You're so vain, I bet you think this post is about you!

You're so vain, I bet you think this post is about you!

Well, it's not. Sorry to burst your bubble.

It is about Vanity though. As in, the bathroom vanity.

We had a shortened work weekend at the cottage this week. The princess had a Saturday birthday party at home so I took the boat to the marina and then drove her back for the party, only to return with her around supper time that same day (the things we do for our kids).

While we were gone, the boys (Captain, Papa, the Red-Headed kid, and his pal Jared) visited the Hastings waterfront festival and saw some cool boats, antique cars, and motorcycles.

Papa got to ride in this one; he knows the guy who built it.

All of this activity left us with Saturday evening and most of Sunday to get to work. That was it.

I used my time to construct the bathroom vanity.

I started by framing a box at the bottom that will support the bottom shelf and act as a kick-plate beneath the cupboard doors. (For the record, I hate screws longer than 1.5". I also strongly dislike starting the first board of a box, because everything is wobbly and uncooperative.)

Please ignore the dog helper.

Then I added supports around the top to hold up the counter top. These are just 1x3s screwed into the wall.

Then, I installed a bit of MDF across the front at the top, and added the boards to the face for the cupboard doors to be attached to. I used MDF instead of pine because it's pre-primed, costs about the same (or less) it doesn't have knots in it, and it's straighter. The weight of the counter top is supported at the sides and the back, so this front piece is largely decorative.

Next I added some plank pine shelf boards to form the bottom of the cupboard. Why? Because they're cheap. Problem: they weren't wide enough (they were 18.5" total, I needed 23.5"), so I had to scrounge around the lumber yard behind Slanty to find some boards that could act as spacers at the back of the cabinet. It took a lot longer than it should have, primarily because there was one lonely tape measure in the cottage this weekend, so we spent our time playing hide-and-seek with the tape measure every time we wanted to use it because someone had wandered off with it again.

With the shelf boards in place but not nailed down, I added some vertical supports that would give me something to nail the face boards into.

Next, the counter top was measured and cut. I wanted to make sure the captain knew which side was the "good" side, so I labelled the countertop accordingly. (see photo)

If you ever find yourself cutting a melamine-coated counter top with a Skil saw, here's a tip: Flip the counter upside down. The teeth of a Skil-saw blade cut up, causing the melamine on top of the counter to chip and flake. If you put the melamine surface face down, any chipping happens on the underside of the counter top. Masking tape also helps to minimize the chipping, but we found it wasn't necessary when the counter was upside down.

We didn't need to be as careful cutting the opening for the sink, as  that raw edge is hidden under the lip of the basin.

This is me readying the template for cutting. I look zonked. Yay team!

Here's the counter with the sink roughly in place. (thanks again to our generous friends for their counter top donation).

We still have plenty to do:
- I need to properly affix the counter to the walls (currently it's only held in place by gravity).
- We need to install the back splash tiles, grout, and caulk their joints.
- I need to put some corner cove moulding in to hide that seam in the wall.
- We need to connect the water supplies and drain to the sink.
- I need to caulk around said sink.
- Handy dad needs to go to work making fantabulous doors again, and I need to paint the cabinet.
And that's just the work to be done in this wee corner! The half wall, panelling, paint, ceiling tiles, trim, and shower still need to be tackled.

We're rapidly running of our work weekends, too. I'm beginning to fret that this project won't be completed before we close up for the year. BUMMER!