南向き翻訳事務所 岩渕デボラ ブログ

When we built our house many long years ago, we asked to have a bathroom (toilet and small sink) installed on the second floor–something very few people did then and an amenity not included in the housing company’s array of pre-designed plans. In exchange for the luxury of not having to go downstairs in the middle of the night to use the facilities, the extra plumbing required took up space that had been designated on the first floor for a washstand in the changing/laundry room outside the bath.

What we ended up with was a washstand that had a sink that was exactly two-feet-four inches high (standard at the time). In contrast, the mirror over it was  inaccessible because we had to arrange our toiletries  on the shelf in front of it. Only the wider versions came with a medicine cabinet and we had no width between  the plumbing and an unfortunately positioned window. The result was that we had to bend down to our knees to use the faucet and then stand on our toes to see our faces in the mirror.

Fast forward several decades. Everyone in the house brushes their teeth and washes their face in the kitchen–generally spitting and splashing when I’m trying to cook. With college  expenses done with (and not a penny yet saved) we went to an optimistically named place,  Joyful Honda, to look for a sink to replace the miniature affair in the house.

Our hunt revealed that the standard height these days has increased to a whopping two-feet-eight inches. The Joyful Honda people agreed not only to make a base for the washstand to bring the sink up to three feet, but also to cut off part of the window frame to create some extra width. We decided we could deal with a partially blocked window.  And as long as we were getting all that done, we chose a sink large enough to wash  hair in, and a medicine cabinet that becomes a three-way mirror.

The new sink was installed yesterday, and as each family member walked in to check it out, he or she let out a shout of amazement. It’s enormous! We turned the water on and off, washed our hands without leaning over, and gazed at ourselves in the mirror. We all agreed that it made us much more attractive than the old one had.