Gau Designs: Sinks that Grow
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto 
on 12. 8.05
We often fret about what is growing in our sink; Jean-Michel Gauvreau revels in it. He designs magnificent Zen Garden Sinks where the waste water feeds the plants growing alongside. Plant some spearmint and you can make your own toothpaste. ::Gau Designs via ::Inhabitat
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Seems impractical to me.
First you'd have to have enough light for plants to grow. Most bathrooms do not. Would you then set up grow lights to make this work?
Second most bathrooms are cleaned with commercial cleansers which would kill just about anything you tried to grow in your sink. I'm not sure what commonly available plant friendly cleaners are available, but I bet they are expensive and hard to find.
Not to mention that toothpaste and soap and shaving cream and make up and whatever else you do at the bathroom sink are probably not good to apply directly to the plant roots either.
Wow! what a positive comment! Hey, if it's too poetic for you maybe you can fill it with sand and plant your toothbrush (brush up) or scented incense sticks.
I think it doesn't have to be a real plant, it's just interesting to have a bit of "life" in a cold and modern bathroom.
Also the contrast between the elements, nature vs slick lines is interesting.
The idea is good, but how heavy this could be?
in response to poster #1
1.most homes do have windows in bathrooms. in fact, its required by many building codes
2.most bathrooms are cleaned by strong cleansers, true. but what of treehugger bathrooms? i assume most people reading this site use eco-friendly cleansers. the same goes for (my herbal, flourideless) toothpaste and (homemade) soap. granted anything in excess will be bad, but in small amounts i imagine its okay
I actually did research on this in college for NASA. You actually need quiet a bit of biomass to clean up waste water enough to drink; however, to make it safe, it takes very little.
Ammonia, which is what I use most to clean the bathroom, is good for plants in reasonable doses. If you use organic soap and toothpaste you're not going to hurt the plant unless you are scrubbing IT rather your hands/face.
I would agree with the first poster about its non-suitability for commercial applications but for residential treehugger use it could be very nice.