elevated vanity makes bathroom look larger?

14 years ago

We are renovating a small bathroom, and for a variety of reasons, preserving the two-room layout. Outer room with vanity is approx 5' x 5'. (Inner room has toilet and shower.) The new custom vanity will run 5' along the left wall as you enter the bathroom. It will have a fairly clean contemporary look (and have a higher countertop of approx 36", as our boys are both tall). Vanity will be 22" deep and you basically walk along it on the way to the inner room. It is a rather tight layout, but livable. To make the room look less narrow, our contractor suggested not having the vanity go all the way to the floor. Instead, he suggested having it "hanging" about a foot or so off the floor. The new floor (tile laid at a diagonal to also increase the perception of width) would run beneath the vanity and, he said, draw your eye a bit under the vanity to make the space seem a bit wider. It seems plausible. We even talked about putting lighting underneath that could be used as a night light, and possibly motion-activated (an idea from this site) -- so that it would illuminate the floor as you walked in at night, but not shine in your face on your way to the inner room with the toilet. All sounds interesting, and not hard to do. But what do folks think of elevating the vanity like that? Is it worth the lost space in not having the bottom 12" of the vanity be storage?

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btnik
Original Author

14 years ago

staceyneil -- thanks for the Google images! (Why didn't I think of that?) Our bathroom is most similar to the last image. Not so glam, and a wall separating the vanity room from the toilet and shower, but the orientation of the vanity to the way you walk through the space is similar. The pictures you chose all suggest that the floating vanity really would contribute to a sense of spaciousness. Suellen -- good point about stuff rolling under the vanity, but I actually think it won't be too hard to clean under there. Just_julie is right that boys don't seem to need much storage. (How they generate so much clutter without needing much storage has always been a mystery to me...)

Thanks all. I think we're going to try the floating vanity. Our cabinetmaker is excited about the idea. He wants to show us some cherry samples with a pronounced vertical grain in different stains, so we'll see how that looks.

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Comments (8)

Stacey Collins
14 years ago
Floating vanities and pedestal sinks DEFINITELY make small bathrooms look bigger. Take a look at "google images" of "floating vanity" and you'll see what they look like. I think it sounds like a great idea!

We put our vanity on legs about 10" off the ground, and even that gives a lighter, more open look which makes the room feel larger. Your mind will register the extra floor space, and that makes the room seem bigger.

From google:

{{gwi:1386148}}
just_julie
14 years ago
Is this a secondary bathroom? (you mention boys)

Boys don't need too much storage space!
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I always like to use diagonal pattern tile, but with a border such that is appears to have a "rug" look. Sometimes I create a border around the diagonal "rug" pattern with accent border tile that matches the accent border tile around a shower or vanity. Also, I like to have a somewhat similar tile pattern style with all bathrooms of the residence to tie in the look. When I see bathrooms of a residence with totally different style of tile is seems less coordinated to me. I've used different material for different bathrooms of a residence, but try to have some kind of similar pattern to tie them together. As for the size of tile, assuming the floor is perfectly flat, larger tile is proportionally better for larger floor areas. Usually 10\\\\\\\-13 inch tile size is a good proportion for most average bathroom sizes. Small power rooms can go with smaller size tile and maintain appealing proportion to the floor space. If you have a threshold between areas of the bathroom, consider a matching accent border tile on the floor that separates the two areas. Here is a photo of bathroom with "small" style pattern for a floor space that seems too big for it... bathroom still looks great overall.
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sevrm
14 years ago
Sounds like a good idea, however if you are walking along the length of the vanity to get to the toilet room, I don't think it will be that obvious that it is elevated. I don't think that you will actually see that much more of the floor in your situation. We just started our master bath renovation and I considered a vanity on legs. However, I was afraid that every time I dropped something it would roll right to the back corner under the vanity. Also would create a cleaning issue. Just more to think about!
pharaoh
14 years ago
btnik,
we did exactly what you are talking about. our vanity floats about 6 inches from the floor to maximize the volume of storage (you will see in the photos). And we put lights under it as well.
The counter and the vanity are 24" deep.

We did a horizontal grain. you can use bamboo or zebra wood or any other parallel grain wood for a contemporary look.

do a search for bling on this forum to see my floating vanity.
studio460
14 years ago
We did/are doing all floating vanities as well--this definitely makes the room look and feel bigger. We have fairly small bathrooms, so any open-space, design illusion really makes a big difference! We'll be installing either T5 or LED underlights later. Mocked it up with a strip light--looks ultra-cool! The only thing touching the floor in the bathroom is the Toto toilet. Wish I could've afforded a floating (in-wall) toilet, too!
studio460
14 years ago
Forgot to reply to your original question: IMO, I think the minimal loss of storage was totally worth it.
btnik
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks all. We decided to go with the floating vanity. Cabinet maker has started, and demo starts next week! We chose Crossville Empire General's Gray (polished) for the floor tile and tub/shower surround, so we're excited that we'll be able to more of it than we would with a conventional vanity. We're so crazy about the tile that we also plan to install strip lighting underneath the vanity to illuminate the floor at night!

elevated vanity makes bathroom look larger?

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Stacey Collins

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elevated vanity makes bathroom look larger?

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