Reclaimed Wood Floating Vanity
Reclaimed wood is so versatile, and it’s the perfect way to add instant style and rustic charm to any space. And the bonus is that you can often come by old wood for *free* — which is very very hard to beat! Lindsey needed a small vanity with lots of style, so she and her husband made a few quick cuts and put together this great reclaimed wood floating vanity, based around a budget-friendly IKEA sink:
You’ll remember Lindsey from her lovely barn door pantry — and she’s back to share the details of her new vanity from her half bath makeover with you today!
Half Bath with Reclaimed Wood Floating Vanity
by Lindsey from Girl Meets Carpenter
When we remodeled our small half bath, we knew we wanted something narrow and simple for a vanity. But locally, there is literally nothing that is narrow enough and ABSOLUTELY nothing that is remotely attractive! Nothing! So that is why months beforehand we had purchased our most favorite IKEA sink that we had to have in the worst way! Believe me guys, Ikea has the absolute best price on sinks! And they’re attractive! We also have the Ikea farmhouse sink which is a third of the cost of a farmhouse sink from, in our case, anywhere else!
So after you’ve bought your amazing Ikea sink (I should be getting paid for this much Ikea endorsement, don’t you think? Or at least a gift card! Focus, Lindsey….) go get yourself some old barnwood or even a piece of framing lumbar (beat up and let it sit outside for awhile) or really whichever wood is your favorite/something that you have on hand. You can always weather something on your own- damage/distress it to get your desired look. For the base size we needed, we used about 5 ft of wood.
We lightly sanded the wood to get the extreme roughness and slivers gone. Then we wiped it down with a linseed oil which protects it and waterproofs it, and we like it because it’s natural. Occasionally, 2-3 times a year, I wipe the sink base with the oil to give it more luster.
We did butt joints, as opposed to miter joints, because we wanted to see the end grain of the boards. We used a power saw but a even a hand saw can accomplish the same look and authenticity. Just be sure to sand it.
We screwed lag bolts on the front of the base. If you do something similar, you’re going to want 2 inches of penetration into the other piece. So consider the thickness of the board and add 2 inches more. If the wood is really old and dry, you may want to go with even longer bolts. Before using the bolts, we primed them twice with a self etching primer and then spray painted them black with two coats. Touch up with a black sharpie, if needed, after you use your ratchet to screw them in.
Now to anchor it to the wall. You can use a 1×4 or 2×4, whatever you can fit with the plumbing, fixed onto the wall. Then screw your sink base box into the sides of that 1×4, making sure that you’re going into the wall studs. Check again and again that it’s LEVEL! If it is, run a bead of silicone along the side to attach to the wall. But don’t silicone anything until you are sure that it’s exactly where it needs to be. Also siliconed: the sink to the base. That sink won’t be going anywhere with the silicone attaching it.
And the sink even comes with this towel holder which is very handy!
(Sidenote: The sink we used from IKEA is still available but is now attached to this sink base. My advice, buy the unit anyway and just only use the sink. Even if you find no other use for the base of the sink, it is still worth buying it! Or I would suggest something similar to the cute sinks that are in our other bathroom!)
Not only do I adore how it turned out, it was also frugality at it’s finest! It doesn’t take much time and it’s easy enough that you can do it yourself! What do you think? Do you have an ugly sink? If you’re like us, you’ve probably had an ugly sink and an ugly vanity for years!! But if you’ve got a little time, a saw, a tape measure, and a drill, this could be your next accomplishment!
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Thank you for coming back to share with us, Lindsey! I love the simple style this gave your bathroom!
Remodelaholics, pop over to Girl Meets Carpenter to check out more from Lindsey (like her wonderful deck and pergola) and you can also like her new page on Facebook for updates, too!
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I love this vanity…and plan on using it in my Bathroom make over. But I think I will either make the wood longer to hide the plumbing or add a short removable drawer or shelf to the bottom to hide the plumbing. Great look and great job.
Thanks so much for featuring me! And for the countless other ideas I get from your blog:)
Thanks for paying us a visit again, Lindsey!
I love the rustic industrial quality of this! We’re going to have to renovate our bathroom soon so this is getting me thinking!
I love it, too, Colleen! Thanks for commenting 🙂
Love this! It looks like the LILLÅNGEN sink may still be available for purchase without the corresponding vanity base. So that begs the questions, does the sink attach to the wall directly or do you have to support it with a base? Is your reclaimed wood vanity just for rustic appearance or is it what’s actually holding up the sink?
Ours is actually holding up our sink but perhaps you could do without? I hear silicone is pretty strong! Thanks for the comment and for visiting!
What brand and color did you use for the walls?
The brand was Valspar from Lowe’s and the color is ‘Innocence’. It is a great soft white/cream. Thanks for asking and visiting!
Can you tell me where that bathroom faucet was purchased from, as well as the farmhouse lighting you have? Thanks!! Even better if you have a link for the items. 🙂
I love this idea so much I am doing this sink in my bathroom. However I’m disappointed that you didn’t go into to more detail. There are no steps on on anything and that’s like I said disappointing when you don’t know what steps to take but have to guess by the pictures.
Shaun,
All the details are in the post, just scroll down a bit. Hope that helps.
Have spent over an hr re reading this post to hopefully find the way to find that faucet. Went on over to her site also and NOTHING on how to find the faucet. Wish there was someway to find out. TX.
Hi Tonita,
Thanks for reading! I spent some time looking and I think I found it, or at least one that’s very very similar. Here’s our affiliate link to the faucet at Home Depot: https://rstyle.me/+q9AxoctuQttNbr3h64TG6g
Love it !!! How wide is the reclaimed wood ???
Hi, LOVE this look!!! We have the tiniest full bath and need this idea in the worst way!! I’ll definitely be doing this!!! Please please tell me where you purchased the faucet from and what the name of it is. I don’t feel it will be complete without it!!
Hi Angela,
It’s been a few months since you commented, but others have also asked so I made some time to look around and see what I could find! The Delta Porter single hole faucet looks like a match. Here’s our affiliate link to check it out at Home Depot: https://rstyle.me/+q9AxoctuQttNbr3h64TG6g
Wow, love this sink!!! It looks like Ikea no longer offers it. Do you happen to remember the name of the sink? Maybe i can find it somewhere else? Im remodeling my bathroom which is very limited on space. Been looking for weeks for a sink like this… Wish i could find one of these! Anyway, thanks for taking the time to post this. Great writing and great taste!
Thanks for the comment! I did some sleuthing and found the name of the sink *and* the good news that it appears IKEA still stocks it (at least in some locations). It’s called the LILLÅNGEN sink. If it’s not available near you, they do have other similar sinks, too. Best of luck!
https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/lillangen-sink-white-70207144/