Fivebraids Custom Woodworking, Inc.

Bathroom Remodel

No medicine cabinet in your bathroom? No problem!

(Click on any image for larger version)

This project involved a bathroom with a large double vanity, with no medicine cabinets above the two sinks. The only storage available was in the two cabinets and single set of drawers below. Our challenge was to provide as much storage as possible above the two sinks.

Before

After

As with most of our projects, various design options were created and proposed. These designs included two individual medicine cabinets, two medicine cabinets with a linen cabinet between them, and the following design, which was ultimately selected. This design provides two standard sized medicine cabinets, as well as utilizing all the space between them for additional storage:

While determining exact dimensions for this project, we realized we would be able to reuse the existing good quality beveled mirrors by simply removing them from their frames. This helped set the size of the doors, and therefore the size of the overall project. We then decided to continue the beveled design throughout the remainder of the project.

With the designs and dimensions decided, it was time to choose the species of lumber to use. White Ash was chosen, both for it's strength/hardness, as well as for it's interesting grain patterns.

With all the important decisions made, it was time to actually construct the new cabinet. Each of the medicine cabinets, as well as the center large cabinet, include a pair of adjustable shelves. The doors on each medicine cabinet house one of the existing beveled mirrors. And the doors for the center storage area house a bevel-edged solid Ash raised panel.

With the new upper cabinet completed, it was time to review the rest of the existing cabinetry. It was determined that the existing lower cabinets were structurally sound, so replacing them didn't make sense. But the new upper cabinet just wouldn't look right with the old lower cabinets, doors, and drawers. Not only were they made from Hickory, which wouldn't match the new White Ash, their hard/straight design was all wrong.

It was decided that we'd make new White Ash beveled raised panel doors and bevel-edged drawer fronts, as well as mill new White Ash 'faces' for the cabinets themselves. A White Ash raised panel was also built and installed on the end of the lower cabinet, once the existing wallpaper was removed.

Here's the end result of the "new" lower cabinetry:

Next, a decision had to be made if we were to locate and purchase new door pulls for the new upper cabinet to match the existing drawer and door pulls of the lower cabinet. To maintain the clean lines of the new cabinetry, it was decided instead that 'euro-style' finger grooves would be milled into all the doors and drawer fronts:

The last component of this project was lighting. The two existing light fixtures above the old mirrors would no longer work since the new upper cabinet stood out from the wall and created undesirable shadows in the mirrored doors.

After a few prototypes, a solution was finally found. With a little modification, these commercial over-the-cabinet halogen lights were used:

Three of these fixtures were secured above each medicine cabinet, with an additional pair mounted above the center storage area:

Given the extreme brightness of these halogen lights, an additional, more subdued source of light was added for when the brightness wasn't required or wanted. This was accomplished with a pair of 'LED rope lights', one above, and one below the upper cabinet.

Selecting which light source would be activated is accomplished with a three-way switch that we installed under the upper cabinet.

Here are a few more pictures of the finished project:

There was one more component of this bathroom remodel. To provide additional space in the somewhat cramped commode closet, we designed and built this White Ash magazine and TP holder:

The solution for lack of medicine cabinets that we provided here was a surface mounted cabinet that mounts ON the wall. We can also provide solutions that are mounted IN the wall. However, installation of cabinets inside a wall is generally more intrusive, often require structural modifications to the wall, and almost always require sheet rock and paint repairs. The choice is yours.