Like a bathroom design vanity unit, your washstand will be delivered either flat packed for home assembly or ready assembled for immediate installation. Self assembly, if required, will not be an arduous task and adequate instructions should be provided with the item.You’ll also need to stop the hot and cold water supply to your basin, remove your old washstand, vanity unit, or pedestal basin, clean the area, and prepare for the installation of your new bathroom furniture by fitting any new bathroom tiles or other new floor and wall coverings.Most washstands are paired with a countertop or vessel basin. By installing this combination of bathroom furniture, you can achieve a simple, unconstrained look in your bathroom. Your basin will be plumbed for modern convenience, but will look as though it could be picked up and moved around; it does not have the solidly plumbed in, fixed look of an undercounter basin.You will need to drill holes in the top of your new bathroom furniture for the tap and waste which will supply and drain your countertop basin. These holes are often left undrilled on a new washstand, so that the buyer has the freedom to position their basin and tap exactly where best suits their requirements. You may also, depending on where your water and waste pipes are positioned, need to drill holes in the back or base of the washstand to accommodate these pipes. Of course, this depends on the design of your washstand: an open design may not need to be cut at all.If your washstand is freestanding rather than wall fitting, it will still need to be fixed down somehow: depending on its design, you should be able to fix it either to the floor or to a wall. You will still have the look of freestanding bathroom furniture, without the possibility that any accidental knocks or kicks could shift the washstand across the floor, jarring your plumbing pipes and leading to a leak or even a flood.On a washstand with countertop basin, your tap(s) may be mounted on the basin, mounted on the washstand, or wall mounted. Not all these possibilities may have been available to you originally: if you chose a basin with no tap holes, then basin mounted taps will not have been an option. Deck or wall mounted taps are a very popular look with both fitted and freestanding bathroom furniture.Deck mounted taps will fit over the hole you have drilled in the top of the washstand, and your plumbing pipes will connect up from underneath. Wall mounted taps require all the plumbing pipes to be concealed in the wall. It may be best to use plastic pipes if you’re fitting new wall mounted taps and it’s certainly best to keep joints to a minimum, to reduce the possibility of leaking. Your taps will then thread onto the pipes, their mounting covering the edges of the hole in your wall, lending a minimalist, uncluttered look to your bathroom furniture.On an open designed washstand, a chrome bottle trap can be as much a design feature as a practical solution for the disposal of waste water. Your waste pipe will be fitted to the trap either by means of a screw coupling and compression seal, or an ‘O’ ring push fit coupling.Do make sure you follow any specific manufacturer’s instructions when plumbing in your basin, tap(s) and waste, and if you’re not confident and experienced at DIY then don’t hesitate to hire a plumber – any mistakes at this stage could prove costly in terms of water damage to your new bathroom furniture, and indeed to your whole bathroom.