[hrhokie]

I've only nearly finshed a few minor Ikea projects before the big one (kitchen) begins, but I've already gotten so much in ideas and help from this site I wanted to share how some of it worked out (in case it helps or gives ideas to someone else!)

This bathroom is right off the living room/kitchen in a split-level... I was so happy to be adding a bathroom on the first floor I didn't mind that it was going to be the worlds-smallest-bathroom. Since I thought it was tiny (and DH found decent prices on fancy sinks on ebay) we decided to go for dramatic finishes (you aren't going to make it look any smaller!). Long story short (or maybe that was short story long)... after we did the floating-vanity-on-wood-wall thing, it really helps! I think it's just being able to see the floor all the way from wall to wall, but whatever it feels very reasonably sized (and looks neat).

Anyway, here's a couple of pictures. That's a full-size and a cut-down half-size Effectiv desktop running floor to ceiling on the wall behind an Effective wall cabinet as the vanity. The desktops are attached with decking screws into studs (only three behind the mirror for that top panel but handy DH says it's solid). It took him a little time to cut appropriately placed holes in the bottom desktop for the plumbing, air vent & plug. Similar work on the cabinet; he needed two holes (faucet & drain) on the top, and the plumbing holes in the back panel. He did most of it with hole saws and a jig saw. The cabinet is actually hung directly to the bottom desktop with wood screws (he went a little nuts with the decking screws in the bottom desktop since it's the support structure for the floating vanity and you wouldn't be able to see the screws behind the cabinet... definitely more than three there!)

[kmcg]

Very nice!! It's really fun to come up with something really different like this for so little money. Thanks for sharing.
Kathy

[cork2win]

I've spent the last three days searching for vanities for a tiny bath just like this. The cheapest I can find is around $400 and that just seems crazy to me! I'm going to have to check out the prices on these pieces.

Thanks for posting! Looks great!!

And I agree, I think the floating sink in a small room makes the room look larger, so that's what I'm hoping for.

[hrhokie]

So, the desktops were from the Galant line, not Effectiv. I still have my Effectiv & Galant handouts, so here's what I did (hmm... this is the first time I've added it up... maybe I don't want to know...)

Galant Table Top 63x31.5 - $99
Galant Table Top 47.25x31.5 - $89
Effectiv Wall Cab 33.5x14.125x16.5 - $80
Effectiv Dark Red Doors 33.5x15.75 - $40
Clicky door things from HD so it doesn't need handles ~$2
Total = $310

Prices are for the wood veeners, but white melamine would save about $115. Also the fancy doors were $10 more, so if I'd gone with the wood doors it would have been an even $300 (the original plan, but I saw the red that matched the sink and I was a goner)

So another idea I considered for wood-ing my 95" high walls was to get two of the half round table tops they have in the Galant line and mount them at the top and bottom of the big tabletop (the half rounds are 15.75x31.5 and only cost $30 so two of them are even cheaper than the extra table top piece). I thought the round top and bottom would be visually interesting... especially if there was a round (or maybe oval) mirror. I couldn't figure out how to hide both seams though (although I'm not sure the seams are really a big deal).

Along the same line... I bet it would look pretty neat to just have the Effective cabinet mounted to the wall with a half round above and a half round below. And come to think of it... the Effectiv cabinet by itself would be pretty swell (and if you left the back off, you'd only have to drill a couple holes in the top to make it into a vessel-sink vanity).

OH! One sort-of annoying thing about the glossy red doors that I don't think I would have forseen, no matter how much planning I did (although they're pretty so I'm planning to keep them anyway)... they're so shiny they're almost like red tinted mirrors, so when you are sitting on the toilet across from the vanity, the "mirrors" are right at mid shin to mid chest height... D'oh!