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“I think the skirted sink is coming back because we’re desperately trying to rid ourselves of the monotony that social media brings into the world,” announces designer Tali Roth. “By looking back, we get to find something unique and nondescript and reinterpret it to be our own.” She walks the walk, too—Roth posted a photo of a delightfully quirky nook in Studio Shamshiri’s Los Angeles office with this very feature on her Instagram, at which we couldn’t help but stop and stare.
She isn’t the only creative longing for playful nods to the past like this one; skirted sinks have been popping up in interiors a lot lately. What’s compelling to designers about forgoing lower cabinets in the name of a patterned curtain? “I think its the unexpected texture and softness,” says Roth. “It’s easy to access and feels a little old school, which is defiantly back in fashion.” Here are a few ways to pull it off in any room of the house.
Sink Skirts in Kitchens
What lowers? At The June Motel in Beaver Valley interior designer Ashley Montgomery even concealed a commercial dishwasher with this scrunched-up solution.
As this humble Italian kitchen proves, any scrap piece of fabric you love can become a sink skirt if you’ve got a simple rod and clip rings.
Mallory Fletchall of Reserve Home attached a magnetic adjustable curtain rod to her dishwasher along with an easily interchangeable cafe curtain. For a custom effect, she hemmed the ready-made fabric to the perfect length.
The founders of Buchanan Studio matched the walls of their pantry to the countertop skirt (the fabric was inspired by French mattress stripes).
Sink Skirt in the Dining Room
You’re probably catching on that you don’t need to be disguising the empty base of a sink to get in on this trend. Knowing her client would want to stash board games and lesser-used cookbooks out of sight, designer Tess Twiehaus added panels of fabric along the base of her dining room shelves.
Sink Skirts in Bathrooms
Sarah Weichel of studio Swike decided to keep two important elements in this bathroom reno that would have cost her thousands to replace: the sink and the toilet. To give the former a facelift, she added a pleated skirt for $700 but also provides extra storage by hiding extra rolls of toilet paper.
Michelle Ficker and Peter Dolkas, the founders of Brooklyn-based design firm Studio Dorion, took a similar approach in this Philadelphia home, hanging onto the existing contemporary bathroom sink and tacking on fabric from Fleurons d’Helene for a traditional feel.
There’s a subtle ocean theme going on in fashion journalist and TV presenter Louise Roe’s London home—peep the shell-shaped brass sconces and the frilly Lisa Fine sink skirt that depicts tiny pieces of coral. If the textile should ever get toothpaste drips on it, she can easily throw it in the wash (it’s attached to the basin with simple velcro).
In addition to tucking away clutter, a sink skirt keeps a color-drenched bathroom looking truly monochromatic and “takes away the visual noise” of cabinet doors. Exhibit A: this one from the Brooklyn Heights Decorator Showhouse designed by Kate McElhiney. She enlisted Wovn Home to fabricate the sink skirt and its sewn-on ikat trim, and then turned to the very renter-friendly hack of attaching it to the vanity with—once again!—velcro.
Not one to shy away from color or pattern? A pink bathroom with a marbleized vanity skirt might be just what you need. British designer Beata Heuman used her own velvet design, a kaleidoscope of color, to adorn this petite powder room in her home.
Sink Skirt in the Mudroom
In this mudroom, it was all about the details for Angelica and Richard Squire, the cofounders of U.K.-based design firm Studio Squire: Robert Kime wallpaper on the ceiling, a glazed door leading to the kitchen, Shaker pegs for storing coats, and a sliver of Colefax & Fowler fabric underneath the farmhouse sink.