Custom Solid-wood Vanity
My sister and her husband bought a house not long ago, only to discover a myriad of issues with it. Among them was the vanity in my nieces’ bathroom. At first glance, the photo of the bathroom posted on the MLS looked nice. A simple two-drawer vanity with a drop-in sink, and all the amenities that come with a full bathroom.
This is the photo of the bathroom posted on the MLS when the house was up for sale.
My sister texted me one day and asked if I could stop by one day and see if I could fix the drawers on my nieces’ vanity. She said the top drawer was broken, and the bottom drawer was difficult to open.
When I showed up a few days later, I realized the issue was much more than just broken drawers. The previous owner of the house is a contractor, and had apparently did all the work on the bathroom; not just the vanity install, but also the plumbing, electrical, and installation of the mirror, and towel ring.
As it turned out, the plumbing coming out of the wall was blocking the point where the left drawer slide connects as seen in the following photo:
The plumbing was not contained within the wall, so the previous owner cut out the back of the vanity to accomodate the pipe. Unfortunately, the pipe blocks where the drawer slide connects. The previous owner decided the best fix was to GLUE the slide to the pipe; a fix that didn’t last long at all. As such, the top drawer never worked properly.
Because the drawer slide was glued to the pipe, every time the drawer was used, force was applied to the pipe. This caused a small leak over time that occured each time water went down the drain. The leak soaked the particle board which loosened the drawer slide connection on the bottom drawer, thus making that drawer difficult to use.
I told my sister the plumbing needed to be redone, new drawer slides were needed, and a new wooden back should be attached to the vanity to accomodate the slides.
That was the solution, and when I stood up to look at everything together, I noticed something I had overlooked before. The mirror, the lights, and even the wall switches and electrical outlet were all off centered. In fact, the switches and outlet were behind the towel rack so that the girls had to move the hand towel every time they wanted to turn on or off the lights and fart fan. They even had to move the towel to plug in their hair dryer, and curler.
I stood there for a moment pondering the oddity of it all, then gave in and told my sister I had to tear the entire wall open and redo it. I also told her I’d build the girls a custom vanity in solid wood (not the crappy particle board many vanities are made with these days).
What initially looked quite nice on the MLS, was in actuality a mess. Broken drawers, leaking plumbing with poor design, awkwardly-placed electrical outlet/switches, off-center mirror and lights, a vanity built with particle board, a greenish countertop that didn’t match. It all had to go!
Of course, the first thing I had to do after taking measurements was to head to the lumber yard and pick up some wood. I decided on poplar; a cheaper, yet solid alternative to oak.
With all the poplar in hand, I got to jointing, planing, cutting, and sanding the pieces into shape.
It took about a day to get the wood straightened, and assembled to this point. I put gussets in the top corners to add rigidity to the vanity.
Day 2 progress.
By the 3rd day, the vanity was starting to take shape. I hand selected poplar pieces with what I felt had the nicest grain patterns. One thing about poplar is that it can mimic a handful of other woods with the right stain. Since the girls liked a beach theme, I intended to stain the poplar with a oil-based stain with a weathered oak tint.
To demonstrate the dynamic beauty of poplar, I used 3 different stains on this sample piece I cut to show my sister. She decided on the weather oak (gray color). While I felt either of the other two stains brought out the grain better, the gray was the best choice for the beach theme the girls wanted.
Unfortunately I took a blurry image here, but the stain came out nice, and being oil based, it would protect the wood from the moist environment of your typical full bathroom.
Next, I installed some ocean-themed hardware I ordered online.
Here I’m attaching two pieces of particle board for the top. I use particle board rather than poplar, because I intend to use laminate sheets; they will adhere to particle board far better than they would to poplar.
To attach laminate to a counter top, I use contact cement. Contact cement is serious stuff.. once applied to the two mating surfaces, any contact between those surfaces will become permanent. This can be a major problem if the laminate sheet isn’t placed perfectly the first time. So I use large dowels and set the laminate sheet on those to keep it above the countertop to avoid adhesion. I then use the rollers to move the sheet precisely into place. Once in place, I carefully remove the center dowel and press the laminate down, then work my way out pressing down with my hands; removing the other dowels as I go. Any excess laminate on the sides is then cut flush using an edge bit on a router. In this photo, it can be seen that I’ve already glued up the side strips I cut to shape.
Once the top sheet was glued in place, I got a hole-saw bit and made a hole for the sink drain. I then made a second hole (not pictured) for the faucet.
Next, I installed a vessel sink; I thought it looked better than the old drop-in sinks. Once the sink was in, I installed the faucet, then added a starfish toilet-paper holder I found online. At this point I was feeling pretty excited to reveal the new vanity to my nieces!
But before I could install the vanity, I had to tear open the wall and fix everything the previous owners did; the plumbing, the electrical, and re-do the drywall so it was flat (it bowed in the middle before such that nothing sat perfectly flush against it). In this photo, you can see that I’ve already moved the light box over so the light will be centered to the sink (and mirror). I also removed the 2-gang switch/outlet and split it into two single-gang boxes symmetrically lined up to be on either side of where the mirror will eventually go. I put the switches to the fart fan and lights on the left, and the GFCI outlet on the right. I also fixed the leaky plumbing, and replaced the valves. I replaced the plastic 2 gang box with all the junction wires with a metal 4s box and dead plate as required by code, and stapled all the romex down to the studs (also required by code).
Because the job was a big one, I slacked off on taking progress photos, and just focused on getting it done. It took 2 days to complete, but this was the final product:
In addition to building and installing a custom vanity, moving the outlet and switches, and centering the light and (new) mirror, I also added a stone backsplash, a new vanity light fit for two little princesses, and a couple weathered oak (faux oak) floating shelves. My nieces were thrilled! The only change I wish to make at this point is to return the faucet and get one identical to it, but shorter.. but that’s for another day.
A comparison. Before is on the right, after is on the left.
