Designer Katie Rosenfeld Launches a Custom Vanity Line

Photo by Read McKendree

“You should be attached to your bathroom vanity,” says interior designer Katie Rosenfeld. “It shouldn’t be just some clunky-hunky, ho-hum piece of cabinetry that you leave behind when you move. It should be something you love.”

As the founder of Katie Rosenfeld & Co., she’s known for her approachable, timeless, and imaginative design projects. Yet, the vanities Rosenfeld had the option of sourcing for her own family’s gut renovation of a Tudor home in Wellesley didn’t offer any of those qualities. They were built-in and emphasized “storage, storage, storage,” she explains.

Because there were so few options available, Rosenfeld designed and launched her own line of bathroom furniture, Vanity & Co. A 19th-century steam trunk with brass details provided the initial inspiration. “I decided I wanted to make this line feel and look like beloved old chests that happened to be turned into vanities. And that’s the concept—that it’s furniture and not cabinetry,” she says.

The five models released so far are highly customizable—from the wood available in different oak and paint finishes to the nostalgic hardware that looks like it could have been scored at an antique market. The pieces can only be purchased by the trades so far, giving homeowners the chance to work with their builder or designer to choose counters and fixtures that truly make the vanity their own.

Photo by Read McKendree

Those who select the Anna, Rosenfeld’s ode to “grandmillennial” sensibilities with its jewelry-like drop pulls, can opt to keep the antique-brass wire-mesh inset for a transitional look or add their own fabric panels behind to introduce patterns and color.

Every piece for Vanity & Co. is designed and fabricated in Massachusetts, and Rosenfeld feels a strong commitment to continue to manufacture the line in the United States even as she scales up production. Designing bespoke dressing tables—set to drop in early 2023—is a natural next step.

As a young girl, Rosenfeld would watch, enthralled, as her mother got ready to go out somewhere fancy. She would be dressed in a silk robe, holding a little silver mirror to put on her Estée Lauder lipstick, spritzing her wrists with perfume, and brushing her hair at the dressing table.

Photo by Read McKendree

“It was an event,” Rosenfeld remembers. “These days, everyone is in such a hurry. Wouldn’t it be great if we could take time for ourselves like that?”

A devoted Anglophile, Rosenfeld scoured The Crown and Downton Abbey for scenes in which the leads are primping at dressing tables. The resulting pieces, the Trudie and the Raye, can be personalized and dressed up with fabric skirting and are destined to become family heirlooms. The Raye perches on delicate, turned bamboo legs and brass casters, while the Trudie has a more streamlined feel.

“You can put a tray filled with perfume bottles on top and put all of your lipsticks in one drawer,” Rosenfeld suggests. “It’s a designated place to finish getting dressed and take five seconds of luxury in an old-school, no rush kind of way.”

First published in the print edition of Boston Home’s Spring 2023 issue, with the headline “Local Knowledge: Attention to Detail.”