Ever been out shopping for a item for your bathroom and thought “Holey moley that’s expensive!” This was our problem when we were building our master bath on the house. We were able to find all kinds of things at the Habitat for Humanity Restore, but bathroom vanities where not one of those things we could find for cheap. I found a Jacuzzi tub for $50 and decided to build a bead board surround, and ended up purchasing too much bead board and framing materials. This oops ended up working out quite nicely because the vanities I was looking to install in the bathroom where around $900 a pop (this was the cheap one).

Purchasing the vanity at this point would have limited other projects I was trying to finish around the house so I decided that I would wing it and make one from scratch. I decided on a look that I liked, something to match the jacuzzi surround, and found some hardware that was similar to the hardware on the vanities that were in the store. In addition to the hardware, I decided to spice it up a notch with some fluted trim and rosettes (got the idea from another vanity).
– The drawer slides can be purchased at a building superstore in your area…the easiest way to find them if you do not know what they are is to ask a hardware specialist to show you the drawer slides they carry that are similar to the ones in the cabinets sold in the store (the best to install are the ones that mount on the bottom of the drawer).
– The strongest and easiest way to assemble the face of the cabinet is to use a pocket screw jig from the hardware store. I use a small two screw unit that works well and is efficient for just about any job like it around your house. -> Kreg R3 Jr. Pocket Hole Jig System This is a jig like the one I use, I purchased one a Lowe’s but If you cannot find one there please feel free to use this Amazon link.
– For the cabinet doors I used European hinges because they are very easy to adjust once they are installed. There is a bit usually in the area of these hinges that is made for their installation, it is called a forstner bit and is usually 35mm (1 3/8″). This hardware along with the knobs where purchased at the habitat store for $5.

In all I saved around $800 dollars on just the vanity….this is not to mention the Corean double bowl sink that we purchased for very little money, and the large mirror over the sink that was also purchased at a good price.

I would like to include plans for this vanity, but like many things I have done around the house it was kind of an improv. project. If you would like to build something like this in your house I would recommend getting a good book on carpentry (there are many). Here is one good book on building cabinets -> Illustrated Cabinetmaking: How to Design and Construct Furniture That Works
its very good, many pictures and diagrams so you can tell what you are doing.

Hope this information helps, thank you for reading.
Luke Spencer

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