Builders Grade Teal Bathroom Vanity Upgrade for Only $60

I have a confession to make. I have DIY ADD. Yes, I start (and sometimes finish) tons of projects but have never actually completely finished a room in my home. So I've decided it's time to actually stick to one room long enough to finish it. It might be hard, and I might stray a little to do small crafty projects, but I WILL get a room renovated!! So to make it easy on myself I've decided to start small, by finishing my son's bathroom. This bathroom, which is also used as the guest bath, is thankfully already off to a good start. About half done I'd say. In fact I did a post, Owl-trageously Cute Kids Bathroom, on my progress thus far with decorating and DIY owl artwork.

I eagerly jumped right in with the biggest eyesore, the construction grade vanity. It's orangey, cheap (is it even real wood?) boringness that is so common in new build houses across the country is enough to make you want to scream and rip it out in a mad frenzy and start fresh. Sadly we don't have the cash to just go out and buy a new, fancy, I have to have it in my bathroom right now, vanity. Plus there was nothing wrong with the vanity (besides being hideous) so I had to figure out a way to update and upgrade this monster on a tight budget and in true DIY fashion.





So I did the next best thing to breathe new life into this vanity, I painted it. Teal.
I'm sure you're thinking: teal, for a vanity?! Yep, I went for it. I knew it would be a color that when people saw it they would either love or hate. Anyone who knows me knows I'm not scared of bold color choices. It is only paint after all. It can always be repainted.
I chose a dark teal to compliment the darker teal tones in the owl decor. I color matched the rug and bought a pint of paint to make some home made chalk paint. Then while I was strolling through Walmart's craft aisle soon after that I saw an entire line of Waverly chalk paint. They were all gorgeous colors that I could see working on lots of different kinds of furniture. They were only $5 a piece and they had a teal color (agave) that looked like an exact match to the teal I was going to use.





I bought it (along with several other colors...don't judge me) figuring if it wasn't the right teal I'd use it on something else and at only $5 I could justify finding out what "real" chalk paint was all about. Low and behold it was the same tone just a bit darker than the color I picked out! I stashed my teal pint to use on something else. I couldn't believe my luck ;).





I took the doors and drawer fronts off the vanity and wiped them clean. That's all the prep work I did. I painted 2 coats of paint on everything. I will say the store bought chalk paint is far superior to my home made paint. It goes on super smooth and a little seems to go a long way. I didn't even use the whole 8 oz container on the vanity. I will definitely continue to use Waverly chalk paint unless I want a custom color.
Not to be redundant with the glazing furniture but I wanted that look for this cabinet. I really like the darker, distinct look glaze gives wood furniture, highlighting lines and curves giving depth where there might not have been if it was a flat color. I used the glaze from my Rustoleum cabinet restorations kit and damp cheesecloth to get my desired look. Here's some pictures of the glazing process.





I then clear coated with the top coat I had leftover from my Rustoleum cabinet transformation kit. It has worn extremely well on my kitchen cabinets so I knew it would be perfect for the vanity.





I wanted an oil rubbed faucet to replace the chrome builders grade faucet so that it would match with the towel bars and toilet paper holder. I looked to my best shopping buddy, eBay and found a steal of a deal for a brand new oil rubbed faucet at $30.22.





I also decided to put oil rubbed pulls and knobs on the cabinet to give it a more finished, expensive look. I really like the oil rubbed pulls and knobs on my kitchen cabinets so I decided to just use the same ones. I bought three pulls and two knobs off of eBay also for a total of $13.15.
I wanted to add a little something to give the boxy vanity some interest and maybe a some elegance so I bought some bun feet for $6 a piece at Lowes and painted them to match.





To recap I painted and glazed the vanity, Cory, with Jackson's help ;), replaced the chrome faucet with a new oil rubbed faucet, I screwed knobs and pulls into the doors and drawers, and I added bun feet by simply using the palm of my hand to hit/wedge them under the lip of the base to fit snugly and securely in place. Here's a breakdown in the cost for this project:
oil rubbed faucet- $30.22
Agave chalk paint- $5.00
3 pulls and 2 knobs- $13.15
2 bun feet- $12
Total= $60.37
So for just over $60 I transformed my ugly, boring builders grade vanity into something that I really love!





To see the complete tutorial along with tons more pictures of the process and after shots check out my blog :)






Original article and pictures take http://www.hometalk.com/10731495/builders-grade-teal-bathroom-vanity-upgrade-for-only-60 site