Vanity Build – Lemonade out of Lemons


Just a brief update on the vanity build to share some important news. The vanity build took a hard left turn so-to-say. The base cabinets are too short. That’s all there is to it. It was designed too short based upon dimensions we didn’t scrutinize enough and we didn’t catch the mistake until we had a discussion on the overall height. Just a simple error that slipped under the radar. Dimension error compounded by a design error. If you take a children’s desk and add 6″ to the bottom of the feet it doesn’t make it an adult desk. It makes it a children’s desk with stilts. We aren’t going to accept a project on stilts as our final product. We’ve explored every alternative to modifying the bases to work and unfortunately everything just looks like a bandaid of some kind. The other option is to remake the bases entirely but we’re not taking that route due to the footage we already shot being confusing with new material and, most importantly, not having a good color match between the top and the bottom by getting a mixed amount of lumber from two batches. Live, learn, and move on with your chin up.

The solution is to split the build. We are putting the lower cabinets aside to think about a future use for them and are going to proceed with a pub style or man-cave style dart board cabinet with the upper cabinets. We will sell the cabinet locally once completed.

I’m sharing this with you because, as we all know, we all make mistakes. When I leave a mistake in one of my videos it’s because there is something to be learned from it. Other mistakes that have no value in showing I simply do not show. We all make mistakes. Learn from them and move on with more knowledge. And when life gives you lemons…make lemonade :)

5 COMMENTS

  1. I left a comment about dense foam surrounding the board and LED lighting. I have a couple pictures of my cabinet if you are interested. I also added a laser toe line too.

  2. Jay, you are awesome. Thanks for being honest and candid about this; refreshing to see from anyone, especially one creating content you could so easily control / edit.

  3. One option I didn’t hear: Make the work surface thicker. Build it as a box, perhaps with a set of thin drawers in it?

  4. Guys a thought I have comes from a similar type mistake on my part. I ended up changing the lower section by adding a pullout tray to top of each pedestal and a drawer to the center. I only needed to gain back 3 inches because of a last minute mod I had made to my case.

  5. One material that might work well around the dart board is called Homasote. It is a sound deadening material about 1/2″ thick. I have used in the back of hutches on my kids desk for push pins and pictures. It can be wrapped in different fabric colors for appearance purposes.

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