I don’t think I’ve ever had a client say to me, “You know, I’m actually ok on storage. I really don’t have that much stuff.”
No matter how large or small your house is, you always want more room to stash things. Tragically, desperation can lead to unwise decisions.
Exhibit A: the unfortunate louvered door cabinets, below.
These double-height cabinets were on your immediate left as you entered this master bath. Yeesh. They crammed an already small entrance to an already small space. Plus they probably looked dated the second they went up.
This was the medicine cabinet above the sink.
Huh? There’s about a mile of space between the vanity top and this cabinet. Since the client is about my height, that mirror mocked her every single day. I’m not certain her chin made it into the frame. Mine didn’t.
Here’s our solution.
Two identical medicine cabinets, installed side by side over the sink and toilet. They couldn’t be recessed, unfortunately, but that was ok. Medicine cabinets aren’t that deep anyway – 4-5″, unless they’re special “over-the-tank” cabinets, which are usually 7-8″deep.
I’m a fan of Broan’s Metro Deluxe Frameless Medicine Cabinets, which I buy through kitchensource.com. (I really love their Oversize Deluxe cabinets, which go to unnatural widths and heights, but they’re not ideal for every setting.)
These cabinets have side mirror kits when surface mounts are necessary. They make the cabinets look nice and neat, as though the surface mounting was an intentional design decision.
These pictures are washed out, but this gutsy client agreed to a purple and grey color palette in this bathroom. (Very bossy – I love her!) The vanity base is KraftMaid maple with a grey stain and a Pewter glaze. We love the way it turned out.
The floor tile was an ODYSSEY. I innocently specified some nice Daltile “Morganite” ceramic tiles, and then we couldn’t find them anywhere. What a nightmare. The client finally found a substitute she liked – it’s a slightly darker plum, but it still looks great.
We used Caesarstone for the vanity top, the inexplicably named Lagos Blue, which unfortunately is no longer made. (I tried not to take it personally, since I specified it several times – it was a wonderful, warm brown with a hint of plum in it. Ah, well.)
And then we used a lovely lavender on the walls and ceiling to unify the space, Benjamin Moore‘s 2114-60 Hint of Violet.
Between that and the two mirrored cabinets, we made a small space feel pretty darn light and airy – without sacrificing any storage space.
