Vanity Fair

Today has been absolutely glorious.  The sun has shimmered all day long, and the air is so mild that we propped our front door open to let a warm breeze waft through our house while we putter around—in the middle of February!  Just another reason we love Colorado.  Is anyone else about ready to jump out of their skin thinking about daylight savings time?!  I can hardly wait until we gain an extra hour of daylight—blissful!

Hmmm…where was I?  Oh yes—bathroom vanities.  When we decided to knock out the third bathroom door, we gained some serious wall space.  Before, we were pretty much confined to a pedestal sink, and no matter how darn cute they are, they offer little in the area of storage and functionality.  Instantly I began researching our new vanity options.

My first instinct was to make a DIY vanity out of a dresser, especially after seeing our friends’ charming bathroom.

While scouring American Classics Marketplace, a huge building stuffed with antique treasures, I spotted several unique pieces that I thought would look great in our bathroom.

[gallery link="file" order="DESC" orderby="ID"]

…until Matt started drilling me about their durability and size.  (Husbands...you’ve gotta love the dose of reality that they bring to the table.) Although I believe that we could have made it work, it’s completely possible that we would have put a lot of effort into restoring a vanity with loose drawers, wobbly legs, and an imperfect height. The truth is, when your house contains only one bathroom, you don’t have quite as much room to play around.

I boldly began again.  To compare the different styles of bathroom vanities on the market, I went online and searched some of my favorite sites—Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware.  Now keep in mind that I rarely ever buy anything from these stores, despite being sorely tempted, as they are most definitely out of our budget price range.  Still, they know how to design a beautiful, clean bathroom, which is a look I covet, yet often struggle to find among major retailers.  It didn’t take long before this look began tugging on my heartstrings.

Now, if only I could find a similar look elsewhere for less… On to Home Depot and Lowe’s.  In all honesty, I wasn’t that impressed with the selection in their stores, but thankfully, online was a different story.  We ended up finding this vanity, which we felt shared some of our favorite features of the Pottery Barn vanity—storage, a rich espresso color, chunky legs, and an exposed shelf underneath for storing towels or simple accessories.  The price tag was a little more than we had originally anticipated, but with a 10% off coupon and the knowledge that we had saved our fair share of money on other house projects, we swallowed hard and placed the order.

Several weeks later, our brown beauty arrived on our doorstep.  We were thrilled with the color, as the online reviews varied in their thoughts on the tone—some thought it was reddish and some thought it was black.  We were hoping it leaned toward the black/espresso side of things, and to our relief, it did.  But as is the case with many house projects, there was a hang up.  As in a busted drawer and a cabinet door that didn’t close properly.  While I wiped away a tear or two, we loaded the vanity back into the box and hauled it to the nearest HD right before they closed for the night (we I have never been known to wait around for my patience).  To give them credit, they immediately returned the vanity and bumped us to the top of the list for a new one.  We signed, wondering how many more weeks we would brush our teeth using the kitchen sink.

But before we knew it, a second vanity appeared on our doorstep, and this time it was pristine condition.  Oh happy day!  Details soon to come on how we chose a mate for our vanity.