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James Martin Brittany Collection

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Frequently Asked Questions

How many colors does Brittany come in?

Nine, which is the longest color list in the James Martin range. They fall into three groups: white and black as opposite neutrals, a blue, a gray and a green held low in saturation, and three transparent brown tones that let the wood grain show through rather than covering it.

What is the narrowest Brittany vanity?

Twenty two inches. That is a powder room size, meant for the wall between a door and a corner where a standard vanity does not fit, and it is narrow enough that the basin takes most of the top. The same series also reaches eighty four inches, which is the other end of the same catalog.

Are the mirrors made to match the vanities?

Yes. The series includes mirrors and a linen cabinet built and finished in the same colors as the cabinets. That is the reason to buy a mirror from the same series rather than separately: matching a furniture finish across two makers after the fact is difficult, and a frame that is close but not right is more noticeable than one that is plainly different.

Is Burnished Mahogany real mahogany?

No. It is the name of a stain color, and the wood underneath is yellow poplar like most of the series. Furniture finish names describe the tone a stain produces rather than the species it is applied to, so a mahogany or oak sounding name on a cabinet says what color it is and nothing about what it is made of.

Is yellow poplar a hardwood?

Yes, despite how the name reads. Yellow poplar is the usual trade name for the North American tulip tree, and it is classed as a hardwood, light in weight with an even close grain. That evenness is the reason a single series can carry nine finishes, since neither a transparent stain nor an opaque color has strong figure to fight. Hardwood and softwood are botanical categories rather than measures of hardness, which is where the confusion over the name comes from.

Nine colors on one cabinet

Bright White and Black Onyx lead, then Victory Blue and Urban Gray, then Smokey Celadon, Saddle Brown, Burnished Mahogany and Pecan.

That list covers three separate habits at once: two neutrals at opposite ends, three muted colors, and three transparent brown tones that let the wood show. Most series pick one of those and stay in it.

The widths start at twenty two inches

Sixty inches leads, then forty eight, seventy two, thirty six and thirty, with a twenty two inch single at the bottom and an eighty four inch double at the top.

Twenty two inches is a powder room width, narrow enough to sit in a wall between a door and a corner where a standard vanity will not go. A series that reaches both twenty two and eighty four can furnish every basin in a house in one style.

Mirrors and a linen cabinet in the same finish

Alongside the vanities the series carries mirrors and a linen cabinet, built and finished to match.

That matters more than it sounds. A mirror frame and a tall cabinet in the same color as the vanity are what make a bathroom read as furnished rather than fitted, and matching a finish after the fact across two manufacturers rarely comes out right. Bathroom mirrors holds the wider selection.

Transparent brown against opaque color

Saddle Brown, Burnished Mahogany and Pecan are stains, so the grain of the yellow poplar underneath reads through them.

Bright White, Black Onyx, Victory Blue and Urban Gray cover it. The same cabinet therefore arrives as two quite different objects: a wood piece with figure running across the doors, or a colored piece where the only texture is the shape of the panels.

Yellow poplar under all of it

Yellow poplar is the wood through most of the series, with a small number of pieces in other materials.

Yellow poplar is the standard name for the North American tulip poplar, and it is a hardwood despite the soft sounding name. Its even grain is what allows one series to offer nine finishes without any of them looking wrong on it.

When color is the only variable

One cabinet design offered in nine finishes turns the decision into a color decision, which is a different exercise from choosing between shapes.

A color on a piece this size behaves as a background rather than an accent, since a vanity occupies a whole wall of a small room. The tone that works is usually the one that agrees with the floor and the wall tile already chosen, which is why the cabinet is often the last thing settled rather than the first. A long color list is what makes that order possible, because it leaves the cabinet able to answer whatever the room turned out to be.

Where Brittany sits in the brand

James Martin holds the whole brand and the other series alongside this one.

Vanity tops covers the surfaces, and bathroom cabinets the storage that stands beside a vanity rather than under the basin.

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