From washing your hands to putting on makeup to brushing your teeth, a bathroom vanity has a place for your everyday routine. It is a critical feature for all bathrooms - so why not give it a proper thought when looking to get one for a bath design project?
If you are looking to remodel, make sure the bathroom vanity you get complements the room around it - a mismatch in style could be a very distracting bathroom. The question is what pairs well with what, and if you're looking to get inspired for your bathroom project, we have a quick primer on common and popular bathroom styles and what vanities to look out for when you go shopping.
Traditional Bathroom Designs
A classic and common bathroom design. If you’ve ever lived or been in older houses, chances are you’ve seen this before. Traditional bathrooms take inspiration from the likes of the Victorian and colonial eras. When you think traditional, think of decorative elements like wainscoting and crown molding. Bathrooms with a traditional style have a warm homey feel. Done right and it can be a very attractive set piece for your home.
Carved wooden drawers with embellished vanity lighting, wooden-arched mirrors, and a chandelier as a centerpiece above the bathtub. A classic example of traditional.
How to look for traditional vanities:
Traditional vanities have a warm, ornate, and lavish quality to them. Common features tend to include carved drawer faces with lavish drawer pulls and knobs. And for the countertop - elegant materials like marble, quartz, or light granite.
Modern Bathroom Design
A stark opposite to traditional is modern. Generally speaking, it’s all about clean lines, simple materials, neutral tones, and minimalism. One of the core principles of modern is stripping down design to its purest forms - that means getting rid of all of the extra fluff that other styles have. Modern design has a reputation of being cold and objective but done right, and it can leave your bathroom looking phenomenal!
This bathroom features all the aesthetics of modern design: a neutral color palette, simple geometry, and a minimalist bathroom vanity.
How to look for modern vanities:
A modern bathroom vanity offers a clean and simple aesthetic. When shopping for a modern vanity, look for the flat panel cabinetry, hidden or toned-down handles, or simple silhouettes. Modern vanities usually come as freestanding or in the more popular wall-mounted variety.
Transitional Bathroom Design
Maybe you find that traditional design is a bit too decadent for you and modern is too much on the serious side. If you're looking for something more middle ground, transitional style offers the best of both worlds. A transitional bathroom uses streamlined modern geometry while borrowing organic forms from traditional design to create a delicately balanced and timeless design.
This bathroom merges the best of modern and traditional. Decorative features like shaker drawers with crown molding are balanced with straight edges and modern matte black bathroom fixtures.
How to look for transitional vanities:
Most common transitional vanities use their iconic shaker-style cabinetry with little embellished details and simple cabinet hardware. The countertops usually come in muted quartz, marble, or granite. Additionally, the sink usually comes under-mounted to provide a lot of countertop space.
Industrial Bathroom Design
As its name implies, industrial-style bathroom designs take inspiration from old warehouse factories and loft architecture. Visual cues like exposed brick walls, structural beams, ductwork, and plumbing elements take to the stage to create a rugged modern bathroom aesthetic that calls to an industrial past.
A black framed vanity accented with metallic brass features and warm incandescent lights. Also note the exposed rivets on the door frame. This loft apartment’s bathroom takes a little bit of inspiration from the industrial aesthetic. Like the vanity? We have a similar product in our catalog.
How to look for industrial vanities:
Bathroom vanities with rough materials like reclaimed wood or concrete are great options in the bathroom. Look out also for black metal framed vanities or vanities that don't shy away from revealing their plumbing.
Rustic Bathroom Design
A rustic bathroom is an excellent choice if your personality likes to reflect on the warmer comforts of laid-back country living. For any rustic bathroom, that means using organic decor to bring a bit of the outdoors inside your home. Weathered wood, shiplap walls, natural stones, and houseplants are common design elements that define a rustic bathroom's homespun quality.
The use of weathered wood, natural stone walls, and roughly polished fixtures & mirror all evoke the organic, warm farmhouse aesthetic of the rustic style.
How to look for rustic vanities:
As with the picture above, look for vanities that have that rough farmhouse aesthetic to them. The ones made with reclaimed wood and non-polished hardware are excellent choices for a rustic bathroom.
Start your Bathroom Design Journey
We hope we've inspired your kick start to a bathroom design journey. Deciding on a style that speaks most to you is an important first choice, but it is also a big step in making your space personal and home - find the right style for you and make sure your vanity follows suit!
Modern vanities or transitional more your style? Visit our online catalog - we may have something that’s right for you!
Product Highlights:
Modern Double Vanity - MC 1400J
Industrial Vanity - MC 690M (Similar in style)