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Choosing The Right Bathroom Vanity Unit

April 8, 2012 in Bathroom Cabinets, Bathroom Furniture

Most people want a bathroom that is functional and in style. An easy way to accomplish this is to add a vanity unit to the bathroom. There are many styles and designs to choose from. Choose a style you like and let it be the theme for the entire bathroom. There are contemporary designs and antique designs, the one you choose is a matter of taste. The bigger the bathroom area you have the more choice you have.

With smaller bathrooms the choices are more limited and you need to be careful to pick the right pieces. Also you should not get vanity accessories that take up too much of the available space. Doing so will congest your bathroom and make it less functional. The better choice is a contemporary vanity that fits the confined space that is available.

Always keep the bathroom space in mind when picking the vanity, this will ensure you get the right size. Realize that having a lot of items in the bathroom will give it a cluttered and unflattering look. You really should only have essential items in the bathroom; everything else takes away from the limited space available.

If the space is available and the budget is large enough go for small vanities and basins. This way you can have a basin and storage for toiletry items. This is a practical way to go because it allows you to be more organized in the bathroom. If there is not sufficient space to add a vanity, try for a corner piece instead. This will give you a more efficient use of the space and allow storage and a basin. Often corners go unused when they could effectively be used more efficiently in order to make best use of the space available.

It is always important to plan to use space efficiently, keep this in mind when planning for the type and design of the new bathroom vanity. The efficient use of space also includes being able to organize your items to make the bathroom more functional. Pick a vanity that includes as much storage space as possible, to ensure that you keep items to hand but also prevent them from cluttering up the bathroom.

The vanity should have shelves for towels, wash cloths and robes. Some vanities will have two shelves whereas others may just have one, work out what you actually need to fit in the vanity to make sure that you have the right sort of shelving in which to store the items you need in the vanity. Be careful not to use this space for junk items that are sometimes accumulated in cupboards under sinks. If this is allowed to happen the bathroom will be far less functional than it could be. Throw the junk away instead of storing it.

The next thing to consider is the finish you want for the vanity unit, and the overall design. Many vanity units come with a white finish and are designed to go with a modern bathroom, but oak and other wood effects and finishes are available and it is possible to get vanities that look more rustic and antique if that fits in better with the overall design of the bathroom.

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Advantages of Vanity Units

March 10, 2012 in Basins, Bathroom Furniture

Many people, when it comes to designing their bathroom, try to utilise a clean horizontal line that carries on as much as possible so as not to draw the eye and also to create a feeling of space. This is most true in modern and minimalist bathrooms and is why many people are drawing to choosing fitted bathroom furniture. This allows them to create the seamless horizontal line they crave with the furniture as well as removing all sources of clutter that would otherwise break the line and store it within the cabinets themselves.

Adding a basin and a toilet, which are considered fundamental parts of any bathroom, tends to complicate this design. If you go for a traditional pedestal basin and close coupled toilet you are left with two irregularly shaped items which have their own heights and surfaces which won’t fit with the overall horizontal line and break the flow and design of the bathroom. Fortunately, other options are available.

The toilet itself can be replaced with a back to wall toilet. This is a toilet designed to have a cistern hidden inside a wall or otherwise obscured from view so that only the pan itself is visible. The cistern can be placed in a cabinet that is the same design and height as the other fitted furniture and keeps the same line throughout the room as well as allow you to place items on top of it more easily.

It is possible to replace pedestal basins with vanity units. They are basins that sit atop a cabinet, again at the same height and with the same design as the rest of your furniture, which means that you have all the functionality of your basin, coupled with keeping the same height and line as the items in the rest of the room as well as adding valuable storage.

For this reason vanity units are increasingly popular, as they add greater functionality than a pedestal basin and also fit in with more modern bathroom designs more readily than a typical pedestal basin. The fact that they also add storage is a boon in everyday life as people can use that storage, particularly to store things that are needed around the basin to make sure that they stay close to hand.

Vanity units and back to the wall toilets are a great way of creating a consistency in your bathroom design and making sure that you keep the room uncluttered and create a feeling of space and a pleasant design throughout while adding valuable storage and making using the room (and particularly the basin area) more pleasurable and relaxing.

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Consider A Vanity Unit

February 21, 2012 in Basins, Bathroom Cabinets, Bathroom Furniture

When it comes to choosing a bathroom suite your main components are (of course) the bath, basin and toilet. You may add in a shower, either as a replacement for the bath or an addition to it, but this is generally the configuration that is available to you. Of these components the most time is spent on deciding on the bath and shower and the toilet and basin are usually chosen to be sympathetic to the larger pieces in the suite. This isn’t necessarily a bad of choosing the suite but it does sometimes overlook the options available to you.

When it comes to choosing a bathroom suite, whatever you decide to do in terms of bath and/or shower consider getting a vanity unit in place of the basin, especially if you are going to buy a modern suite or use fitted bathroom furniture.

A vanity unit is basically a basin sat atop a cabinet. It takes up a very similar footprint to a pedestal basin as it is the width of the basin all the way down to the floor. They tend to look more angular than a pedestal, which may be in keeping with the look that you are going for if you want a more minimalist or modern bathroom. The big advantage that they have, however, is that they allow you to add a great deal of storage to the bathroom as a whole, and the basin area in particular, without necessarily impacting on the floor space available to you or making the room feel more crowded.

Because the vanity unit takes the place of the basin it is an ideal place to store extra towels that you can swap out when drying your hands, and extra toiletries and bits and pieces that you find yourself needing around the sink like tooth paste, toothbrushes, soap and mouth wash. It means that you don’t have to run around or go searching should you need a clean towel or to replace toothpaste and it keeps things out of sight and stops them cluttering up your bathroom and ruining your eye-line.

If you are adding fitted furniture to the bathroom anyway then the vanity unit is a particularly good choice as it can match with the rest of the furniture and even slot in-between standard cabinets so that the only visible difference is the basin on top. If space allows you could even consider using multiple vanity units as a great way of increasing storage space as well as allowing more than one person to brush their teeth or wash their hands at once. This is particularly desirable in busy households.

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Maximise Your Home With An Extra Wash Area

January 22, 2012 in Cloakroom Suites

One of the things that adds the most value to a home, both in terms of money and adding options and functionality to the people who live there, is an additional bathroom or washroom facilities. This may be in the form of an en suite, converting a box or storage room into a bathroom or even adding a cloakroom under the stairs. By adding an additional toilet and basin in another room you free up the bathroom for use just for the bath and shower and also means you can direct visitors to a room they don’t have to traipse through the entire home to get to.
When it comes to adding this additional washroom, you may find that you have to look to more innovative products in order to maximise the space available and actually get the functionality you need into a smaller area. Just because you can’t fit in a conventional bathroom suite it doesn’t mean that you have to give up all hope of adding an extra washroom and making your home more attractive and more useful.

When it comes to choosing the basin for the room, consider vanity units which may have a smaller basin as well as adding some much needed storage into a smaller space. If this isn’t an option or is not to your personal taste then there is also wall mounted basins which have a range of different shapes and sizes and means that you don’t need to have the room on the floor for the basin, just a space on the wall. This allows you to hang a basin on a wall where the floor may be partially obstructed. Some of these basins also come in a corner design, where they can fit within the corner of the room if there is no other space available.

Toilets, too, are products where innovations allow you to place them in a smaller or more awkwardly arranged area than you might think. There are toilets that can have hidden or wall recessed cisterns. This means that your toilet cistern can go in a piece of furniture with a useful storage area on the top, in a combined piece of furniture that sits alongside a vanity unit to provide storage, a basin and useful counter space or even hidden within a wall to make the fullest use of the room. Toilets also come in designs that allow them to fit within the corners of the room or even be wall mounted if there is something on the floor or lower part of the wall preventing them from reaching all the way down.
Typically, cloakroom suites contain some variation of basin and toilet. It could contain a vanity unit and toilet with hidden cistern, be one of the combined vanity unit and toilet pieces of furniture or be made of two hanging wall units. Buying both of them together like this saves money and ensures that the pieces match together in terms of design and colour.

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The Importance Of A Stylish Basin

December 27, 2011 in Basins

Usually when we fantasize of having those bathrooms we see in the magazines, the first few things that come in our minds are modern bathtubs, showers, furnishings, tiles etc. but the most important thing we always forget is a good looking basin.

Why Basins?
These days because of the increasing demand of bathroom furniture, as well as the undeniable quality on offer, it is very difficult to achieve a good look for a bathroom within a fixed budget. But a basin can be the cheapest thing one can buy for a house’s bathroom and make it look elegant. An expensive basin is a lot better than the cheapest bathtubs; this tells why one should only go for stylish basins.

When selecting a basin, aim to increase the storage while you make sure that the basin you’re purchasing remains uncluttered and occupies as little space as possible. There are many such types of basins, including vanity units that come with drawers and cabinets, they are the ideal basins for this purpose and can add both function and gorgeous design easily and inexpensively.

Buying two basins are practically best for those who have kids, they are one of the most desired bathroom additions, however many people are creative enough to foresee their importance and charm. They are not only fashionable but also useful to divide children’s items from that of adults. They may be more expensive than a single basin but spending the a little more can make the bathroom far more usable and simplify family life.

The finishing touch to adding a basin is often their mirrors. The larger the mirror is the better it looks, which can change the overall look of a bathroom. But the mirror size should be chosen according to the bathroom’s dimensions. It is important to keep the mirror proportional to the overall room, if the room is small a very large mirror will not look as good but if the space is available, large mirrors will add light, a sense of space and set off your new basin perfectly.

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Making More Room In An En-Suite

December 4, 2011 in Bathroom Suites

When creating an en-suite bathroom you will often find yourself limited for space or dealing with an oddly-shaped area. Utilise these helpful tips to get the most out of the space.

Walls That Create The Illusion of More Space
You want at least one complete wall for privacy. If the room is smaller, try using something like glass or mirrors or brighter colors. Big tiles make a tiny space seem larger, but ironically, smaller ones do the same thing.

Do Not Change the Flooring
Make sure the bathroom floor has the same style throughout the whole room, changes in flooring break up the area into geometric zones and draw the eye’s attention, making the room appear smaller and messier.

Looking Upwards
If you have a taller ceiling, the room will feel more enclosed. If you can, bring down the ceiling of your en-suite. Talk to your builder for suggestions if necessary. White sheets on the walls can create a ceiling effect. If the space is smaller, light becomes even more important. Getting a source of light that resembles the sun will immediately make the room seem bigger.

Getting More Storage
In smaller spaces, shelves are better, because you do not have to be concerned about doors and drawers bumping into walls. The ideal space for a shelf is underneath the vanity, which means additional room around the basin. There are plenty of innovative ways to combat a lack of space, both visually and physically. Fitted bathroom furniture also helps, as it tends to have a consistent line, and picking minimal designs will make them recede in the field of vision.

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