Wednesday, July 2, 2008

FoR tHe sAke Of a vaNitY

It probably comes as no surprise that a mainstream retail store is NOT the first place I turn to when I have a home furnishing need. Nope, I pretty much either look around and try to utilize something I already have or I head to quirky, out of the way junk, salvage or thrift stores. It’s way more fun to see what I can come up with on my own imaginative whim. My latest need has been a bathroom vanity, three to be exact. Two for our master bath (I’m tired of always having to wait to brush my teeth, and I never seem to be able to get there first, so it’s time for me to set up my own sink action in the corner) and one for my daughter’s bathroom. I knew I wanted to use vessel sinks, so that pretty much opened up all sorts of possibilities for what I could use for the bottom half! I already had the sink for my daughter’s bathroom, and I had initially thought we would just build some sort of a base for it, but for some reason, this ratty orange desk I have here in the studio seemed to be the first thing that came to mind. (You know those yard sale freebies you always see sittin’ by the curb?!...well, that’s exactly where this baby came from – my aunt’s picked it up a few years back for me and I’ve been using it as a prop for some of our studio shoots.) I just needed to be sure the top was large enough for the sink, and luckily it was. All we needed to do was add a couple of slats to the back, drill holes for the fixtures and plumbing and we had ourselves a vanity! I cleaned it up and gave it a couple coats of shellac and the weathered orange patina really came to life! (I swear, shellac makes everything look better!) Next up, our bathroom. I wasn’t sure if I wanted our vanities to match or be completely different, or what. And, one day when were picking up a few things at the architectural salvage store, we spotted this awesome tool bench that had been in some school’s shop class. It was double sided, and had one of those really old style vises on both sides. (A great place to hang towels!) We could cut it in half and have plenty of width to accommodate our bowl sinks. We had it here at the studio while we were finishing up the tile work, and ended up using it as a tool bench for some of our shoots. It really is a great bench to work on, and I was starting to have second thoughts about cutting it in half. But, I did get to enjoy using it as a bench for a short while, so those doubts went as fast as they came, and we went ahead and sliced her up! We had to add a piece of wood to the back, and cut out portions of the drawer to accommodate the plumbing, but they work beautifully! Vanities are so easy to rig up this way, and you end up with some really unique looks. Try it, you'll like it! (And having my very own, - no waiting, no one else’s mess - sink is just as great as I imagined it would be!)

cheers!
michele.


3 comments:

Emily said...

see you there!

http://artyem.livejournal.com/

jackieb said...

Can't wait to meet you at ZNEcon. I posted a link to your blog on my site.

See you at the end of August!

JillzWhimzy said...

Hi Michele,
Love your work!
I'm looking forward to seeing you at ZNE's Convenzione!
Jillzwhimzy