One last chore before vacation time

old floating vanity
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

Time is going to be short when we get back from vacation so we decided at 7 pm last night to take out the floating vanity. It should have been easy because the water lines weren't corroded, but the P-trap was shut fast and we didn't have a 2" wrench. A quick trip to Home Depot and $10 later we had the p-trap undone. Unfortunately, the faux marble countertop was so heavy, and we didn't want to damage the tiles taking it off, that we couldn't shift it in one piece. A couple of bangs with Big Bessie the sledgehammer and the top was in three smaller pieces and on its way to the garbage.
We knocked off only three tiny triangular pieces of tiles and they came off intact so we can thinset them back on when we get back from our holiday.
Then we realised that our decent flat-bladed screwdriver was missing and the other ones were to big or to small to unscrew the vanity from the wall. Hey, ho, back to Home Depot we go.

Custom made

No photos for this post, although there are some links further down.
I finally found someone to make me a floating vanity. Hurrah. I thought this would be a project that the handy guy who likes to work with wood would love but he doesn't have a workshop so he didn't want to do it, although he was happy to mount it on the wall when we found one. My second choice was the trim carpenter but he had never made a cabinet so didn't feel confident.
Let me tell you I'm not asking for anything complicated here: a box 36"w x 22"d x 20"h; three full sides; one stile frame; a bottom; a top with two holes cut out, one for the drain and one for the tap (faucet); two full-overlay doors. That's it.
I even went to IKEA and Kraftmaid with the intention of using an over the refrigerator cabinet but they are 24" deep and it's a tight space. If I had the tools I'm sure I could have sawn 2" off the back of a cabinet and dovetailed it right back on. But never mind.
I then spent hours, days even looking for a vanity that didn't make me want to vomit or run screaming from the store or that was going to cost the price of a holiday in the Bahamas. Nothing. Rien. Nada. Niets.
Then yesterday I was out looking for faucets when I stumbled upon a cabinet maker who will knock me up the box made to my specific dimensions in wood or wenge veneer. He sketched it out as I described it, called it clean, modern and streamlined and said it would take a couple of weeks to knock out. It will have a rolling drawer and a half rolling drawer, so getting to the toiletries will be easy. The wenge sample was gorgeous and looks like this but the unit will look more like this. I will take the tiles in when I get them so I can pick a co-ordinating top in granite or quartz.
And we ordered the window (also custom made from Marvin) so we are almost home............