Weeknight Tile Project: Vanity Top

I think normal people use the hours between work and sleeping to do things like cook dinner, fold laundry, watch TV. I like to rush home, throw on my work jeans, and use the table saw. Which probably explains the mountain of laundry on the floor, sink full of dishes, and the perpetual twitch in my left-eye.

As soon as I realized that the vanity counter was the last big hurdle before having one finished bathroom in the house, I had a small panic attack. I thought I’d maxed out the number of different tiles I could use in such a small bathroom and was trying to come up with some alternative for the vanity. Granite? Concrete? Wood?  In a moment of sheer desperation I drove up to Ann Arbor after work early this week where there is a Tile Shop. One of the only places around that has such a large selection of tile in stock, and a godsend because I found this…

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And then I stopped hyperventilating. This Travertine tile somehow matches both the hand glazed ceramic tiles and the natural standing stones, without being too overbearing. So the upside of that little meltdown is that I got my butt in gear and the bathroom vanity I built for the beachy full-bath now has a counter. (Check out this post on creating a tiled counter for more details on how its done.)

Here’s a little look at my life between the hours between 7:00 and 10:00 this week.

cutting

You can tell how hard I was trying to beat the rain in this picture because I didn’t even take a minute to put on the John Deere hat. Also notice how my eyes are on the guide and not on the table saw blade… that’s good for cutting straight pieces, bad for keeping all of your fingers attached.

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More cutting for the sink hole.

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Attaching everything to the vanity.

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Laying out the tile.

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Tile, attached.

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Not nearly enough grout.

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Also note, a foam brush is not the proper tool to use to spread grout. Unfortunately all of my 65 grout floats were hiding on me last night, so I made do.

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And, the finished vanity!

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I feel like that deserves a little excessive punctuation.

!!!!!!!

You know, considering where I began…

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24 Responses

  1. It looks gorgeous! I can’t wait to see it in the finished room. I’m excited for you to have an almost complete bathroom.

  2. Wow – so glad you were able to find something so amazingly suitable in stock! That is going to be a seriously serene bathroom.

    So hooking up the bathroom facilities and hanging a few doors is all that stands between you and the certificate of occupancy needed for move-in – right?

    Congrats – looks great.

    1. I have a little tile to finish on one wall and the shower needs to be grouted, but we’re thinking we could have an operable bathroom next week. A person has never been so excited about a toilet before.

  3. Bravo! Seriously beautiful. That travertine is the perfect match between the other great tiles yet it isn’t a slacker either. Good job in figuring out all these nicely coordinated details in your busy schedule!

  4. Wowzers, that’s gorgeous. Also gorgeous? That hawtass photo of you @ the table saw!!

    1. Every once in a while it’s nice to make an appearance where I don’t look like an un-showered grimy mess. It doesn’t happen often in real life. 😉

  5. I just have to say, I am loving all of your color choices! It’s looking simply amazing, can’t wait to see it in the finished bathroom!

  6. Nice job– and good idea! A nice alternative to the granite/stone/other super expensive counters which looks great, too.

    Thanks for sharing. 🙂

  7. Your vanity is fabulous! Sooo very pretty – congratulations on a great job. Your skills totally blow me away. Unreal!!

  8. I see that this post is over a year old but I am hoping you can still help me. I LOVE the mosaic tile you used on you bath vanity. Do you remember the name/color of it? Is it 1 inch? Thanks!!

  9. What is the name of the tile you used? I’m looking on tile shop website now and would love to order te exact one. 🙂

  10. So talented! Can I ask what the name of the tile is? I have a similar type of project and love the color of yours!

    1. I don’t know the exact tile name, but it was a travertine tile that I got from Tile Shop.

  11. I’m inspired now! Recently moved into a condo & the bathrooms need help. I’m now going to tile over the existing Pink arborite , replace the sink & faucet & paint the cabinet. Much more budget friendly than replacing the complete vanity ! Now I’m looking forward to tile shopping. Thanks!

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