Countertops Part 2 | Bathroom
Cultured Marble
The second in a series of three posts about budget wise countertops
Finding antique and vintage pieces to use in a new house is a way to add character and to make a house your own. A vintage washstand in weathered pine with hand-carved doors makes a perfect bathroom vanity with patina that a new vanity does not have.
And, if an old washstand has a white marble top, even more patina to love and to cherish. Unless ... the marble top is broken into two almost equal pieces.
I considered the broken marble top a plus because I was torn over the idea of cutting a hole in a vintage washstand's top to add a sink and cutting a hole in the back for water pipe connections.
Since the marble was broken, converting the washstand into a vanity would not damage the top and reduce the washstand's value.
Finding a damaged vintage piece was the perfect solution for using it as a guest bathroom vanity. We got the best of both worlds, a vintage vanity without damaging an antique.
Since we were building our new dream home, we were watching our budget closely. A new marble top was too expensive when we built.
Instead we chose to buy a custom-made cultured marble top to replace the original broken marble with plans to buy a marble top later.
Another advantage to the cultured marble top besides cost was being able to select a pure white top with a custom-made ogee edge.
Look at the beautiful details in the curved edge.
Would a genuine stone marble top with veining be beautiful with the vintage pine? Of course, since a marble top would be more authentic to a vintage piece than the budget wise cultured marble.
All in all, I think the cultured marble top looks good with the vintage pine washstand and does not detract from the beauty of the old washstand.
The cultured marble top has looked so good over the past 31 years, we never got around to replacing it with a marble top.
See the reflection of the blue label? There is still a nice shine in the countertop, and the color is still bright white after all these years.
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| Small Master Bath Vanity Recently Painted White |
The countertops in our master bathroom are also white cultured marble. However, they had to be replaced about 10 years ago because the built-in sinks yellowed and cracked around the sink drains.
We replaced our master bath countertops with new cultured marble countertops, but installed porcelain sinks instead of built-in cultured marble ones.
Our master bathroom sinks and countertops are used daily, but the guest bathroom with the vintage pine vanity is used much less frequently and has always had the blue porcelain sink instead of a built-in cultured marble sink.
The small master bath vanity area is currently undergoing another mini-makeover. You can see the hole left from moving a wall switch farther to the right. Another update post about the progress is coming soon.
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When budgets call for budget wise countertops, a cultured marble countertop can be a good alternative to more expensive marble, quartz, granite, and wood.
You can still have a nice-looking countertop and stay within your budget by paying attention to the details. Ogee edges and porcelain sinks make the difference between a plain cultured marble countertop and a countertop with style.
Someday the guest bathroom's vintage pine washstand may be updated with a genuine marble top if the cultured marble top begins looking shabby.
