The Handmade Sink
The bathhouse needed a proper sink. No store-bought fixtures, everything handmade from found and reclaimed materials.
The Basin
Found an old brass metal dish at the flea market. The seller said it came from a church, and once I had a proper look at it I figured it was probably one of those holy water dishes you find at the entrance. It had good weight and character to it. I later picked up a brass faucet to go with it.
Once I cleaned off the heavy oxidation the dish revealed itself properly. It looked like it had a gold layer on it, strong silver and gold tones across most of the surface, the kind of thing that makes you think it genuinely spent time in a church. Only the center showed the bare brass underneath, worn down from years of use. Beautiful object.
The Vanity
For the cabinet I used scrap wooden boards that were lying around the property. Cut the hole for the dish to drop into, then sanded everything down properly, rounded all the edges so nothing is sharp to the touch. Then I made two support legs cut at a 45 degree angle, designed to lean against the bathhouse wall on one end and against the underside of the vanity on the other, keeping the whole thing stable against the wall without needing to bolt anything into it.
Assembly
Everything got painted in the same dark brown stain as the rest of the bathhouse. I maybe went one or two coats too many and it came out almost black, but honestly it still looked great and tied in well with everything else.
For mounting the faucet I found a metal angle bracket and drilled a hole through it for the faucet stem, then four more holes for the screws. Cut off the part I didn't need and that became my mounting plate. Faucet through the hole, screws in, rings and nuts tightened from the back. Solid.
Then I sprayed expanding foam along the bottom edge of the dish where it meets the vanity, to stop it sitting on a sharp rim. Once that cured I cut the excess foam back, ran a bead of silicone around the edge, pressed the dish down into the hole and sealed it all so no water can work its way underneath.
Plumbing
On the outside of the wall I connected all the pipework coming from the water tank. The line arrives at the wall and splits into two: one branch drops down and feeds through the wall to the sink faucet, the other goes up and through the wall to the shower head. Clean split, both working off the same gravity-fed supply.
The Basin
Found an old brass metal dish at the flea market. The seller said it came from a church, and once I had a proper look at it I figured it was probably one of those holy water dishes you find at the entrance. It had good weight and character to it. I later picked up a brass faucet to go with it.
Once I cleaned off the heavy oxidation the dish revealed itself properly. It looked like it had a gold layer on it, strong silver and gold tones across most of the surface, the kind of thing that makes you think it genuinely spent time in a church. Only the center showed the bare brass underneath, worn down from years of use. Beautiful object.
The Vanity
For the cabinet I used scrap wooden boards that were lying around the property. Cut the hole for the dish to drop into, then sanded everything down properly, rounded all the edges so nothing is sharp to the touch. Then I made two support legs cut at a 45 degree angle, designed to lean against the bathhouse wall on one end and against the underside of the vanity on the other, keeping the whole thing stable against the wall without needing to bolt anything into it.
Assembly
Everything got painted in the same dark brown stain as the rest of the bathhouse. I maybe went one or two coats too many and it came out almost black, but honestly it still looked great and tied in well with everything else.
For mounting the faucet I found a metal angle bracket and drilled a hole through it for the faucet stem, then four more holes for the screws. Cut off the part I didn't need and that became my mounting plate. Faucet through the hole, screws in, rings and nuts tightened from the back. Solid.
Then I sprayed expanding foam along the bottom edge of the dish where it meets the vanity, to stop it sitting on a sharp rim. Once that cured I cut the excess foam back, ran a bead of silicone around the edge, pressed the dish down into the hole and sealed it all so no water can work its way underneath.
Plumbing
On the outside of the wall I connected all the pipework coming from the water tank. The line arrives at the wall and splits into two: one branch drops down and feeds through the wall to the sink faucet, the other goes up and through the wall to the shower head. Clean split, both working off the same gravity-fed supply.
