BATHROOM REMODELING
2 July 2008
"Good Medicine"
Speaking of design, as we often are in these blogs, the lowly medicine cabinet is an often overlooked item in a bathroom remodeling, not unlike a kitchen hood in kitchen remodelings. In previous blogs I have expanded at some length on the design possibilities of kitchen hoods, but the main thrust of my argument was that the hood could, with just a little imagination, become the focal point of any kitchen. I honestly think similar things can be said for medicine cabinets. Far too many of us settle for the simple all-mirror-front, cheap-metal-interior cheap, cheap, cheap item that comes with the typical tract home. Oh, once in a while you see a home builder pop for one with an oak mirror, but really, that’s just old wine in new bottles. Open the door and you see the same cheap interior. And the other part of that, of course, is the design statement that can be m
ade, with just a little bit of imagination.
The item at the left is very much a case in point. It’s made by Vali&Vali, who makes some of the slickest products you’re ever going to see, which is not too surprising when one considers that they are, after all, one of those cutting-edge Italian manufacturers. It kind of makes you wonder why the good old USA isn’t doing work like this, but maybe I should look a little harder before I make an assessment like that! Be that as it may, I do think this company is very much worth a second look by our readers, which is why it is featured here.
Another item, which takes us back to the good old USA, is the Mendenhall Wood Medicine Cabinet from Rejuvenation. There are any number of people on both coasts who are working to restore a home to what it was at the turn of the twentieth century. For those people, a company like Rejuvenation makes perfect sense, as they have just about anything a body could ever want for such a project.
I find this company particularly interesting because one of our dreams was to buy an old Arts and Crafts home and then restore it, but we fell into a Catch-22 situation. Unfortunately, those homes that are perfect subjects for such a project won’t, because of their condition, qualify for the VA financing we used. And those that would qualify were already fixed up and, in their pristine condition, considerably more expensive than we could afford! So, now I’m customizing a tract home!
The last item I wanted to feature on this subject is the one with which I began, really, the medicine cabinet at the top of this blog. It’s another wooden medicine cabinet, but not just another wooden medicine cabinet, really, or at least not to me. In both design and the quality of workmanship, it is actually more in keeping with what I will eventually make for our own home. In fact, seeing what Wood Essentials has done, I can’t help wishing I’d thought of going into that particular business myself. But since they’re way ahead of me and so forth, the question for me now, I suppose, is do I want to go to the trouble of making a wooden medicine cabinet, or do I just buy one from them? Decisions, decisions!
Joseph
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