Let’s Paint the Vanities!

We have two bathrooms in our house, one upstairs and the other one downstairs. Since our house is not a custom one, the woodwork, trim, cabinets, and flooring were Contractor grade when we moved in. A few years ago, we remodeled the Master bath (which is not a typical Master bath since we share it with the upstairs living area). Then a couple of years ago, I also updated the bathroom downstairs. Part of each upgrade included a refab of the Contractor grade oak vanities.

I love the look of oak but the wood on both of the vanities was showing wear from being in a bathroom. Yes, I could have done a little sanding & another coat of polyurethane but instead, I decided to paint.

Before pics of vanities

Upstairs Vanity

Paint

I started with the upstairs vanity. To prepare for painting, I started with a light sanding using a sanding block. After that quick sanding, I wiped down all the wood with a damp cloth to remove the dust and then let it dry. Since the trim in the bathroom was white, I decided to paint the vanity white to match but I didn’t want all of it to be white. Before painting, I removed the doors and all of the hardware.

I used a painting pad on all the flat surfaces, which was most of the vanity, and a paintbrush to get into the corners. I applied 2 coats of paint, allowing 2 hours of dry time between the coats. To add a little contrast, I left the wood trim unpainted around the doors, drawers, and along the top of the vanity. The paint I used was Behr interior water-based paint in satin.

Stain

The wood is light oak and I have been slowly replacing that color in the house with the Provincial stain which is a darker brown. I decided to try and darken the stain to blend in better with the new trim and floor color. To strip off the polyurethane finish and then stain the wood with the Provincial color to help it coordinate better with the new trim. I figured that would be a quick job, but, alas, it was not. I carefully brushed stripper on the wood using a small artist brush and then just as carefully removed it with a rag as I needed to prevent dripping it on the countertop and flooring. Stripper is always messy and this project was no different.

When the stripper had softened the polyurethane, I scraped it off with a putty knife and then wiped it down with paper towels. After the stripper had been removed and the wood had time to dry, I gave all the sections a light sanding before applying Minwax oil-based stain in Provincial using a paintbrush. I wiped off the excess stain with a cloth. When the stain was dry, using a paintbrush, I applied a couple of thin coats of polyurethane.

Hardware

While working on this vanity, I decided to change the knobs on the drawers and doors. I removed the antique brass knobs and bought small wooden balls at Michaels. The knobs were flat on one side and had a pre-drilled hole. I painted them white and screwed them into place using the screws from the original knobs.

The darker wood accent on the vanity is not as dark as the trim, but it complements it well. After the woodwork was dry, I touched up the white paint as needed. You can see in the picture below how much better the new stain matches the flooring.

Finished vanity

Downstairs Vanity

Trim

Paint

Now, onto the painting! The paint I used for this vanity was chalk paint. I had been painting some of the furniture in the house – mostly laminate pieces – with chalk paint and was loving the look it gave to the pieces. I thought, ‘why not try chalk paint on this vanity?’

The first step was to decide what color to use. The downstairs bath has a gold shower curtain and a soft, buttery color on the walls. I wanted to add a pop of color in there and thought teal would provide a nice contrast. As you can see in the pics below, I tried several different teal colors before choosing Waverly’s Pool. It looked like the perfect color!

With my color chosen and the paint purchased at Walmart, I started the project with a light sanding using a sanding block. After that quick sanding, I wiped down all the wood with a damp cloth to remove the dust and then left it to dry. When the wood was nice and dry, I removed the drawers and began painting. This time, I chose not to remove the doors as I didn’t plan to paint the hinges.

After the first coat of paint was completed, I stood back and YUP, Ms. Intuitions was right! It was TOO blue! Not the least bit teal! Drat!!! I headed to the store to see what color might be closer to the teal I was looking for. I settled on Agave and brought it home.

Dark Wax

With chalk paint, you normally only need one coat, sometimes a second one helps. The only reason that I used two coats of paint is because I changed the color. The blue coat covered very well so I wouldn’t have added another coat if I had stayed with that color. When the paint was dry, I used Annie Sloan Dark Wax to antique it. I have tried other brands of wax for chalk paint but her brand is my favorite. When applying the wax, use less than you think you need to as a little goes a long way. You can always apply more but if you apply too much, it is difficult to buff and it stays tacky. I prefer to use a waxing brush to apply the wax but you can also use a cloth, it’ll just be messier.

After the dark wax was applied and buffed with a soft cotton cloth, I applied a thin coat of Annie Sloan’s Clear Wax. The same procedure holds for this wax too, apply less than you think you need – a little goes a long way. I buffed the clear wax using a soft cotton cloth.

Hardware

This vanity did not have any knobs or handles on it. I found some bronze ones that I really liked. The only issue was, that there were no holes in either the drawers or the doors. To attach the new handles and knobs, I marked the drawers and doors where I wanted to place the new hardware and used my battery-operated drill to drill through the wood. The handles came with two sets of screws, a short one for doors and a long one for drawers.

Finished Vanity

Before & After

Upstairs

Downstairs

Supplies Used

• Behr paint
• Waverly Chalk paint in Agave
• Silver craft paint
• Painting pad & artist brush
• Waxing brush
• Painters tape
• Putty knife
• Mineral Spirits
• Annie Sloan Dark & Clear wax
• Wax brush
• Sanding block
• Minwax Provincial Stain
• Minwax Polyurethane
• Battery operated drill
• 18″ gauge nail gun
• Elmer’s wood glue
• Bronze pull knobs
• Small wooden legs
• 1 1/2″ wide rope trim

~This post may contain Amazon affiliate links. If you choose to order through my links (thank you!!!), it will help support my blog at no extra cost to you~

If you enjoyed reading about this renovation, I would love it so much if you’d share it with your peeps on your social media!

Send me all the Goodies!

* indicates required

Email Address *

First Name

Leave this field empty if you’re human: