Half bath refresh? Ditch the bulky vanity! Build a simple, space-saving vessel sink table for a modern touch. [Easy DIY guide included!]

Over the last six weeks, I’ve been sharing a tiny powder room makeover — my entry in the One Room Challenge!

The different rooms are really shaping up. It is so fun to see how much some have changed from their original plans and some are absolutely spot-on! Be sure to check out all the challengers.

We all know half baths can feel, well, half-sized. But fear not! I have some great tricks for using every bit of space to our advantage.

Bulky bathroom vanities can seriously cramp your style (and let’s be honest, your legroom). But I have a game-changer for you, friends: the vessel sink vanity table!

It’s all about clean lines, modern vibes, and of course, showcasing those stunning vessel sinks everyone’s loving. Let’s dive into why this was the perfect solution for my half bath makeover — and it might be for yours.

A Quick Recap of the First Six Weeks:

The Dreaming and Planning:

First Step – Wk 1 – Determining your goals for your makeover — starting with functionality and then adding style including general color palette 

Next Step  – Wk 2 – Refining and finalizing design choices — from flooring to wallpaper, to furniture pieces and specific paint colors

Third Step – Wk 3 — Planning and scheduling before installation — Planning aids for total project management to streamline the process, saving time, energy and money.

These are foundational steps, the core of good project management. Do NOT skip them. 

Installation

Wk 4 — Easy Way to Make Custom Stacked Wood Molding — Streamlined, modern wall molding is just a jig away.

Wk 5 — DIY Guide to Chair Rail and Picture Frame Molding — Step by Step how to add a unique chair rail and custom box frames.

Wk 6 — Half Bath Walls: Best Advice for Paper, Lights, Mirror! — How to pick the best options for your space and style.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Let’s take a look at the sink options for a small half bathroom.

Half Bath Sink Showdown:

Vessel Sink on Table vs. The Rest

Small bathroom, big dreams, right?

Choosing the right sink for your half bath makeover can feel overwhelming. We’ve all seen the gorgeous vessel sinks gracing bathroom magazines, but how do they stack up against the classics?

Let’s Break Down the Pros of a Vessel Sink on a Table Vanity:

Vs. Traditional Vanity Sink-

• Advantage: Offers plenty of hidden storage for towels and toiletries. But wait a minute – – – it’s a HALF bath, two or three hand towels and hand soap doesn’t require a lot of hidden storage!
• Advantage: Lots of options readily available
• Vessel sink Table Advantage: Frees up floor space visually and feels less bulky, perfect for a tight half bath

Vs. Pedestal Sink–

• Advantage: Offers a clean, minimalist look or a charming vintage look and is generally easier to clean underneath.
• Vessel Sink Table Advantage: The floorspace is one larger space vs. two 1/2 spaces of a pedestal. This was important for our kids’s half-bath as they are expecting in August and will be surprisingly quickly at the point of needing a potty chair for this only bath on the main floor.
• Vessel Sink Table Advantage: Provides more counter space for showcasing decorative items or keeping essentials handy. Plus, it allows for customization with the table design.

Vs. Wall-Mounted Sink-

• Advantage: Super space-saving, perfect for the tiniest half baths, like on airplanes and trains.
• Vessel Sink Table Advantage: wall-mounted sinks that are affordable have the style of an airplane bathroom. There are a few very stylish ones and very, very, very stylish prices.
• Vessel Sink Table Advantage: Offers more affordable stylish choices — ones we’d actually like to have. The table provides a platform for essentials that wouldn’t have a designated spot with a wall-mounted sink.

This one short list makes it clear why we removed a perfectly good pedestal sink in favor of a vanity table with vessel sink.

If you’re not convinced yet, there is also a significant BONUS Advantage: Vessel sink table vanities are surprisingly easy to DIY!

This allows you to personalize the design to match your taste and potentially save on costs compared to pre-made vanities.

So it’s no wonder why we decided to go this route: streamlined, modern style that Katie & Jon prefer with cost savings.

There’s a lot going on with other design elements in this tiny room, so we could keep the vanity table very simple. It provides a specific space they’ll need in about two years and is much more functional than the old pedestal sink we removed.

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Thanks Bunches! Now Back to Our Half Bath:

DIY Vessel Sink Table-Style Vanity

A Step-by-Step Guide

Are you doubting me? Wondering, it’s still a piece of furniture, it can’t be that simple.

To which I respond, no drawer slides, no drawer fronts, no cabinet door or even door frames, no new hardware, not even any side panels or bottom shelves. Although you certainly can add a bottom shelf if that better fits your needs.

It’s pretty easy to find free plans online, but our daughter knew exactly what she wanted for her new vanity table, so it was easier for me to start from scratch rather than modify an existing plan.

We did not want the countertop hugging the walls as traditional vanities with a marble countertop tend to do. She wanted the appearance of a piece of furniture that just happened to be the perfect size.

So Where to Start-

If you’ve been around here much, you know I subscribe to function first!!! And then we can make it stylish!

In order to assure great function, you have to have accurate measurements. So that’s the ultimate first step.

The depth from the sink wall to the door frame is 16 13/16-inches. From this I knew the deepest we could make our countertop would be 16-inches.

The width at the sink wall was 29 5/8-inches. Considering the chair rail and the picture frame boxes, we decided the countertop width should be 28-inches.

With a vessel sink, you need to allow for extra room for the faucet. If you are tight on space, be sure to find a great sink and faucet before you purchase and cut your lumber. You may find that you need to tweak the countertop to accommodate.

Most everything we were finding was pushing the limits of our countertop, until we found this beauty from Vigo!!!. Perfect for the kids style — particularly the matte finish as well as the unusual shape.

I was sold immediately because of the shape. By turning the sink 180-degrees, the back right corner is a “cutaway” kind of a void. Perfect for the faucet to sit there without being pushed up against the wall.

The only issue with this is the vigo logo is on the front of the sinking facing the wall, rather than on the back facing out to the front. But we are all fine with that.

It’s looks like a super expensive designer sink, but at a very, very affordable price. We were shocked — in a very pleasant way!

Jon really wanted a waterfall style faucet — the only question was black or aged gold. Gold won out easily. Even the pop up drain is gorgeous.

It is gorgeous! Great heavy quality, and amazing Stoop-approved packaging. It was wrapped like beautiful jewelry, which is what it is for this half bath.

I had never heard of Vigo until we were remodeling our current house before we moved in five years ago. I gambled and ordered three Vigo vessels faucets for our bathroom sinks! I have loved them. I am now a huge Vigo fan.

Now that the sink and faucet were identified, we could move forward with the wood.

Materials and Supplies-

• Four 3 x 3 poplar posts for the table legs
• 1 x 6 poplar boards for the countertop and apron
• 1 x 2 poplar boards for stretchers
• Scrap wood for reinforcement
• Wood Screws
• Pocket hole screws
• Clear coat, we used Varathane Sealer
• Fine sandpaper
• Wood Glue

• Miter saw
• Circular saw
• Power drill with bits for pocket holes
• Kreg pocket hole jig
• Clamps
• Forstner bits, spade bits will do
• Orbital sander
• Paint brush

Build the Countertop-

We started by building the countertop, cutting three lengths of boards 28-inches long. Then we ripped the width of two boards so the total width would be 16-inches.

We glued and clamped these together overnight.

After a good sanding with the orbital sander they were ready.

The Hubs and I did this much ahead of time at our home. This was still small enough we could take it on a plane secured in a TV box along with more wood.

Modify For Plumbing-

Once we arrived at our daughter’s house, we were able to determine the placement for the sink drain and the faucet.

Then our daughter and I set to work drilling these holes while The Hubs was busy painting the walls and trim work.

Large Forstner bits can jump on you. It’s well worth the time to assure a clean hole by following this tip.

PRO TIP: First drilling a hole in a piece of scrap lumber. Then clamp the scrap board to the countertop lining up the hole to your desired location. The scrap lumber holds your bit in place, resulting in a clean cut every time.

Building Our Frame-

The frame is our infrastructure and needs to be straight and sturdy!!!

I used a long level to check the floor in the small bathroom. It was surprisingly level with the exception of the front legs where I determined the leg needed to be just a hair longer.

It’s so much easier to make these kinds of custom cuts at the start so everything fits together really well.

None of us had ever made pocket holes. But with two YouTube videos under their belts and a borrowed Kreg pocket hole jig in hand, father and daughter made quick order of assembling the apron.

They assembled it with pocket holes so that no screws would show on the front panel.

A Kreg Pocket hole jig (either 520 or 720 pro) is on my major want need list — btw, my birthday is 9/1 Hint! Hint! 😉)

And yes everything was tight and level!!

Next they secured the legs with the stretchers around three sides (Remember, we didn’t want a stretcher across the front or they wouldn’t be able to slide the future potty chair under), it was time to assemble the apron. (This could have been done with one person if we had the right clamps).

Now it was a matter of joining the apron to the legs. The side apron panels will be just in front of the walls so those screws will not be seen.

PRO TIP: When level and square is critical, first use shims or pieces of cardboard to level a work surface for your project to rest on.

We also added scrap 2 x 4 to the underside of the countertop to add extra stability and strength. We positioned them across the seams of the three boards and attached them where they would also ride up against the inside edges of the 3 x 3 legs.

Adding Countertop and Pretties-

One last dry fit to make sure all is working well together and to mark the exact placement of the hidden 2 x 4 supports.

Now the next step was to combine countertop and frame in their permanent spot.

We set the frame in place. We glued the countertop in place. From underneath, we screwed the 2 x 4 supports to the legs and this really tightened everything up nicely.

We were out of time. So the kids will be calling a plumber in to hook up the water lines. But the drain and faucet are in place, looking beautiful and ready to go.

Finishing the Bathroom Table-

We all know what water does to wood. So needless to say, you want to seal all the wood surfaces very thoroughly. Throughout the week, we were constantly adding another layer of sealer to every side and every cut before we assembled. The countertop has at least 5 coats.

It may seem a bit illogical, but the bottom of the legs received a lot of my attention, multiple loving coats of sealer. Those are open grains and cuts of wood, and if there are ever puddles of water, I didn’t want the legs soaking up the water that might be on the floor.

Quick Recap-

All in all, this custom vanity table is a great beginner project!  Easy measurements and every cut was a straight cut. And it is easy to customize to just the right size.

This modern vanity table answers the kids’ needs with just enough room without taking up too much room.

And you know that’s a fine line to walk, and a harder line to shop for!!! So custom was definitely the only way to go on this one.

Probably not today, but maybe in the not so distant future you will want to refer back to this project. Pin it to Remember it. ⬇️

Be Sure to Check Back Next Week

It’s the Big Reveal With Amazing Custom Shelves

Please don’t hesitate with any questions you may have!