Decision Fatigue
The vain search for a vanity
Decision Fatigue
Something few homeowners appreciate when they decide to “save money” by not working with a designer is the sheer amount of decisions they will have to make.
If you didn’t realize how many decisions this involves, let me tell you: it is my job to make design decisions quickly, and even I get tired of deciding.
For the last seven days (and I wish this were an exaggeration), I have been looking daily at bathroom vanities.
It is, completely exhausting. And it is exhausting precisely because I care so much.
The thing is, I don’t really like vanities. Call it a carryover from a British upbringing, but I am definitely more partial to a console or a pedestal sink than a vanity (images below, in case you’ve never thought twice about this—which is fine).
Console and pedestal sinks are lovely—we have a pedestal sink in a bathroom in our house—but they aren’t always practical when additional storage isn’t available. Our upstairs bathroom is a case in point: there’s no linen closet or anything of the kind nearby. We need space to store a few extra towels and toilet paper, and that’s about it, but as I think about future homeowners (a controversial concept, I know), I’m fairly certain the lack of bathroom-related storage upstairs would end up being an issue.
So here we are, looking for a bathroom vanity. Unfortunately, I’m discovering there is a lot that I don’t like: asymmetry; any ornamentation (round feet, rounded sections on legs, beading, dental molding); too boxy; too bulky; too many raised parts; too many curves; too heavy looking; not made of solid wood; too dark; a mixture of pulls and knobs vs just knobs or just pulls; a sink that’s too small; a trough sink; fake marble countertops; weird colour, distracting pattern/cutouts.
There’s probably more, but I don’t want to bore you. Thankfully, I do also know some things I do want:
a pale, warm colour other than white (I’m aiming for contrast, and these would prevent that, and a darker colour offers too much saturation—it would feel too heavy in the space). Although, I might consider wood, it would just mean I’d need a new mirror
feet (feels like furniture) vs a floating vanity (too modern, and my kids might rip it out of the wall?) or a kickplate (too basic, although I could compromise on this)
space for an 8 inch widespread faucet (we have an existing faucet I’m happy with, and I think an 8 inch widespread faucet generally looks better than a singular center-set faucet)
plain white quartz, terazzo quartz, or granite countertop
something that isn’t too nice (it needs to fit what is already in there—the bath/shower combo— and not be too nice for the neighborhood or the kids who will be using it)
