You always find something when you’re not looking…

We went to the Home Depot on Sunday to price out some 3×5 Hardie Backerboard.   Hardie Backer provides a stable, water-resistant substrate and a strong surface to bond tile to.  It’s a must, if you plan to lay floor tile.  We’ve installed floor tile in 2 other spaces in our home, and used it every time.   Once we remove the laminate floor in the kitchen, Ryan will screw it down to the sub-floor.  (More on Hardibacker here).

Oh,  I forgot to mention we ordered our countertop on Friday!  Since the countertop debockle is hopefully settled, we were also able to make a final decision on tile (which we did) and it was ordered Saturday, hence the backerboard shopping!  We ended up ordering a completely different tile than what we originally picked out, mentioned here.  I forgot to take a picture of it and of course we returned the sample when we went back to place our order.  It’s called River something or something River…not like that helps you at all.  It’s a grey-ish black porcelain in 13×13 squares.  Why did we change our mind?  A) it was thinner (we were worried about the threshold between our kitchen and dining room being level)  B) it was less expensive  C) we decided that the faux wood tile had too much of a brown hue in the sunlight.  Decision made.  It’s paid for and no returns.  We’ve already spent too much valuable time going back and forth between tile and countertops, Michelle said “enough is enough!”.

Anywhooo…back to our shopping trip at Home Depot.  Near the lumber area we found a display of 2 different bathroom vanities.  Why they were placed in the opposite corner from the bath and kitchen section is beyond me.  About 3 months ago I painted our basement full bath.

Painting the walls spurred the removal of our pepto-pink commode and matching pepto-pink sink.  We donated both beautifully dated pieces to the Habitat for Humanity Restore.  After a few commode returns (of course our old 1964 toilet was a special order, smaller unit (just like our oven mention here and here))  we installed an up-to-date white one.  The next step was to purchase a new vanity/sink.  Because the space is fairly small, I wanted a pedestal sink.  Ryan wanted a vanity.  Neither us wanted to budge so our bath has been without-sink for 3 months.  I was totally open to a vanity, but 18″ deep vanities are hard to come by.  We located a unit at Lowes, but because it was a cool 300 bones we passed.  That leads me to our find at Home Depot: the vanity!  The oddly placed vanities were much smaller than standard ones.  I pulled out my measuring tape (yes, I keep a mini one in my purse at all times) and ran the dimensions.  Holy Heck!  It was 24″ wide and 18″ deep and it was white!   We I got a little excited!  Two minutes into deliberation, we decided it was sold.  I quickly found a flatbed and Ryan loaded that baby up to take home.

Before we brought the vanity into the bath I took a few shots so you could see what we had been living with for the past 3 months.  Because this is our basement, it rarely gets used so it was never an inconvenience not having a vanity.

And no, we still haven’t even removed the stickers from the new commode.  We kind of forgot about it since we’re never in the space.  Good news, the vanity fit!  I was a little worried that my wall dimensions may have been off.

I especially like the square profile on the cabinet doors, which is definitely more contemporary than a pepto-pink wall mounted sink!  Of course it’s not connected yet or anything.  We didn’t want to invest in a faucet or drain until we knew it absolutely fit.  I suppose one day after work we’ll head back up to the Home Depot and purchase that.  I think at this point the GPS in my car is permanently programmed to drive in that direction…haha!

What do you think?  Vast improvement?  Would you have replaced the pepto-pink sink with a pedestal instead of a vanity?  Did you find something you needed and weren’t shopping for this weekend too?!  Happy Monday!!