Small Home Gazette, Winter 2020
Creative Solutions: Mother of Invention
The fabric doors under the sink blend beautifully with this bungalow’s bathroom.
When Lisa and David bought their Minneapolis bungalow in 2009, they knew the bathroom needed work. “The bathroom had been remodeled with iridescent plastic tile on the walls and a strange sink,” Lisa recalls. They searched local salvage businesses but were challenged to find a sink that would fit the small space and provide a bit of storage.
They compromised on a new cabinet sink from a local retailer. However, according to Lisa “the doors looked like melting plastic.” David, an accomplished woodworker, promised to make new doors for the under-sink cabinet, but the project stalled due to more urgent needs elsewhere in the house.
The new sink and cabinet fit the small bathroom while providing decent storage.
Fast forward several years to when they volunteered their house for the annual Twin Cities Bungalow Club home tour. The cabinet still did not have doors. With the tour deadline looming, Lisa needed to find an alternative approach, and fast! One day she was looking at fabrics in a quilting shop. “I saw a great cotton fabric that had the same hexagonal pattern as the bathroom tile floor and I had an ‘aha!’ moment. I knew I could make temporary fabric doors for the sink cabinet,” Lisa says. “As a bonus, I also made a fabric flap for a clothes chute we had added to the bathroom.”
A piece of extra fabric covers the opening of the bathroom’s clothes chute.
While she had not seen the idea of a fabric closure on a bathroom sink cabinet before, Lisa recalled photos of the fabric treatment on vintage kitchen sink cabinets. With this assurance of a period-appropriate solution, she swung into action.
“I simply cut two rectangular panels; folded under the raw edges; and tacked them to the front of the cabinet with decorative upholstery studs that matched other elements in the bathroom. The panels are attached flush to the edges on the top and sides of the cabinet so they just open in the middle. They fall to the bottom edge of the cabinet but not all the way to the floor. I hand-sewed on two small “frog” closures to hold the panels together in the middle. I chose not to cover the sides of the cabinet or gather the fabric because I didn’t want a ‘country’ look.”
The homeowner selected the fabric because its offset row design echoed the pattern of the hexagonal floor tiles. The cotton fabric is held in place with upholstery studs that match other elements in the bathroom. The center opening is held together with sewn-on frog closures.
Several years later, the fabric doors are still in service. David has partially retired from work, so Lisa is hopeful the hoped-for doors will rise up on his “to-do” list. In the meantime, this creative solution is quietly filling the need.
Other Examples?
If you know of other creative solutions to make bungalows more livable, send them to us at mail@ bungalowclub.net. Whether they save space; provide modern convenience with an historically-appropriate appearance; or simply make the best of a difficult situation, we would love to share them in the Small Home Gazette.
