SCOPE CREEP: Guest Bath Cabinet, Sink and Faucet
Beware of SCOPE CREEP!
Whenever Dad visits, he has to tinker around with something in the house. This time it was the chipped guest bathroom sink. The plan was to replace the sink and “maybe” the faucet.
Let me paint you the “before” picture - for lack of actual photos:
- Beige formica standard builder’s cabinet with pickled oak handrails (the left side of the cabinet was walled off because of the vicinity of the toilet hiding precious usable space); no drawer space, just one big cabinet under the sink.
- beige subway tiles as a counter
- standard white sink with an outdated Delta faucet
Well, when Dad removed the old sink, he broke two of the subway tiles around the sink. Instead of getting upset as he expected, I hugged and thanked him in advance for building me a new cabinet.
We sat down together and designed the cabinet layout, color and counter materials and installation.
And now for the “after” picture:
The New Cabinet
We were able to re-use most of the existing cabinet after careful demolition. Instead of the 2 cases that were there originally, we ended up with 3 by making the existing 2 cases narrower and inserting a smaller case in the middle to hold some drawers.
The idea was to use the left side for towel, spare toilet paper and magazine/book open storage because there wouldn’t be room to open any cabinet doors; the right side would remain one big undersink cabinet; and the middle would be dedicated to much needed drawers for toiletries; we shortened the bottom 2 drawers because of the position of the toilet.
The New Counter
Because we didn’t have the time to wait for a custom granite or similar counter and because we just didn’t have that in the budget at the time, we opted for the largest tiles we could find and used smaller decorative tiles to fill the space.
The New Sink and Faucet
We also upgraded the sink to a high-end Kohler sink and a modern faucet.
Although we saved a ton of $$$ by building our own cabinet and re-using existing material whenever possible, this project was way bigger and more expensive than just replacing a sink and a faucet. AND it was well worth it.
What’s left to do now is to paint the walls, install some drapes, and upgrade the lighting.