Prolonged gazing into one's bathroom mirror used to be considered quite a vice. For vanity, it is said, is the step-sister of pride. With nothing more to the bathrooms of yesteryear than a sink, toilet, and mirror, we were offered little choice about where our focus should fall once through the bathroom door. And while Narcissus brought his own demise through excessive "self-reflection," we can probably be forgiven for rendering the bathroom mirror as our observation point of choice.
The Afterthought
After all, the bathroom used to be the afterthought of home building and design. Bathroom design kept to the basics: A toilet, sink-cabinet combo, and perhaps some tile. Add some color matching, a couple of wall hangings, and of course, the mirror, and voila: your task was complete!
In hindsight, designing yesterday's bathroom was really a simple and efficient process. In hindsight, creating such a bathroom was magnificently uninspiring, unimaginative, and dull.
With limited choices, and prohibitive pricing, vanities of distinction rarely entered the equation for a homeowner without a numeral at the end of their name. Even for those with limitless means, such a task usually involved finding the right piece of furniture in the appropriate size before hiring a carpenter (to cut a hole into the top) and a plumber (to retrofit a sink and plumbing). It required resourcefulness, planning, lots of time, and even more cash.
Read the rest of the article at
bathroom vanities.