So … not long ago I shared the epic battle for a creative bathroom in our apartment in India. We’re going to India in September to *finally* do more work on our apartment there and attend a very important wedding. We need to finish one bathroom ASAP in the early days so the space is habitable. So, easy is a key word, especially for the sink, vanity and plumbing configuration. My husband wanted this:
I had my eye on this:
Never mind getting it to India. We will figure it all out as we always have before. But last night, now that we’re getting serious about making decisions, I noticed something in the product description:
“Must be installed from the back side of the wall.”
Whaaa? Does that mean what I think it does? Indeed it was confirmed. You need to be able to go through the wall to install it.
Well that’s not happening in the India pied-à-terre. Because the walls are concrete many, many inches thick!
So … they say to have a Plan B and a Plan C. Oh I got lots of Plans! All the way to Plan Z. Just need to find one that will work. We need easy. But not at the expense of these:
- Creative
- Rustic
- Unique, like people say “huh, I haven’t seen that before”
- Small, the space is tiny
Some inspiration photos in the epic battle post showed wall-mounted sinks:
Wall mounted is a good solution: it can be small, simple all-in-one units eliminate need for even a basin installation, everything is off the floor for easy cleaning.
I love the stone ones but have no idea where to find a stone wall-mounted sink in Chennai, India. I don’t have the time and energy to source it. Maybe I’ll take a cruise through Alibaba but I have low tolerance right now for winding up having low quality delivered. Instead, I’m looking for something we can take in a suitcase. Yep! You read that right! The sink cannot be more than 24″ wide and if it’s approx 18-20″ deep, it certainly will fit in a large suitcase. So other constraint is weight. We fly Etihad which has generous check-in bag policy but still, stone is not going to happen.
What will work?
A copper wall-mounted unit like this shared a few years ago here, from Copper Sinks Direct:
Yep, that would fit in one of our large suitcases.
Another option is mount a piece of water-resistant wood, similar to this look from Signature Hardware:
With interesting faucet and basin choices, a simple teakwood slab could become creative. Many bathroom fixtures in India are contemporary — think the sleekest and shiniest from Milan! — but I could easily take a unique basin and interesting faucet from the U.S. in a suitcase.
With a wall-mounted unit, I do worry about exposed pipes. It might take some doing to have pretty pipes. I don’t quite expect something this nice:
But I would want attractive plumbing, not totally utilitarian. Certainly here in the U.S. you can find whatever you want. I’m not as familiar with sources in Chennai though they do have Kohler and other brands. We will likely be hitting up Vaigai Sanitation first days there.
Maybe building something like this — seen at PIRCH — out of wood in India would be a solution to hide pipes:
Maybe we could find gorgeous grain too. Of course it’s easy to find a square or rectangular basin in the U.S. and … you got it … you can take it in a suitcase!
Mostly I hope to finish this bathroom in September so I don’t write about it any more and move on to something else! Searching the history of this blog brings up a lot of inspiration posts for this master bathroom.
And oh … one final thing … here’s the rustic mirror for the bathroom (going to India in a suitcase!) so whatever we choose needs to look okay with this:
Honestly I think my husband does not like this mirror at all, but I think once it’s installed, he will “get it” and like it. It brings the rustic — and rusted — look of the inspiration bathrooms up above. The whole picture is in my head right now so it’s totally understandable that it’s hard for anyone else to see.