Good Questions: Ugly Bathroom Reno Vanity & Tub Help!

Hello AT,

We have big dreams for the bathroom which is original to our house which was built in 1947. We are going to leave the fixtures in their current positions. We plan to buy the toto ultimate small toilet, a new tub (suggestions on tubs would be helpful), possibly kohler purist faucets, subway tile the bathroom to the ceiling in the shower and then about 2/3 way up the wall around the rest of the bathroom.

We were going to use hooks for towels on the wall across from the sink/toilet and install a large frameless mirror above the sink and toilet. We were planning to recess a plain vanity (again suggestions helpful) in the wall on the left handside of the sink. For the floor, we found a really nice small octogonal tile in a shiny dark blue at a local tile store in Ottawa. We also like the penny tiles by Ann Sacks...

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What were are having major troubles with is the vanity. The home depot type vanities are so cheap looking. Where else can you buy these sorts of things, any online options? We would also like a modern looking one which is hard to find. Is custom the only option?

We would like advice on whether to go white or wood. We were going to use the abstrakt shiny white vanity from ikea but the size is too small for our bathroom and the sink leaves absolutely no room to set anything down if need be. We are going to use a regular style sink (not bowl) because it would work best with our small daughter (any recommended sinks would also be helpful).

Thanks very much.

Lise G.
Ottawa, Ontario

Dear Lise,

We can only help you with the color choices right now. With a blue floor and a smallist bathroom, we would go with white on the vanity, and only tile in the shower area up to the ceiling. In the rest of the bathroom we would use a satin or semigloss paint to add some color and open up the space. This will give you some good space to add color which will resonate with the floor tile. Again, with blue on the floor, we would look at the following color range on the wall:
greens
magentas
and yellows for some real retro pop.

This bathroom isn't as nice is yours is going to be, but it gives you an idea of what we're talking about.

Anyone else?

Comments (2)

I'm a kitchen designer. There is generally no difference in the material between kitchen and vanity cabinets. The difference is in the size. A typical kitchen cabinet is 24" deep x 34 1/2" high. A typical vanity cabinet is 21" deep (18" in a small space) x 31 1/2" high although 34 1/2" comfort height vanities are more popular now and becoming standard for adult use (a master bath).

A cabinet company will use the same box material and doors. Whether its a kitchen or bath cabinet makes no difference. I would be more concerned with repurposing a piece of furniture like a dresser or table as a vanity. Although if it's in good shape I'm not sure that normal steam or moisture would have any worse of an effect vs a cabinet. I also think an MDF cabinet is less effected by steam than a solid wood piece. Once wood is warped its almost impossible to straighten it back out. MDF has a bit of flexibility.

The only issue I can see with using a kitchen cabinet in a bath is the drawer depth. It would be difficult to modify the depth of the drawer box and you would have to replace the drawer glides to a smaller size. This would not be an issue on a sink base or a cabinet with full height doors since there is no drawer box. Only the sides of the cabinet would need to be trimmed down.

Hope that helped. Sorry if it's info overload.

where you able to reno the wee bathroom? Would love to see photos of you new bathroom. I have a very similiar bathroom and need ideas.

Cheers