When we moved into our 140-year-old cottage a decade ago, one of my first thoughts was ‘that bedroom sink has got to go’. My husband was in agreement: ‘We’ll never use it, it’s a waste of space,’ he said. The white porcelain bowl with its integrated (and more than a little kitsch) shell soap dishes jarred with both the dark wood vanity unit underneath and the patterned blue and white tiles that were added as a modern splashback. Then there were the Hollywood-style vanity lights above the mirror. It felt all wrong.
I've since learned there is a reason why you are more likely to find bedroom sinks in historical properties. Interior designer Emma Sims-Hilditch explains: ‘Bedroom basins were once relatively common, particularly in Georgian and Victorian houses, when bathrooms were less widespread and washing facilities were more limited.’ Co-Founder, CEO and Chief Creative of HÁM Interiors Tom Cox adds: ‘Bedroom sinks turn up a lot in houses like this – old farmhouses, rectories – anything built long before every room had its own en suite. They were simply practical, somewhere to wash without trekking down a cold corridor.’
Our cottage is Grade II-listed, so extending for extra bathroom space is virtually out of the question without overcoming a lot of heritage red tape, meaning our bedroom sink has earned its keep in our somewhat-lacking-in-the-bathroom-department house. Tom, who also has a bedroom vanity in his 17th century listed house in Devon, agrees they can be a very practical solution when space and extension potential are limited. ‘You're rather stuck with the space if you can't open anything up or move a wall, which forces you to think more cleverly about what you've got.’
As with many things when you move into a new home, unless you change them straight away, they end up sticking around a lot longer than you intend. But in this case it was different. With a young baby, I quickly started to actually make use of my bedroom sink – being able to quickly wash my hands between nighttime feeds and nappy changes, which was a more appealing alternative, as Tom references above, to schlepping downstairs (babe in arms) to our only family bathroom and standing, bleary-eyed on a freezing tiled floor.
So if you move into a house with a bedroom sink, should you keep it? As was my first instinct, Tom's was also to remove the bedroom sink from his Devon house. But his advice now is: ‘Live with it first. I have three bedrooms upstairs and one main bathroom, so a basin in the bedroom takes the pressure off. When you can't add another bathroom, it's a clever way to win a bit of that function back. And they're much harder to put back than they are to keep, so it's worth pausing before you lose one.’
Even as my kids have grown up, our bedroom sink has continued to prove its worth. The simple acts of brushing my teeth and washing my face in the comfort of my bedroom, cosy carpet under foot, before collapsing straight into bed, has become something of a ritualistic luxury, allowing for just a few moments of uninterrupted me-time when I don’t have to fight for privacy.
Tom says it's about ‘working with what a house gives you’. ‘Constraints like a listing can sound frustrating, but they push you towards more characterful solutions than you'd ever reach on a blank canvas. The trick is to treat it as a chance to add something lovely rather than tolerate something that was plumbed in years ago.
‘Mine has plenty of storage, is painted with a folky finish and topped with marble, paired with an antique mirror and unlacquered brass taps that will patina over time. Designed properly, a bedroom basin stops feeling like a leftover and becomes one of the nicest corners of the room.’
Emma agrees that you can embrace the aesthetic benefit of a bedroom sink: ‘From a design perspective, an existing basin can add a sense of history.’ She adds: ‘If a basin is original to the house, I would think twice before removing it. It can add character and provide a useful feature without taking up much space. The downside is that it can look out of place if it hasn’t been considered as part of the overall scheme. I’d generally look at how the basin can be incorporated into the design rather than seeing its presence as a reason to remove it.’
I can certainly vouch for that. Giving our bedroom sink vanity unit a lick of Frenchic Paint in Wedding Cake – a vintage-look off-white – means it now blends far better with the linen headboard of my washed oak Loaf bed, rather than standing out like a quirky historical throwback. Ok, so we’re still yet to change the lighting to something more in-keeping (I’ve got my eye on a Pooky antique brass picture light), and I’ve actually developed a fondness for those kitschy seashell soap dishes. But hopefully you'll forgive me those minor decor indiscretions if reading this has made you reconsider ripping out a seemingly outdated hunk of porcelain in favour of embracing its potential usefulness and charm.
Whether or not it is useful to have an existing basin in your bedroom is an entirely different question to whether you should install one in the first place, though. It s certainly comes under the category of more niche bedroom ideas, and the answer depends on many more practical factors. ‘I wouldn’t install one purely for aesthetic reasons,’ explains Emma, ‘but it can be worth considering when renovating an older property, particularly for a guest bedroom or a room without an en-suite.’
The style of the house is important, she adds. ‘A simple basin can feel very natural in a period property, whereas I’d be more selective in a contemporary scheme. They work particularly well in bedrooms with a traditional or relaxed feel, where materials such as painted wood, natural stone, aged brass and patterned fabrics can help the basin feel part of the room.’
It's also worth considering factors such as flooring, splashbacks and plumbing. Interior designer and founder of Imperfect Interiors, Beth Dadswell, incorporated a bedroom sink into her former Cotswolds stone cottage, along with a bateau bath to create a cosy suite. She explains: ‘It’s much easier and cheaper to install a sink in a bedroom if there is already plumbing and drainage for another bathroom close by that can be tapped into. Other considerations would be a change of floor surface, as sinks are not always practical in a carpeted bedroom.’
She added low-level tongue and groove panelled walls, wooden flooring under the basin and bath in place of the existing sisal matting, and positioned the sink under the window to create a nook and tuck the area away visually.
If, like Tom and I, you move into a historic property that already has a plumbed-in bedroom sink, I urge you to live with it a while before taking drastic action, as you may find it transforms from an unusual decorative quirk into a little luxury you can’t live without.
