Vintage Style: When, Why and How to Use a Sink Skirt
There’s no skirting the issue: There are times when this retro look is just right
Mary Jo Bowling
July 1, 2015
Houzz Contributor; writer, reader, serial remodeler.
In days gone by, a sink skirt was used to dress up a pedestal sink, create hidden storage under a wall-hung sink or cover the bulky plumbing beneath a kitchen sink. Today it’s more common to use cabinetry under basins, but that’s not to say there aren’t still fans of the skirted look. The sink skirt still performs many of the same functions, but it also adds a soft touch and brings in a graphic punch of pattern, color and texture.
Interior designer Scot Meacham Wood added an elegant sink skirt to his personal bathroom. “Very often, bathrooms can feel a wee bit too clinical and cold. I think it’s a function of all that glazed tile and porcelain,” Wood says. “Adding a bit of textile always helps warm the room.”
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Wood says that this skirt encircles a pedestal sink. He says that because of that pedestal, no storage space is really added, but he feels it gives the sink more decorative substance.
One concern homeowners considering the feature might have is cleaning it. Wood made the process easy. “Ours is installed with Velcro, so it can be easily removed for cleaning,” he says.
Tour the rest of Wood’s remarkable home
Work with an interior designer to create your dream bathroom
Wood says that this skirt encircles a pedestal sink. He says that because of that pedestal, no storage space is really added, but he feels it gives the sink more decorative substance.
One concern homeowners considering the feature might have is cleaning it. Wood made the process easy. “Ours is installed with Velcro, so it can be easily removed for cleaning,” he says.
Tour the rest of Wood’s remarkable home
For designer Alison Kandler, the guiding aesthetic principal for laundry room design is charm. In her own laundry room, she broke up a row of cabinets and added another layer of pattern to the room with a sink skirt. “I take any opportunity to use fabric and color,” she says. “In the other cabinets, I put in mesh fronts, just like a grandmother’s house would have.”
Tour Kandler’s colorful home
Tour Kandler’s colorful home
One of the other considerations is access to the area behind the skirt. For a fixed skirt, moving the fabric to the side could be awkward (you might have to hold the panels aside with one hand). Interior designer Matthew Leverone made the process easier by putting the skirt on a shower curtain-like rail.
Access was also on Samantha Friedman’s mind when she installed a custom-designed rod-and-hook sink skirt system for this bathroom. “The bathroom was really small and had no storage,” she says. “It was a way to hide the pipes and a basket to hold the extra toilet paper.” The same hardware and fabric make up a curtain system in the window. In both cases the system allows the fabric to slide back and forth easily.
Friedman says that although the look is softer and more traditional, there is a downside. “The fabric can be water damaged,” she says.
Friedman says that although the look is softer and more traditional, there is a downside. “The fabric can be water damaged,” she says.
The benefits can outweigh the potential risks for some designers and homeowners. Designer Wendi Young has used sink skirts for a number of reasons. “Besides loving the charm that they instill in a room, I have also used them to hide a multitude of issues, including ugly exposed plumbing and dated bathroom cabinetry,” she says.
In this case she installed a sink skirt on a wall-mounted industrial sink because it was unfinished on the underside. “The fabric skirt creates a charming, relaxed feel, and in this case adds a pop of color,” she says.
When is comes to cleaning, Young suggests having the skirt removed and dry cleaned or left in place and cleaned by a drapery company.
In this case she installed a sink skirt on a wall-mounted industrial sink because it was unfinished on the underside. “The fabric skirt creates a charming, relaxed feel, and in this case adds a pop of color,” she says.
When is comes to cleaning, Young suggests having the skirt removed and dry cleaned or left in place and cleaned by a drapery company.
The option of having a skirt cleaned in place by professionals has led some designers to permanently affix skirts to sinks. Michelle Jamieson says that after extensive research, she chose this path. “I knew that people would rub on it, and it could end up loosening it up over time,” she says. So she bonded the fabric with a hardware store product called E6000. She warns that the product has strong fumes and says it should be used in a well-ventilated room.
Interior designer Cathy Zaeske got the same clean, finished look in her personal laundry room by attaching a skirt to a utility sink with Velcro. To make it, she modified a shower curtain. She says that dressing the sink made the room, which is visible from the kitchen, look more finished.
“I wanted to make my laundry-mudroom a place that I didn’t hate,” she says. “One day I realized that I spend a lot of time passing through that room — it’s our entry to the garage — and I wanted to make it a bit easier on the eye. I use the space under the sink to store odd-shaped items, and I wanted to hide them.”
“I wanted to make my laundry-mudroom a place that I didn’t hate,” she says. “One day I realized that I spend a lot of time passing through that room — it’s our entry to the garage — and I wanted to make it a bit easier on the eye. I use the space under the sink to store odd-shaped items, and I wanted to hide them.”
“No fancy instructions are needed,” she says. “Just cut [the curtain] to size, fold over one edge and secure with fabric hemming glue. The other edge will already be hemmed. Adhere a long Velcro strip to both fabric and sink and then stick together.”
By using a shower curtain, she made maintenance easy. “Using a shower curtain makes it extremely practical. If it gets splashed with something, I simply wipe it with a bit of soap and water, and it rubs right out. The dark fabric is also quite forgiving,” she says.
By using a shower curtain, she made maintenance easy. “Using a shower curtain makes it extremely practical. If it gets splashed with something, I simply wipe it with a bit of soap and water, and it rubs right out. The dark fabric is also quite forgiving,” she says.
For one of Paula Flanagan’s clients, the choice to incorporate a sink skirt was all about style. “It’s a visual, stylistic choice more than anything functional,” she says. “Our client loved the idea of a mixture of styles and the vintage quality of that particular look.”
And in the end, style is likely the big appeal for most people. Look at this tiny corner sink by Tracey Stephens. On its own, it would be a diminutive and rather plain piece. Add a brightly patterned skirt and a complementary mosaic backsplash, and you have a little sink that lives large.
Tell us: Do you have a sink skirt in your home, or would you consider one? Share your thoughts and pictures in the Comments.
More: How to Choose the Right Bathroom Sink
Tell us: Do you have a sink skirt in your home, or would you consider one? Share your thoughts and pictures in the Comments.
More: How to Choose the Right Bathroom Sink
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I created a sink skirt to hide my less than perfect vanity. It's so much better than the before!
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sapphire27 thanks! I love the Saffron Marigold window treatments, which I also found on amazon. They were the perfect solution for a window in a study/home office. In fact, I may use some for summer curtains in my bedroom. I really like to change curtains and throws by season.
Putting in second hand cabinets and a farm house sink I choose to use a skirt and love it! I did this house to coordinate as a whole and the fabric ($10 bucks at a church bazaar for many yards) I did my kitchen and bathroom in the fabric and used the orange as the accent color through out the house.....A tension rod works perfect and easily comes down....never had a problem.