11 Sep, 2011
Reno post #14 – crowdsourcing a powder room epiphany
Posted by andrea tomkins in: Home/reno
One of the things about planning a reno is that you have to really search your brain and figure out how you use your space, how you WANT to use your space, and what changes you can implement that will make your life easier. What I haven’t thought much about is the dog and how she fits into all of this.
If you’re a dog owner you can probably relate to what I’m about to describe.
It’s mucky outside. You walk your dog, come in the house, and you need to rinse your dog’s feet off. What’s the best/easiest way to do that?
I had a large dog growing up. An Airedale terrier. My mother dipped each of his feet – one at a time – in a bucket of warm water and towel dried them. I don’t bother doing this with Piper because she’s relatively lightweight (ETA: 18-19 lbs). I just carry her upstairs and fill the tub with a couple inches of water and rinse her paws that way. But I don’t want to keep doing this. It’s a pain in the butt. Nor do I want to invest in some kind of mudroom dog shower. (You think I’m kidding about dog showers?)
So here’s my question. What if we installed an extra large sink in the powder room off the mud room? Something like this, or this, so I can occasionally dump Piper in there for a paw wash? (I like the corner location of the faucet on that first link. We could also get a single-handed pull out wand for easy rinsing too. It’d be so easy to wipe out the sink afterwards, much easier than a tub.)
I also like the old school look of this Ikea sink but I am not sure if it’d be deep enough. And if it’s curved on the bottom it’d be uncomfortably slippery for doggy feet.
Is this smartly utilitarian? Or just plain gross? Will it look weird dropped into a powder room counter (depicted in the plans here)?
A deep sink in this area could also be handy for other things too. And of course we wouldn’t tell visiting guests that we bathe the dog in there. What do you think?
