Let's Talk Molding

So I've showed this 80's, built in medicine cabinet before:

BLAH. Let's talk about what I don't like.

1. The 80's shutter door. Yes, it's been painted white (I've seen photo's of homes in our neighborhood that still have it the original honey oak) so this is actually an improvement - yikes! But even in the 80's, I didn't like the country shutter door look.
2. The size. It's terrible. I have tall bottles that don't fit. I have small things that I have to stack because there's not enough space. To say this doesn't work for storage is an understatement. Wider and taller so that I can have a second shelf would be ideal.
3. That it's a traditional medicine cabinet. Which is weird, because as a rule, I like traditional decor. For this one though, I actually wanted an open concept shelving. I am not usually a fan of open concept. But maybe that's just in the kitchen. In this bathroom, in this spot, I wanted something pretty and open. 

This.  This is what I want. I love what this blogger did with this project. Well, for the most part. This looks pretty narrow in the photo. But the two shelves for tall items and the shelf for smaller items? Yep, totally envisioned that in my bathroom. The Builder liked it too, so it's a done deal. 

You may remember the opening when we took out the medicine cabinet, there was pink wallpaper from the original bathroom on back of the drywall.  We did decide to leave it there, but we used construction adhesive to adhere 1/4 wood to the back of the drywall. I wanted the shelved to be as deep as possible so I could have some decorative baskets to hold my miscellaneous junk.The blogger I got the inspiration for the built in used hers for nail polish. I love that I can customize this to make it something that will work for me. Ironically, the wall she built hers on is next to a diagonal wall as well. Go figure.

So here's what we have so far.

We started by making the cabinet wider. There was just a 2x4 in wall to hold in the medicine cabinet in place, so we opened it up all the way to the stud. That added about 2 inches. Not huge, put just a little wider. Ignore the switch, it won't be staying. It used to operate the incredibly noisy, leaking jets on the old tub. One day we might run a light fixture off of it, but the plan for now is that we'll cap it and close it up. The screws in the wall are wear we installed 2x4's to adhere the 1/4 inch MDF.  Where we gained the most space was in the height. Overall, we added 4 inches to the height. This will let me hold some of my taller bottles here instead of all crammed under the sink. Even when we're not sharing a single vanity, I never had enough storage for my makeup and toiletries.

Then we added a ledge to match the one at the window. This one is lower profile. The wall to the right is actually on a diagonal. I didn't want one of us to come around the corner and walk into a ledge that was jutting out too far. You can really see how out of plumb these walls are! A lot of this will be covered with the molding. We have to work with what we have. There was no way we were going to rip out and replace any more studs! The Builder is fussing about it still, but I think it will be fine. I'm completely over tearing out any more studs in bathrooms!

And here's where we are at the end of the weekend.

Already, you can see that the trim makes up for a lot of the edge not being plumb. We think the molding really adds height to the look of the cabinet. And now that switch looks really close! Clearly we have some more drywall work in the not to distant future. 

We still need to fill the back of the built in so there isn't a seam, as well as fill the nail holes on the molding. We still have 2-3 shelves that will need to be installed, as well as paint and primer. So a little more work still on this one. I really like how it mimics the window on the next wall:

OK, don't look out the window. It lets in beautiful natural light, but sadly, the fence seems even worse than it did when we started this project a few months ago.  The temperatures have finally cooled down for Houston, so I suspect here in another month or two, a new fence is in our future. Thankfully I have blinds! But you can see that the molding and the casing matches the built in as well. 

Again, we still have primer and paint to go, but we're down to what The Builder would refer to as "the punch list". The light at the end of tunnel!!  However, that means we're going to have to get started on the vanity next so we can say the entire project is done. We're so close to being done in here!