Interior Design Ideas to Inspire You: Bathroom Vanities

The choice of a bathroom vanity is one of the most important design decisions you’ll make when planning a new bathroom. Whether for a powder room, a kids’ bathroom, or the master bath of your dreams, the style and configuration of the vanity you choose will set the tone for the entire space. Good thing there are so many terrific options to choose from, and so many ways to think about customizing! Here are a few of our favorite residential bathroom vanities, along with some interior design tips and ideas to think about when making your selections.

Split Things Up

The master bath in this mountain retreat offers a fresh take on the idea of his-and-hers sink space. Instead of double bowls in a single vanity, we designed two separate vanities. This way, both partners have their own, designated areas within the larger space. Note the way the unadorned white cabinetry visually recedes into the white walls, allowing the stunning scenery outside the window to take center stage.

Repeat Elements

This master bathroom utilizes repeating elements to convey its formal elegance. Arches repeat to define the bathing and sink areas, which themselves include mirror image vanities. Classic and traditional in style, the vanities feature recessed panel drawer fronts, and a rounded millwork detail. This same detail can be seen around the outer edges of the simply framed mirrors, and also the base molding at the floor. This type of thoughtful attention to detail adds immeasurably to the overall feel of the room. One other cool thing is that the doors beneath the sinks are made to look like drawers, which enhances their furniture-style design

Mimic the Scenery

If you’re lucky enough to have a nice view out your bathroom window, consider incorporating that view into the design of your vanity. Inspired by the Lake Michigan shoreline reflected in the mirrors hanging above it, this custom vanity undulates, just as the water and waves do outside. The curves of the vanity are similar in feel to the ebbs and flows of the water. We went a step further and accentuated those curves by outlining the vanity drawers in natural wood tones.

Go All In

A powder room offers a unique opportunity for big decorative gestures. Because it’s small, you can go a little wild without feeling like you’re overpowering your house. It’s just one little, stand-alone room – and it can handle more drama than you might think. In fact, the more the better, in the opinion of our interior design team! Here, a smoky gray color palette is livened up with an entire wall’s worth of reflective tiles, and a peacock-colored vanity that adds a jolt of color. We then accented the vanity with white-painted trim to add even more personality. This is a good trick to borrow if your vanity is a stock model, but you want to make it feel more special.

Respect History

You might find the rich tones of this vanity a bit unexpected in an otherwise gray and white space. But actually, they were a deliberate nod to the original woodwork found throughout this landmarked, Chicago-area home. We wanted to pay homage to those historical details by carrying their materials and hues throughout the newer spaces in the house. This is a good route to take with vanity design when you want to create a seamless blend of old and new.

Think Outside the Box

In this eggplant-painted powder room, the vanity, sink, and plumbing fixtures all come as bit of a surprise. First, the vanity: a floating chunk of clean-lined wood, it hangs from the wall without touching the ground – a neat trick to visually lighten the small, dark-colored space. The bowl-style sink offers another fresh take on the tried-and-true; so do the wall-mounted plumbing fixtures.

These are just a few inspirations to get you thinking about ways to customize your bathroom vanity. For more great interior design ideas – and lots of other bathroom vanity styles – visit our website. Or follow us on Instagram!

Morgante Wilson Architects provides architectural and interior design services in Chicago, Deerfield, Evanston, Glencoe, Glenview, Highland Park, Kenilworth, Lake Bluff, Lake Forest, Northbrook, Northfield, Ravinia, Wilmette, and Winnetka – along with Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Utah, Wisconsin, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.