For The Love of Storage - Facelift Series Part Four
I love beautiful bathrooms as do my clients but, let's face it, when it's
your bathroom, being pretty is just not good enough, it has to be functional. No matter what size your bathroom is, I'd say most people would agree that second to toilet paper, storage is the most important element. This bathroom was no different, and the concept of storage was more important than ever, considering this was the ONLY bathroom in the house. This bathroom was marginally functional before, but it seemed like all functional elements came with an aesthetic price.
This is the cabinet that once sat over the toilet and in front of the window. While it's looking pretty grungy now it wasn't all bad. As you can see, it provided closed door storage in the upper part as well as an open shelf below. With all of that being said, it took up a lot of room, making the bathroom seem smaller AND it blocked the only natural light in the space. As we toyed with the idea of getting rid of it, we realized as unappealing as it was, it actually offered a good amount of storage and we knew unless we could come up with another form of storage this cabinet or something like it would have to stay.
That's when we discovered this...
Here's another view of the mirror opened and you can see that a shelf was added which increased the storage space. Virtually everything that was once stored in the upper portion of the over the toilet piece of furniture is now stored in this recessed medicine cabinet.
This hole was like the gift that just kept on giving, not only did it provide us the space to incorporate the medicine cabinet shown above (closed.) But it also allowed for the addition of an outlet. This was a HUGE deal considering the ONLY outlet in this bathroom was WAY up under the light fixture.
The final storage piece was this new vanity. The vanity is from Inspirations Kitchen & Bath (the company I work for!) and is custom made Bell Cabinetry. It is a frameless cabinet with a shaker style door and drawer. The cabinet was constructed in paint maple and painted in Sherwin William's Caviar SW6990. The cabinet height is 34 1/2" high plus the countertop.
This is the cabinet that once sat over the toilet and in front of the window. While it's looking pretty grungy now it wasn't all bad. As you can see, it provided closed door storage in the upper part as well as an open shelf below. With all of that being said, it took up a lot of room, making the bathroom seem smaller AND it blocked the only natural light in the space. As we toyed with the idea of getting rid of it, we realized as unappealing as it was, it actually offered a good amount of storage and we knew unless we could come up with another form of storage this cabinet or something like it would have to stay.
That's when we discovered this...
I never thought I could be so excited about a hole in the wall! As the painting was being done the wall mirror was taken down and THIS hole was behind it. The wheels started turning and my ultra handy partner in crime came up with the idea to turn this hole into a recessed medicine cabinet.
As you can see, the hole was framed in and painted white. The antique mirror came all the way from Albany, Georgia. The
artist who provided the
stain glass window and
light fixture found this mirror in her attic. It was painted black and Brent (ultra handy partner in crime mentioned above...) added cabinet guides to the back of the mirror and the front of the medicine cabinet frame, which allows the mirror to be opened by pulling it to the right.
This hole was like the gift that just kept on giving, not only did it provide us the space to incorporate the medicine cabinet shown above (closed.) But it also allowed for the addition of an outlet. This was a HUGE deal considering the ONLY outlet in this bathroom was WAY up under the light fixture.
The final storage piece was this new vanity. The vanity is from Inspirations Kitchen & Bath (the company I work for!) and is custom made Bell Cabinetry. It is a frameless cabinet with a shaker style door and drawer. The cabinet was constructed in paint maple and painted in Sherwin William's Caviar SW6990. The cabinet height is 34 1/2" high plus the countertop.
As is the case with most sink base cabinets, this one is a
cave cabinet because of the space required for the plumbing. So, to add an extra layer of storage we opted to make the false drawer front operable by having a tilt out tray installed. This is the perfect place to put toothbrushes, toothpaste, etc..
We squeeeeezed all the storage we could out of this little bathroom and this time the aesthetics were not compromised they were enhanced!
Stay tuned, the moment you've all been waiting for.....THE REVEAL is next!