You're So Vain

…I bet you think this post is about you.  Well, vanity, you would be correct.



When we left off last in the half bath, the walls had a fresh coat of paint, some new art, and a new towel ring.  But the poor oak vanity was looking a bit unloved.  


We knew right away, though, that replacing the vanity wasn’t an option now.  For starters, we always try to reuse what we can (which also saves a boatload of cash) but also we knew replacing the vanity would open up another can or worms we weren’t ready to deal with.  Unless a new vanity was the exact same size or very slightly larger, we knew we’d have to deal with flooring issues.  Meaning, it’s highly unlikely that the flooring underneath the vanity is hardwood, so we’d have to do a patch job and we just weren’t up for that at this point.

So I turned to my trusty friend, Google, for direction on how to paint furniture the proper way…aka not the quickest way, rather a method guaranteed to stand the test of time (and two rowdy boys).   

With my desire to have a clean, crisp feel in here, I immediately gravitated toward white.  Not only would white be clean and crisp, but it would also really brighten up the smaller space. So began the day the vanity was reborn.

First, Eric removed cabinet doors, drawers, hinges, pulls, and toilet paper holder.  I knew we wouldn’t be reusing the hardware, so he put it all into bags that’ll make their way to Restore.  Same goes for the toilet paper holder.

Then everything made its trek to the garage and driveway so prep work could begin.

The first step was filling any excess screw holes with wood putty.  For our particular situation, it was obvious that a few different toilet paper holders held court on our vanity throughout the years because there were several different screw holes all in that general area.  So away I went with working the putty into the holes and for good measure filled in a few other small chips I found here and there. The putty took 15 minutes to dry so I was able to do a second coat shortly thereafter to ensure a nice, smooth surface. 

Next up was sanding.  I grabbed my yellow sanding block you see in the above picture and loaded it up with 60 grit sand paper.  I then sanded all sides of all pieces (including the frame of the vanity inside the bathroom itself) going with the direction of the grain.  That took about 15 minutes. Then it was time to re-load my sanding block with 220 grit paper and do it all again.  I live an exciting life, folks. 

Next up was the liquid deglosser.  Now, some folks claim you don’t have to sand at all if you use liquid deglosser.  Basically, the whole purpose behind liquid deglosser is to remove glossy finishes on wood….which is exactly what sanding is supposed to do as well.  But I come from the school of thought where I’d rather spend an extra $9 and 10 minutes of time to ensure I end up with a really awesome final product.  So I sanded AND liquid deglossed.  I’m wild and crazy like that.  Oh, and some might also say that since I knew I was going to be liquid deglossing I probably didn’t need to clean everything up with soapy water first.  Again...Team Thorough over here.  I don’t want find myself redoing this project again in a couple years due to cutting corners.

Once the liquid deglosser was complete, I let everything dry for a bit.  Maybe an hour?  I probably only needed to wait about 15 minutes, but just to be on the safe side (are you seeing a pattern develop here?), I opted for a bit longer.

Then I grabbed my foam roller (these came highly recommended during my research), my 2” angled brush for areas a small roller couldn't reach, and my primer and hunkered down in the garage.  I had also read to start with the back/insides of the cabinet doors first, so if there were any drips I didn’t notice, I could always fix those later once I flipped over to the fronts.  It made good sense.  So I brushed and rolled on my primer.  The shellac-based primer is very thin so I wasn’t quite used to the consistency at first, but it went on really quick.  And it also dries amazingly quickly so I was able to flip over my doors in about 30 minutes to put on their coat of primer as well.

Once all pieces (both fronts and backs) were primed, I could finally bust into my paint.  I ended up doing three coats to ensure really good coverage.  In hindsight, I probably could’ve (and should’ve) done two coats of primer and two coats of paint, but you live and you learn.  Also, I opted for Benjamin Moore’s Ultra Spec line of paint based on really good reviews I found.  It’s touted as contractor grade paint so it should be able to withstand the chaos in our house.  Ultra Spec was a little tricky to find in our area, but after a few phone calls around to local suppliers I finally found it.  Here’s to hoping it was worth the hunt!

Once the finally coat was dry, I had read to let everything cure for about five days before adding hardware and reattaching to the frame.  We waited three.  We should’ve waited five.  Rats.  Only a few little touchups were needed thankfully.  Oh well, live and learn.

The new pulls and hinges we selected were from Home Depot in a satin nickel finish.  Same goes for the new toilet paper holder.  Here she is in all her updated glory:

I think we'll probably add another cup style pull on the fake drawer front soon.  Initially we only bought two but I'm thinking it would look a bit better with the third.  I'm also really liking the vertical line pattern on both doors.  It's give a nice bit of texture to an otherwise standard door front.  

Update: We did indeed add the third cup style pull to the fake drawer front.  I've updated the pics below to show the current state.

Last step in the project was tearing out the old shelf liner and inserting the new one.  I used the same process I did for the boys’ closet organization recently to get it nice and smooth.

And that’s what we call another to-do item marked off the ol’ list.  And now here’s the side-by-side of how the half bath started and where it’s at today:

Total Project Cost: $180 
Zinsser’s “BIN” shellac-based primer: $44
Disposable paint tray liners: $0, already had some
Foam rollers (6-pack) plus roller holder: $15
Sand paper (220 and 60 grit): $9
Sanding block: $9
Liquid Deglosser: $7
Elmer’s wood putty: $5
Putty knife: $0, already had one
Denatured alcohol: $9
Old rags (for applying deglosser): $0, already had
Benjamin Moore Ultra Spec paint, “Simply White” color, semi-gloss: $33
Angled paint brush: $0, already had
New hardware pulls and hinges: $25
New toilet paper holder: $18
Shelf liner: $6

While the total cost of this project was more than I was anticipating, I’m really psyched because I have a ton of supplies left over….which means that a few other projects swirling around in my head should be zero buckaroos thanks to this surplus.  Cheers to that!  And if our garage wasn't still in such a state of disarray making it difficult to find anything, I could've avoided the sand paper and sanding block purchases.  But now I have my own stash that I can tuck away in my goodie bag, so it's all good.

Has anyone else jumped into the pool of painted furniture lately?  I was nervous, but oh so glad we did! 

UPDATE: I forgot to mention why I specifically went with Zinsser's "BIN" primer.  Everything I read indicated shellac or oil-based primers were the way to go when going on top of wood (versus walls, etc).  It's supposed to assure the wood doesn't bleed through.  So far so good.  Also, Zinsser's brand came recommended.  Lowe's carries it, but not our local Home Depot.

♥,
Anne