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Turn Your Builder’s Grade Oak Vanity Into a Thing of Beauty

by on Jan 7, 2011

Our master bathroom vanity is ugly, awkward and has terrible hardware. However, like most home improvements, a bathroom remodel would open up an expensive can of worms. But then I saw this little inexpensive transformation which blew me away and has me thinking.Wooden sink cabinet with mirror.

The chrome handles on a vanity cabinet.

A glass, vase and steel soap dispenser lying near the washbasin.

Obviously, the most arduous part of this makeover is painting the vanity.

Here are Centsational Girl’s six steps to a sophisticated do over.

 

1)  Remove all hardware and cabinet doors.  Usually I remove the drawer fronts too, but this time I taped off the edges and refinished them in place.

2) Tape off your walls, countertops, and flooring with painter’s tape.

3) Clean all parts of the cabinetry and lightly sand with medium grit sanding wedge (80 – 120) to remove any debris.  Wipe clean.

valspar kitchen and bath4) Prime cabinet door fronts, drawers, and frame with oil based primer.  Sand away any brush strokes or drips.  If painting a dark color, like brown or black, use a layer of dark primer before your dark paint.

5) Paint with two coats of either a) oil based paint in semi-gloss, or b) latex paint specialty designed for bathrooms.   Use a paint conditioner and high quality brush like I mentioned here to minimize brush stokes.

6) Reattach doors, drawer fronts and hardware.

She has a followup Q &A section here to give you more specifics. I don’t know about you but I think this one is worth bookmarking.

For more inspiring bathroom inspiration, check these out:

Apple green modern

Maven’s Bathroom Upgrade (with new vanity)

Smartest Bathroom Makeover Ever

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10 Comments

  1. Hey everyone! The paint color is Valspar’s latex ‘Betsy Ross House Brown’ #6011-2 in the soft gloss Kitchen & Bath formula.

  2. How is the paint holding up on the cabinets in comparison if they would have been stained instead? I have the builders grade cheap cabinets and trying to figure out if I should paint or stain for the dark look. Thanks.

  3. I love this! I think the hardware you used is awesome too. Where did you get the hardware? Thx

  4. Is this better than Benjamin Moore Aura? I want to redo one piece of furniture and i was thinking of using Benjamin, but right now this is becoming more interesting.