One Room Challenge: Powder Room Sink Skirt (Week 4)

We’re over halfway through this wild six week challenge, and today I’m throwin’ it back to an element that’s not often seen these days:  Sink Skirts.

If you need to catch up, check out these posts:

Week 1 Befores | Week 2 Wallpaper | Week 3 Mirror

 

Something about this little vintage sink really enchanted me.  It was the perfect size for this tiny powder room, and I love the character and interest it brought to the room.  A few years ago when we renovated most of the house, I had the pinky beige sink coated in white and reinstalled.  The fresh white background in the new wallpaper works perfectly with the sink.

The Fabric

This wall-mounted vintage sink provides the perfect opportunity for a sink skirt.  I knew I wanted something fitted, maybe pleated (not gathered).  Inspired by the treatment Jenny used on the Ikea curtains in her Fall 2017 One Room Challenge, I decided to DIY my own striped fabric.

 

Jenny used fabric pen on white fabric to create a windowpane treatment.  I love the unique and artistic look it gave to the curtains, and wanted to use a similar approach.

I purchased navy cotton duck fabric and used a bleach pen to create lines in the fabric. First I drew the lines with chalk.  Then I applied the bleach, which is in a gel-type form in the “pen”.  I let the bleach sit overnight to get the most dye out of the fabric.  Check out my Instagram Story Highlights for ORC to see the titillating video of this process!

I really liked the way the stripes turned out…not a true white, but with a slightly pink hue, which worked perfectly with the wallpaper.

You can see that gorgeous little rug that I was testing out in the space.  It’s from Urban Outfitters and much less expensive than you’d think!

So, I sewed up a skirt made of three panels, with inverted pleats at the two corners.

To attach the skirt to the sink, I considered velcro, but worried that the adhesive velcro strip would not adhere to the underside of the sink well.  Instead, I ordered a set of tiny, but super strong magnets and spaced them out in a sleeve that I sewed to the top of the skirt.

Don’t mind the sloppy thread…it gets the job done! I had to use the ruler as I sewed to keep the magnets from sticking to the sewing machine.

The front panel lifted to reveal storage below the sink.

I mean, it was cute and all, but it just seemed like too much.  Too “craft room“.  Too sloppy.  Too homemade.  With the bold hand-panted-esque wallpaper and the big busy mirror, this sink skirt just didn’t work.

The Real Fabric

I popped over to the fabric store to see what I could find.  Seeing the organic looking stripes had taught me that the skirt needed to be much more tailored and polished looking to balance all of the other busy-ness.  I found a gorgeous subtle wide stripe that would do just that (Thoreau Stripe by Kasmir…this color must be discontinued).

When I got home, I propped it under the sink to see, and the subtle beige and pale blue worked perfectly!

I quickly took the magnet sleeve off of the other skirt and started sewing the new one.

Before I could snap a pic, I had it all done!  Anxious, much!?

I created inverted pleats, with the blue just peaking out.  The spacing between the stripes worked out perfectly, with a pleat centered at the middle of each side, and one at each corner.  I also did a blind hem at the bottom, so this skirt is much nicer looking and more tailored than the last.  Just the right amount of sophistication (if a sink skirt can be sophisticated!).

There you have it.  The story of our tiny little sink and a fresh new skirt for her. Next week I’ll be sharing more about storage in this space.  You got a peek at the under sink storage, but there’s another little piece that brings style and function to the room.  Come back to see!

Be sure to check out the other participant’s Week 4 updates here.  The featured designers are all linked here.  A big thanks to Linda Weinstein of Calling it Home for creating such a fun and inspiring challenge, and to House Beautiful, the official media sponsor.

 

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