When we decided to move the old shower in our master bathroom, it caused the inevitable domino effect to the rest of the room. Including, of course, our master bathroom double vanity!
MASTER BATHROOM DOUBLE VANITY
Why We Decided to Replace the Old Double Vanity
Because we’d need to rip out all the old floor tile, it would be difficult to preserve the old master bathroom vanity structure itself. Plus, it was just plain old. (And not the good kind of old; more like the dingy water-damaged kind of old.)
Most importantly, the old master bathroom double vanity was so short! I don’t know why it felt so short (it’s not like we’re giant people), but we are on the taller side and I’ll tell ya, taller countertops really are nice when they “fit” you!
During our vanity planning phase, we decided we wanted the look of an antique piece of furniture—but had to decide whether to convert a vintage dresser and do a DIY dresser double vanity…
…or build our own vanity to look like one! (Read all about that here!)
Do you remember how the entry into our master bathroom used to look? (You’ll remember it from our upstairs tour.)
After taking out the uneven arch and adding in a large pocket door (so if someone needs to get ready in the morning, he/she won’t disturb anyone who might still be sleeping out here in the bedroom), not to mention the new floors and vanity, it looks quite a bit different.
Welcome! Peek in the entrance to spot our new master bathroom double vanity!
similar light | similar faucet | similar pulls | sink | makeup mirror | prints | frame | similar pot | similar pot | jade | rug | basket | towels | LED lights | vanity storage guide
Wanna see how we got here? Walk with me. Talk with me. I’ll show ya everything.
MASTER BATHROOM DOUBLE VANITY
Vanity Element #11: Marble Countertops
As discussed in Part 1 of our dark wood vanity planning post, we needed to determine the style and thickness of our countertops to decide on final height. In many of the same trips we made to stoneyards (with kids in tow!) to find our solid surface shower wall slabs, we looked for the right countertop material.
I knew I wanted marble, and for this we could use real marble and not break the bank—especially when we found this polished 2cm Arabescato Venato slab for a sweet price. It was perfect in that it wasn’t just whites and greys—it had some golden tones and veining, which I wanted to tie into the warmth of the vanity as well as our polished nickel hardware. (Which I previously professed my undying love for on this post.)
Once our slab was chosen, we were able to have the installer finalized (we gave this business to the same guy who would be cutting our delicate shower wall pieces).
Before he could cut our countertops, we made a stop at his shop to confirm which part of the marble we wanted. (Because the whole slab was larger, we wanted to decide which part of the slab we wanted to show where.) Because I also wanted to do a raised-style backsplash that was a bit higher than usual (taking into account the wall-mount faucets I chose), we also chose those pieces.
Here you can see our tape marks for the pieces we wanted him to cut. The unused pieces of marble we will be saving and using for another project!
MASTER BATHROOM DOUBLE VANITY
Vanity Element #10: Raised Backsplash
I’d always wanted wall faucets. As usual, I have no explanation for this other than I thought they were beautiful. And in our bathroom, I wanted to find a way to do wall mounted faucets. I didn’t know if they’d be harder to do or if the plumbing was more complicated, but I wanted to try it out.
Let me tell ya, both Matt and I were surprised at how easy it was. All we had to do was raise the plumbing to the spot we wanted, and ensure the marble fabricator cut the right holes for the faucet. I measured and decided I wanted the backsplash to be 6″ high (to give the whole vanity area the look of more height, which is great because really, our ceilings are not very high).
similar light | similar faucet | similar pulls | sink | makeup mirror | prints | frame | similar pot | similar pot | jade | rug | basket | towels | LED lights | vanity storage guide
It turned out so well that I could stare at this backsplash all day! (I don’t, though. Too much laundry due to having children rips me away from my backsplash-drooling days.) It’s just gorgeous.
similar faucet | similar pulls | sink | makeup mirror | prints | frame | similar pot | similar pot | jade | basket | towels | vanity storage guide
MASTER BATHROOM DOUBLE VANITY
Vanity Element #9: Double Sinks
After choosing some simple round sinks we liked, we needed to determine how far out to tell the fabricator to cut the sink holes. In these photos you can see that with our 10″ wall faucet, the stream of water would hit the sink differently depending on how far from the wall we placed the sink itself. We narrowed it down to 3″ or 4″ from the wall, and eventually decided on the 3″, which has been perfect.
MASTER BATHROOM DOUBLE VANITY
Vanity Element #8: Strategic Counter Space
As mentioned in our vanity planning post, we didn’t want to have our sinks too far to the right and left so that all the counter space was in the middle. I wanted us to have space to both sides of the sink, so that helped determine the placement of both our sinks and our drawers below (because you have to coordinate those two for plumbing reasons).
similar faucet | sink |similar pot | similar pot | jade | basket | towels
Now, I do want to mention that we decided emphatically against having upper storage in our vanity area for three reasons:
- It would keep the counter space clean and open and unobstructed.
- It would visually look better (because this bathroom is quite small so I was pulling out all the “tricks” I could come up with to make it look and feel larger).
- We were confident we could plan the vanity storage so well that we wouldn’t need any upper cabinet storage! (And we didn’t!)
similar pulls | basket | towels | vanity storage guide
MASTER BATHROOM DOUBLE VANITY
Vanity Element #7: Ring Pull Hardware
Amazingly enough, I was able to find totally affordable ring pulls for our drawers that looked SO close to my inspiration pic! It took a lot of searching to find the right terms to describe exactly what I wanted, but here they are in all their ring glory:
similar pulls | basket | towels | vanity storage guide
I’d never used ring pulls before, and it took a little getting used to at first, but these have worked well and I don’t even think about it anymore. They completely helped the whole vanity look like an antique piece of furniture.
similar faucet | similar pulls | sink | prints | frame | similar pot | similar pot | jade | rug | basket| towels | vanity storage guide
MASTER BATHROOM DOUBLE VANITY
Vanity Element #6: Wall-mount Faucets
For years, I’d admired wall-mount faucets from afar. I’d never actually lived anywhere that had them, but they just looked like something I would love. When this opportunity came to redo our master vanity, it slowly dawned on me that I could make this near-lifelong dream a reality. (As long as Matt gave me the go-ahead that it wouldn’t be too difficult. I had no idea since I’d never installed wall-mount faucets before, or converted the regular counter-mounted ones to a wall-mount.)
similar faucet | similar pulls | sink | prints | frame | similar pot | similar pot | jade | basket
I found these cross-handled polished nickel ones that might be my favorite set of bathroom hardware in this bathroom remodel. (Yes, even more than that gorgeous tub hardware, which is still in a close second!)
I did polished nickel for all the faucets across this bathroom (five sets), and made sure all the handles were cross handles (even in our huge double shower) because man, I was in a cross handle-lovin’ phase!
These things can’t be explained.
The next master bathroom I do will probably have something different.
It’s like experiences. I like to design in different styles to get that “experience” under my belt, and the next time I’m already planning to step up my game for the master bathroom! Watch out! (Matt’s like, “What? We’re never moving again, woman.” This is what happens when you put an international-move-loving woman with a I’d-like-to-stay-in-this-house-til-we-die kinda man. It keeps things spicy.)
What’s not to love about this? And that long graceful neck on the faucet…mwah! Magnifico! (Said in my awesome Italian accent.)
MASTER BATHROOM DOUBLE VANITY
Vanity Element #5: Individual Built-in Mirror Style
Alright. Let’s get down to this mirror discussion. I realize there are manymany ways to do mirrors. Full wall mirrors. Circular mirrors. Pivot mirrors. Medicine cabinet mirrors. All great options.
Of course, Jess waved away all those options for some unknown reason (even to her) because she sensed there was something different that should be done here. The internet couldn’t tell her what she wanted. No one could help. It was just Jess alone with her brain (plus a paper and pencil). And now I’ll stop writing in third person, as I tend to do when I’m laughing at myself.?
While coming up with sketches for the vanity, I was finally able to put something on paper that would help Matt be able to piece together what had to happen to make it a reality. Enter Rough Sketch #2:
So, while I was veeeeery tempted to do a full wall mirror above the vanity (because the bathroom is smaller and the ceilings lower, and I knew that would make it feel bigger), I opted against it. I really wanted to find a way to have the largest possible mirrors in there for the same reason—but individual above each sink. Which would require custom mirrors, but they could be rough-edged since we’d be building them into the recessed paneling I envisioned.
MASTER BATHROOM DOUBLE VANITY
Element #4: Recessed Paneling
Getting Matt to understand exactly what I wanted here took some time (and a lot more drawings!), but we finally got there and I’m so glad I persevered! I wanted there to be recessed wall panels (like wainscoting) on each side of the mirrors, with the wall sconces “sunken” back into the recessed panel. And the whole thing would be built in around the mirrors.
similar light | similar faucet | similar pulls | sink | makeup mirror | prints | frame | similar pot | similar pot | jade | rug | basket | towels | LED lights | vanity storage guide
MASTER BATHROOM DOUBLE VANITY
Vanity Element #3: Strategic Lighting
Honestly, I had no idea what kind of bathroom vanity lighting was best. I had to do a bunch of research and here’s Jess’s Summary for you of what I learned:
- Overhead vanity lights: not ideal. Because the light is coming from above you, it casts shadows on your face that make you look older/tireder/etc.
- Vanity lighting at the same height as your face: helpful. They’re casting more direct light so you can see yourself accurately, but make sure they’re softer lights so you don’t blind yourself.
- Safest bet: A mixture of both some overhead lights (like our amazing LEDs in the ceiling that save us money every month) as well as wall sconces more in line with where your head will be.
I had an idea in my head of what kind of soft wall sconces I wanted, and I finally found these in polished nickel! They weren’t too modern and they weren’t too traditional; they were just right. Plus, these sconces weren’t going to be bright in our faces (and we put them on a wall dimmer switch so at night or early in the morning we can make them even softer if we want to).
similar light | similar faucet | similar pulls | sink | prints | frame | similar pot | similar pot | jade | rug | basket | towels | LED lights | vanity storage guide
We also put these bathroom wall sconces on a 3-way switch so both Matt and I have a switch to turn them on/off from our side of the vanity.
MASTER BATHROOM VANITY AREA
Bathroom Element #2: Chairs
While these aren’t part of the vanity itself, they’re in the vanity area and go so well with the vanity that I had to mention them! We had these two matching antique chairs that I’d reupholstered myself in a gold silk dupioni fabric years ago, and they were still holding up. They tied in beautifully with the gold tones as well as the dark wood of the double vanity.
similar light | similar faucet | similar pulls | sink | makeup mirror | prints | frame | similar pot | similar pot | jade | rug | basket | towels | LED lights | vanity storage guide
I also found this gorgeous set of eight botanical prints (the set of eight is sold out but you can still snag the set of six!) and paired them with my favorite gold frames.
Seriously, I’m so glad Target still sells these because they look amazing, they’re a fantastic price when they have them, and I feel like they’ve landed on a gold mine selling these frames. No pun intended.
similar faucet | similar pulls | sink | prints | frame | similar pot | similar pot | jade | basket
MASTER BATHROOM DOUBLE VANITY
Element #1: Creating Our “Hidden” Drawers
The entire organization of this vanity deserves its own post, as any person will tell you who has seen inside this “piece of furniture.” We designed every inch so carefully and thoughtfully that we fit SO much in this vanity (more on that here)!
Here’s a quick video clip showing inside some of our vanity drawers!
UPDATE: see inside our vanity + our 7 tips to max out your vanity storage HERE!).
Some of our linens are stored in here as well as in our master closet!
But for now, we’ll just show you one example of how we planned for this to hold everything we needed so our countertop could be as clean and clear as possible:
similar pulls | basket | towels | vanity storage guide
We talk more about how we designed our vanity drawers here. The above drawer has electrical built in so we could plug in hair tools as well as (you can’t see them from here) electric toothbrushes, waterpiks, Matt’s razor (on his side), and anything else we might need. Yet it all would be hidden away and off the counter.
UPDATE: We’re sharing the insides of all our vanity drawers HERE!
When the same drawer is shut, you can’t even tell it’s a double tall drawer.
similar light | similar faucet | similar pulls | sink | makeup mirror | prints | frame | similar pot | similar pot | jade | rug | basket | towels | LED lights | vanity storage guide
Also, where usually the top two drawers this size under the sink would be unusable, Matt and I have a trick we do with our under-sink drawers which makes them usable. (And no, it’s not the tilt-out on a hinge trick. They actually pull out.) We’ll show you that in our vanity organization post.
MASTER BATHROOM DOUBLE VANITY
Before & After:
similar light | similar faucet | similar pulls | sink | makeup mirror | prints | frame | similar pot | similar pot | jade | rug | basket | towels | LED lights | vanity storage guide
Click to see The Complete List of our bathroom remodel!
- How we changed our floor plan.
- What we used to DIY our custom floor tile pattern.
- Where we installed wainscoting.
- How our gorgeous tub made our bathroom feel bigger.
- Why we created solid surface walls in our shower.
- What we used for our non-slip shower floor tile.
- What our double walk-in shower looks like.
- Steps on how we designed the details of our wood vanity.
Or, you can see every single one of our house renovation projects here!
*This post contains affiliate links, which are no extra cost to you but help us keep this site alive!
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These are some similar pulls here: https://www.houseofantiquehardware.com/beaded-round-single-post-pull-1-9-7-inch-diameter
I love this bathroom! It was the main inspo for my own
Aw, so glad we inspired your bathroom!😄🙌🎉
Jess and Matt
Very informative. Thanks for the writing. I too have been trying to decide between the rectangular mirror and a circular one for the past few days now, but never know, how the circular design could be used to break up some harsh edges.
The tips shared in the article helps. And definitely gonna help in my bathroom design ideas, which I’m continuing with bathroom mirrors.
Do you have pictures of the inside of your vanity and how you did your storage?
Thank you!
YES! We’re working on a post about this now, actually! 🙂
Hi Kathy! We finally got our Design Guide on vanity storage up here!
https://thebrainandthebrawn.com/product/bathroom-vanity-storage-design-guide/
It has all the pictures of the inside of our vanity and how we did our storage! 🙂
Jess
Love your vanity. What color is it?
Thanks Bethany! It’s a Dark Walnut stain.
Gorgeous! It looks so good! Love your vanity!
Thanks so much, Lisa! I think my favorite part of the vanity is the amount of storage we got in there! 🙂 Eeeked out every spare inch!
You did such an amazing job on your bathroom.
Thank you, Tasha! It’s certainly much more functional now!😅