YS- Your new room looks awesome. The cabinet that the sink is sitting on, is that a piece of furniture that you retrofitted or was it designed to be a sink cabinet? If you retrofitted an antique, how hard was it? DH and I are diving into a bathroom remodel and I really like the look of a basin (above counter) sink and antique cabinet combo but the ones they sell at HD/Lowes that are purpose built aren't nearly as nice and are really cheaply made (although not cheaply priced).
PS-It's nice here in central MD today but our heat index over the weekend was 110 so be glad you are gone!.
Believe me... mid-80's, breezy, not too humid... I'm lovin' it here!!!
We have a wonderful place here in town called
Vanities of Yesteryear The husband-wife team got started because they were remodeling and retrofitted cabinets for vanities... then did some for friends... then for friends of friends... and now they have cabinets in 43 states and Canada. I checked them out for our first two bathrooms--gorgeous stuff that I just can't afford. I had picked out an adequate vanity for this bathroom at Home Despot, but it wasn't quite right and I thought I'd pop in there just to see if they had any that would work. When I saw the vanity I almost cried... so pretty, and so perfect. When my dh found out what I paid, he almost cried. It's one of the single most expensive things I've bought for the B&B (but then I'm
cheap frugal). I paid a good price, though--she marked it down for me because it hadn't moved (most people don't want that look), and I think she knew I had the new B&B. Above it hangs a mirror from a yard sale... $4. The other new bathroom's vanity was a returned clearance item from Lowe's... $75, so I figure I've saved enough elsewhere to splurge on the perfect piece here.
On the third floor we have one we did ourselves, sort of (that is, my contractor did the actual work with stuff I bought). It is an old two-door cabinet that was left in our house in Maryland when we bought it. We used marble for the shower and put pieces of it on top of the cabinet like you were tiling a floor, then we put a countertop sink from Lowe's on top ($100), and a very cool faucet that looks like a garden pump ($200). So we have this beat up, worthless cabinet, with a marble top and a $300 sink & faucet... eventually (next week?) I'll post pictures of that bathroom and you'll see that it works out great.
As the previous post says... it's not that hard. You can take almost any cabinet (Vanities of Yesteryear has even done it on sewing machine cabinets), poly it well (they use a special polyurethane that is moisture resistant), put holes in the top for the sink and faucet and more holes in the back (or bottom) for the pipes. Vanities of Yesteryear also retrofits the drawers so that they all still work... they have a section in the middle cut away, and they add dividers so that you can still store things in the drawers, and they refinish their pieces to perfection. They're not cheap, but their cabinets are usually old pieces (i.e., solid) and the husband who does the work is a perfectionist that does fabulous work on the retrofit. They'll also do it to order for an existing cabinet, or you can go in their store and pick cabinet, sink, faucet and they'll do it for you. (Obviously you're welcome to stay here if you come to town to buy your vanity... but I'm sure you can do it online as well)
Good luck!
=) Kk.
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