For many people, the bathroom is one of the favorite places in the house. For this reason, even the littlest of details count in its design, like where you choose to place what. When it comes to fixtures as essential as the vanity, functionality matters as much as style, if not more so.
The wrong vanity position can literally make or mar your entire bathroom, a fact even more so for small bathroom spaces. Thankfully, we have put together some tips to help tackle one of the biggest vanity-related challenges new homeowners face – placement.
Think about the primary user(s)
Besides the most apparent tip, which is determining the available space in the bathroom, the next most important one is putting the primary users into consideration. Accounting for the height of the people who want to use it and what they want to use it for will determine just how high you can go.
For instance, while a highly placed wall-mounted vanity may be convenient for a grown man, children might find it hard to reach, let alone use. Likewise, those who like to sit at the vanity to do their hair or makeup should also consider leaving some chair/legroom during placement.
Consider Potential obstacles
While you can easily move some things around, some permanent fittings can limit just how much you can strike out during bathroom design. Before settling on a spot for that vanity, carefully consider how the placement will affect other things in the bathroom.
To save you a lot of bumping in the future, consider where other essentials like your shower and toilet are placed or will go. Some of these potential obstacles – like walls and doors – may be more obvious at first than others – like traffic flow, but they can all be frustrating if the vanity stands in their way.
Consider ease of storage and cleaning
Maintenance is tedious enough as is, do not make it harder on yourself by placing your vanity at a hard-to-reach place. Though vanities are generally easy to clean, some prove tougher than others. Whichever type you opt for, make sure its placement makes it easy enough to reach all the nooks and crannies when cleaning.
Similarly, since having more storage space is one of the major benefits of having a vanity, you don’t want your placement to defeat that purpose. Therefore, you could practice placing stuff in the position where the farthest corners of your drawers will be and then adjust accordingly.
Factor in existing plumbing location
Like it or not, the location of your plumbing will weigh in on your vanity placement decision. The mounting style you prefer will determine how much tweaks need to be done; one might just cost you more than the others. Floor-mounted or freestanding vanities usually don’t require as much tweaking as their wall-mounted counterpart, since only the latter requires moving the plumbing hookups around.
Conclusion
Whether you have a large bathroom or limited space, placing the vanity wrong could turn the potential center of attraction to a nightmare. However, it is important to note that there is no ‘right’ way per se; the only things that matter are your preferences and convenience.