functional need,” said Gabriela Gargano, founder of New York-based interior design firm Grisoro Studio. “But how bold or discreet it is really depends on the design goal for the space.” The answer to those questions can lead to vastly different designs, from expansive built-in cabinetry to compact wall-mounted units. Here are some of the designs that Persad, Gargano and others have implemented to make bathrooms look, and function, their best.At Ten Plus Three, a design firm with offices in Dallas and Monterrey, Mexico, every vanity design begins with an assessment of how a homeowner will use it, said Gonzalo Bueno, a partner at the firm.A vanity by Grisoro Studio fills a niche in a Manhattan bathroom. Sagrada Studio used sliding doors to build a vanity with storage in a small bathroom. The design firm Ten Plus Three designs doors and drawers that reflect a homeowner’s specific needs. “Some of our clients have simple bathroom products, while others have not-so-simple skin care products and tall bottles they need access to,” Bueno said. Some people want a large cabinet with a door, so they can hide a wastebasket inside, he said, while others desire drawers with integrated power outlets for hair dryers or toothbrushes.One of the best ways to maximize vanity storage space, even in a small bathroom, is to build a custom cabinet that stretches from one wall to another. For a bathroom she designed in New York City, Gargano introduced a built-in white oak vanity with big drawers topped by a Calacatta Nero marble counter that completely filled a niche, which is also lined in white oak. “It creates a very immersive feeling,” she said. In a small bathroom Persad designed, she ran a shallow cabinet right across the end wall of the room to add significant storage space. Because there was no space for doors to swing open or drawers to pull out, she chose sliding doors finished in cane, which were made by Yeehaw Woodworks. “We had to do those sliding doors because there was nowhere else to put the toilet,” Persad said. In such tiny confines, she added, “custom is often the way to go,” because prefabricated vanities are rarely a perfect fit. In a large bathroom, AM Interior Design book-ended the vanity with floor-to-ceiling storage cabinets. In a more spacious bathroom, a custom vanity can also help maximize storage space. In a bathroom that Aimee Meisgeier of Seattle-based AM Interior Design conceived, she installed a generous double vanity bookended by matching storage cabinets that extend from floor to ceiling. “There was a huge run of open wall,” Meisgeier said. “So those are built-in linen cabinets that hold pool towels, bathroom towels and all the necessary day-to-day things.”One potential downside to a vanity that runs wall to wall is that it can eat up a lot of floor space and look visually heavy in the room. A solution is to use a wall-mounted vanity that has no legs or base.“When an item doesn’t touch the floor, it takes up less visual space, even though the depth and width of the cabinet might be exactly the same,” Gargano said, who often prefers wall-mounted vanities in compact urban bathrooms.Another way to increase storage space is to install a low shelf, either below a wall-mounted vanity or on the bottom of a vanity that runs to the floor. Meisgeier has built open shelves into vanities for guest bathrooms as a place to store towels or for guests to store travel toiletry bags. In a powder room she designed with a long wall-mounted stone vanity, she added just a short walnut shelf below it. “That’s for a basket where the toilet paper goes,” she said.A prefabricated vanity from West Elm was the ideal size for a bathroom by Sagrada Studio. A bar pull on a vanity doubles as a towel bar in a bathroom by Sagrada Studio. Even a small shelf can add storage space, like in this bathroom by AM Interior Design. In bathrooms that have straightforward dimensions and a little more breathing room, a prefabricated vanity can work nearly as well as a custom one. In a bathroom Persad designed where she had to put the vanity between a shower and a toilet, she found an ideally sized free-standing model from West Elm. “We wanted something that looked midcentury, and West Elm happened to have one that fit the footprint and the style we needed,” Persad said. “That was a great cost savings.” In another bathroom, she used a prefabricated wall-mounted vanity. “It had to be narrow enough that the door could still open,” she said. She replaced the hardware on the unit’s single storage drawer with one long bar pull, which provides a place to hang a towel.A cabinet or chest doesn’t have to be labeled as a bathroom vanity to function as one. Some designers repurpose antique chests of drawers to make one-of-a-kind vanities. Aileen Warren and Kiley Jackson, founders of Jackson Warren Interiors, a firm with offices in Houston and Fairhope, Ala., once transformed a mahogany chest of drawers they found at an antiques fair into a vanity. “It was perfect for the space,” Warren said. “We had a local carpenter work on the drawers so they were really smooth.”A sink carved from a granite boulder serves as sculpture in a bathroom by Ten Plus Three. In another bathroom, Jackson Warren Interiors turned an antique mahogany chest into a vanity. The designers even kept the stone top that was already on the chest and had a stone fabricator create a cutout for the sink. For another bathroom, they found a vintage bleached wood cabinet at Houston antiques shop Back Row Home and replaced the top with a marble counter to turn it into a vanity.There’s no rule that says a bathroom vanity has to be a rectangular cabinet. If you want to make the vanity the star of the bathroom, you can give it a more sculptural shape.In a bathroom Ten Plus Three employees designed in Mexico, they carved a sink from a rough granite boulder and added pedestals on either side to function as flat counters. “The clients wanted to bring natural materials inside of the house to make it more interesting,” Bueno said. In another bathroom, the firm designed a bulbous vanity covered in parchment leather with a waterproof high-gloss finish. The piece doesn’t look like a traditional vanity but has curved doors that open to reveal storage. It wasn’t the easiest vanity to build, Bueno said, but “we’re just always trying to find ways to make bathrooms a little more special.”At 82, retired teacher and former marathon runner has discovered his next chapter doesn’t require a busy social calendar At 82, retired teacher and former marathon runner has discovered his next chapter doesn’t require a busy social calendar Officials believe San Diego is well positioned as cities compete for dwindling state homeless dollarsPadres pitcher Yu Darvish poised to walk away from his contract Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner launches 13th roundtrip between San Diego and Los Angeles, with plans to expand still moreAfter second trial, jury convicts San Diego County deputy who seriously injured restrained inmate What do Palm Springs and Escondido have in common? After Prop. 50, they’re battlegrounds for Democrats taking on Issa What do Palm Springs and Escondido have in common? After Prop. 50, they’re battlegrounds for Democrats taking on Issa
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Democrats Consider Partial Government Shutdown To Curb ICEIgor Bobic is a senior HuffPost reporter who covers Congress, the White House, and political campaigns. He can be reached at igor.bobichuffpost.com and is on Twitter igorbobic.
Read more »
Renovating this Rydal home posed new challenges for a Philly kitchen designerThe Reynolds’ house was built in two different styles and had unique features. That made remodeling the kitchen an unusual project.
Read more »
Should Bears Consider a Familiar Star for Pass Rush Woes?Could the Bears be looking to add an old friend back to the lineup to help their struggling pass-rush?
Read more »
Mayor says Lemon Grove to consider emergency plan to protect residential rentersCity will consider emergency ordinance as local renters allege a new property owner is bending rules to clear out longtime renters
Read more »
Powerful House Republican suggests Trump consider pulling ICE out of Minneapolis after Alex Pretti shootingHouse Oversight Chairman James Comer joins ‘Sunday Morning Futures’ to discuss the fallout from the latest federal agent-involved shooting in Minnesota and potential legal consequences for former special counsel Jack Smith.
Read more »
Gov. Walz says Trump has agreed to consider reducing federal surge in Minnesota after phone callGov. Tim Walz says that he and President Trump shared a phone call Monday morning, during which he says the president agreed to consider a reduction of federal immigration enforcement forces in Minnesota following the second fatal shooting of a resident by federal agents.
Read more »