Vanity Fair

After many hours of sanding, staining, cursing, and aching… the guest bath vanity is finished!  No more worn, dated cabinets of unknown orangey color and “antiqued” brass knobs.   It may be the same old cabinet from 1984, but this beauty has a new lease on life!

Here’s another look from before:

And here is my photoshopped inspiration photo:

And now, the big reveal:

From inspiration to reality was as easy as a few days work, a can of stain, a $25 mirror and $17 in new hardware…  I used a one-inch artist’s brush (that seems crazy, but it worked for me and gave me better control than with a big paint brush) on the first four coats followed by one topcoat applied with a foam sponge brush.  I am in love with the results…

 

I snagged the satin nickel knobs on Ebay for less than half the cost of Lowe’s.   And I simply spray painted the old hinges with oil rubbed bronze and reused them instead of buying nickel ones.  They blend in so well, you can hardly see them. :)

The new mirror looks right at home now with the matching cabinets.  Our guest bathroom is so beautiful after the transformation!  Soon, I will forget how it used to look and the overwhelming feeling of accomplishment and pride will go away… we can’t let that happen, so here’s a side by side comparison of the before and after composite photos for your (and my) viewing pleasure.  :)

    

(Please forgive the bad splice job; I just can’t seem to figure that out!)

So, what do you think?  Are you ready to give it a try on your old vanity or some other piece of furniture that needs a face-lift?  You can bet this will get the ball rolling around here.  I have plans to do the master bathroom cabinets and our office bookcase in the future. 

That brings us to the end of this fair vanity makeover.  Still to come in the guest bath project are a new shower curtain and artwork.  Keep it here for all the latest!

P.S. Before you ask… those are green apple candles in the iron urn (Thanks Debbie and Nichole!).  Don’t know why you would want an apple (or a bunch of them) in the bathroom… but they are green, so there you go.  Don’t ask me…. I can’t explain my motivations. :)