Planning a timber vanity for your bathroom? After building timber vanities for Adelaide homes for years, we’ve noticed the same issues come up time and again. Not small things, these are decisions that lead to expensive do-overs or daily frustrations that clients live with for years.
From plumbing placement to storage planning to timing, here’s what to watch out for and how to get it right from the start.
1. Think About Plumbing & Tapware First Before Vanity
You’ll find a vanity design you love, maybe you’ve saved it on Instagram or seen something similar in a friend’s bathroom. Then the plumber arrives and tells you the waste pipe is in the wrong spot, or your wall-mounted tap won’t work with that basin position.
People spend thousands relocating plumbing, or worse, abandon their dream vanity entirely because the practical side wasn’t sorted first.
What helps: Before you start looking at vanity designs, take note of where your plumbing currently sits. If you’re going with wall-mounted taps, you’ll need to think about vanity depth differently than if you’re mounting taps on the benchtop.
And if you’re doing a full renovation, get your plumber and vanity maker talking to each other early, not once you’ve already ordered everything. It’s much easier to design a timber vanity around existing plumbing than to move plumbing around a vanity design.
2. Be Honest About How Much Storage You Actually Need
About six months after installation, we sometimes get calls asking if we can retrofit drawers into a vanity. The answer is usually no, or it means basically rebuilding the whole thing. The problem is that beautiful floating vanities with open shelving look incredible in photos. However, in real life, you need somewhere to put hairdryers, straighteners, cleaning supplies, spare towels, and all the other bits that accumulate in bathrooms.
What helps: Before finalising your design, think about everything currently stored in your bathroom. Not just the pretty stuff, but the practical everyday items too. Where’s it all going to live?
We can build drawers with dividers, pull-out sections for hair tools, hidden compartments, whatever you need. But it’s much better to plan this from the start than try to add it later. Yes, more storage costs more. But it’s still cheaper than living with a vanity that doesn’t work for how you actually use your bathroom.
3. Consider Your Bathroom’s Light Before Choosing Timber Colour
Dark walnut timber vanities look stunning in the right bathroom. But in a small powder room with no window? That same dark timber can make the space feel quite heavy and enclosed. We’ve had clients replace perfectly good vanities simply because they didn’t realise how the colour would feel in their specific space.
What helps: Think about your bathroom’s natural light situation. If you’ve got big windows and lots of natural light, you can go as dark as you like. If your bathroom is internal or doesn’t get much sun, lighter timbers like Tasmanian Oak or American Oak will keep the space feeling more open.
4. Make Sure Your Bathroom Ventilation Is Actually Up To Scratch
People sometimes worry that timber won’t handle bathroom moisture. Properly finished timber handles normal bathroom conditions without any issues. The real problem is when ventilation is poor. We’ve seen timber vanities perform beautifully for 20+ years in well-ventilated bathrooms. We’ve also seen issues in bathrooms that are essentially steam rooms because there’s no exhaust fan or window that opens.
What helps: Before you commit to timber, take an honest look at your bathroom’s ventilation. Do you have a window that actually opens? An exhaust fan that works properly and that you remember to use? If your ventilation isn’t great, either improve it first or think carefully about whether timber is the right choice for that particular bathroom.
Good quality timber vanities with proper finishes handle humidity well. They just can’t handle perpetually damp environments, but to be fair, most materials struggle with that.
5. Don’t Go Too Small Just To Save Space
Small bathrooms make people nervous. The thinking goes – if I choose a really narrow vanity, I’ll have more floor space, and it won’t feel cramped.Then they live with it. Basins that splash everywhere because there’s no counter space. Nowhere to put anything while washing your hands. Storage that is shallow is basically decorative. It doesn’t make the bathroom feel bigger, it just makes it feel awkward.
What helps: There are some minimum sizes that just work better. Less than 450mm deep, and you’ll struggle. Under 600mm wide for a single vanity starts to feel quite tight. For small bathrooms, there are better solutions than just making everything miniature. Wall-hung timber vanities Adelaide create a sense of space without sacrificing actual size.
Custom sizing means we can maximise your specific space rather than you just going arbitrarily small. A properly sized timber vanity that works for how you actually use your bathroom is better than a tiny one that frustrates you every day.
6. Leave Some Benchtop Space for Real Life
Minimal looks clean in photos. In real life, you need somewhere to put the soap dispenser, a hand towel, or your toothbrush. Within a few weeks, those perfectly minimal designs often end up looking cluttered anyway—because people need to put their stuff somewhere.
What helps: When planning your timber vanity, think about zones. You need space around the basin, obviously. But also somewhere for hand-washing essentials, daily items you reach for every morning, maybe a spot for your phone. For a single vanity, a 900mm width gives you decent working space. For double vanities, 1500mm is workable, but 1800mm is noticeably better.
It’s about finding the balance between having enough surface for daily life and enough storage to keep things tidy.
7. Custom Work Takes More Time Than You’d Think
Every few months, someone contacts us needing a custom vanity in one week because their renovation has already started. Custom timber vanities aren’t sitting on a shelf somewhere. Each one is made specifically for you. Timber selection, construction, finishing, and proper curing time – it all adds up.
What helps: Plan for about 8-10 weeks from the first meeting to installation.
Ideally, start talking to your vanity maker before your renovation even begins. Finalise the design early. That way, construction happens while other trades are working, and your vanity arrives when you actually need it.
When you allow proper time, you get better results. There’s space for design refinements, time to source exactly the right timber, and far less stress all round. Rushing either means compromising on quality or settling for off-the-shelf options that don’t quite fit.
Getting Timber Vanities Adelaide Right From the Start
These issues come up so often because they’re not obvious until you’ve lived with the choices for a while. By then, fixing them is expensive and disruptive. The common thread is starting conversations early and thinking through how you’ll actually use your bathroom, not just how it looks in inspiration photos.
Custom timber bathroom vanities are a significant investment. Taking time to consider these things means you’ll actually love living with yours, rather than wondering what you could have done differently.
Want to learn more? Read our blog post on Timber Bathroom Vanities Adelaide
Planning a Timber Vanity for your Adelaide bathroom? At STADC Surfaces, we build custom timber bathroom vanities for Adelaide homes with a focus on practicality, quality, and thoughtful design.
We’d be happy to walk through these considerations with you. Our consultation process covers all of this plumbing, storage, timber selection for your lighting, and realistic timelines, so your vanity is designed properly from the start. Contact us today to bring your new vanity to life.
