My Bathroom Vanity

Charles — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 19:25:04 +0000

I’ve been thinking about creating this site for a long time. What has kept me from starting it for over a year? A bathroom remodeling. Well, more technically, I turned unused space in our finished attic into a bathroom. Adding walls is not exactly “Fine Woodworking,” but it was plenty of work that took most of my free time. I couldn’t afford to pay someone to do the work, so I did it all myself with plenty of help from friends and family.

Whole New Bathroom

One thing I did want to do with this project was to build my own custom vanity. I would call it my first real woodworking project. It was quite a bit of fun to really get going. I chose mahogany because I wanted to be able to had just a clear finish, and have it look outstanding right away. It is finished with about 5 coats of wipe-on polyurethane varnish.

New Bathroom Vanity

I don’t own a drill press, and although I own a couple routers, I don’t have a router table yet. So, I was unable to use mortise and tenon joints. Most of the cross-members and legs are all joined with Kreg pocket screws. I only used pocket screws where they wouldn’t be visible. I have to say that glue plus pocket screws made for a plenty stout frame. I assembled the cabinet doors by cutting grooves for the mahogany plywood. Then I cut tenons that slid into the groove. I don’t know the name of this, maybe someone can leave a comment for me?

The design was interesting, as I purchased a single sink, but with a wide top. I considered doing something other than just two doors, but nothing looked right. To help “thin” the look of these two doors, I added an additional vertical stile in the middle of each door. I also did this on the sides of the vanity. I know, I added decoration to the sides of a vanity, I couldn’t help it. I think the end result looks great, the doors don’t look bulky at all. The drawers are just tip-out fronts, not full drawers.

The frame is all solid mahogany, and the panels are all mahogany plywood. The base is made from 3/4″ lauan plywood. I left an eighth-inch gap around each of the drawers and doors. It’s almost a good fit, I guess I still need some work on keeping everything square.

About Thin Shavings

Charles — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 22:04:44 +0000

Charles

Welcome to Thin Shavings!

I am a beginning woodworker. This means that I won’t be posting any tips and tricks, and I can’t teach any master classes. I still don’t even own enough tools to properly make many types of furniture. I do have a very strong interest in building quality furniture, and learning the best methods along the way.

So why did I start my own site? I wanted to create the opportunity to share what I am working on. Hopefully I can hear input from others who also run into the same issues and stumbling blocks as me. Maybe others will have similar designs and ideas on what I am working on. I really hope that the blog format will allow, and encourage, others to post their own opinion and style to hopefully help me, and anyone else who stumbles onto this site.

I was most inspired to create this site by Gabi Jack’s SolidWorks (a 3D CAD program I use at work) blog. I am an active member in the SolidWorks online community, and Gabi started her blog while she was returning to the workforce, with no knowledge of the software. I was very impressed with the way she was able to learn by blogging her own experiences with the software. Even from day one, she was able to help other’s as well.

So even though I cannot provide an expert opinion, I hope that through my own postings we can all learn a little more about woodworking. Please feel free to contact me with any input you may have at .