DIY BATHROOM VANITY MAKEOVER

‘In love’ isn’t how I would describe my previous relationships with our ‘builder grade’ guest bathroom but it was definitely a clean slate to start with to add a little bit of character. It is crazy what a little bit of paint + a few decor changes can do to a space. We completed this project in 2 days and it was totally worth it. A great bang for your buck if you ask me and I highly encourage it. We started small with our  ‘cozy’ guest bathroom vs. doing the Master bath just to make sure it was a project we could handle and I think it turned out pretty good and didn’t leave a big dent in our wallet either which was positive!

Are you motivated yet? If so, here is a step by step guide to painting your bathroom vanity and giving your space a little pep in its’ step. Also, I have listed necessary supplies and tips to make the process as simple as can be & a couple of things I’d have done differently as well to save you the trouble! 

SUPPLIES: 

Note: I purchased all paint paint supplies from Home Depot

• Kraft paper or drop cloth to cover floor 
• Goo gone paint cleaner spray 
• Some old rags on hand for all the ‘oops’ moments 
• Painter’s tape (for around vanity) 
• Shur-line paint edger (for edging accent wall) 
• 2 Paint roller tray  
• 3 Paint roller tray liners – 2 for paint and 1 for primer 
• 3 medium sized Paint brush – 1 for paint and 1 for primer 
• 2 baby paint brush – good for detail clean-up at end, etc. 
• 3 Foam roller – 2 for paint and 1 for primer 
•  KILZ All-Purpose Interior/Exterior Primer (I used about half of 1 Quart – see image below) 
• Behr Ultra Interior Satin Paint – Secluded Woods (Used for Vanity – I used almost 1 Quart – see image below) 
• Behr Ultra Interior Satin Paint – Wheat Bread (Used for wall behind Vanity – I used almost 1 Quart – see image below) 
• Spackling + flat edge putty knife (I used to fill nail holes in wall behind vanity that I painted as an accent wall)

Approximate total on these supplies: $75 AKA WORTH IT. 

The Steps: 

1. PREP TIME! Tape down your drop cloth/kraft paper to the floor and use painter’s tape to edge the vanity as well as cover the toilet paper holder. Tape off around the wall you plan on painting as well unless you just want to use the edger tool for that. I used both for double protection. I also taped around the back of the toilet and put something over the top to protect it. Remove all cabinets and drawers. Don’t misplace your hardware! 😉 

2. PRIME TIME! Since my vanity was in good shape being only 3 years old and didn’t have any other paint, etc on it… I didn’t need to sand or use a deglosser. I went straight to priming.I bought 1 Quart of  KILZ All-Purpose Interior/Exterior Primer from Home Depot (see picture above) and used about half of it on this vanity. You can use a roller or a paint brush – your choice. I did one coat and let it dry overnight – probably could have started painting after a couple of hours but it was my bed time anyways. Don’t fret when the primer looks streaky –  It all comes out good in the end once you paint! 

‘Coulda Shoulda Woulda’ : I wish I would have gotten them to tint my primer to be closer to the paint color I chose because it comes in white and it was harder to cover the white primer with the green paint I chose for the vanity. Wasn’t a deal breaker but could have saved some time if it was tinted.

3. LET’S PAINT! Now the fun part. The next morning the Primer was good and dry and I started with painting the first coat on one side of the cabinets with Behr Ultra Interior Satin Paint in the color : Secluded Woods (see image above for product specifics). I will say picking that perfect green I was looking for was tough so I bought about 3 samples and I was very pleased with how this color turned out. Then I proceeded to do the first coat on the vanity while the cabinets dried on one side. Covering the white primer with the green took some time. I’d say it took about 3 coats to completely cover the vanity and cabinets and get that smooth look but be patient because it is worth it! My mom helped out with this project and she insisted on using a roller and I used a brush for most of it and you can’t tell in the final product so I’d say it is your preference on what you’d like to paint with. 

4. MORE PAINT! In between coats drying on the vanity + cabinets, we started painting the wall behind the vanity in Behr Ultra Interior Satin Paint in the color: Wheat Bread (See product image specifics above). My guest bathroom is such a small space so I didn’t want to paint all of the walls and didn’t want to compete with the vanity color so I went with a neutral and Wheat Bread was perfect for the look I was going for. It reminded me of sand on the beach – what more could you want?  Our walls are so textured so it ended up taking about 3 coats to get it all covered. 

Note: there was an area of this wall still taped off around vanity so we saved that for the very end once vanity was dry then carefully painted that Wheat Bread with  a small brush once we removed tape. Also, we knew we were switching out the light fixture and the base of the new fixture was larger than the existing so we just kind of painted around this one and touched it up once new one was installed.

5. CLEAN UP! Once all of the tape was removed we got a small brush and touched up areas that weren’t perfect. We removed the floor covering and used Goo Gone Paint Cleaner to clean up any paint that got on the floor, base boards, etc. Works like a charm! We waited two days to re-attach our cabinets to make sure they were 100% dry. 

6. DECORATE! Target, Amazon and Etsy were the real MVP’s on the decor of this project. After about two days before rehanging cabinets, we added gold hardware that we found on Amazon. This small touch really added a lot of ‘oomph’ in my opinion. We switched out the builder grade mirror to a gold round mirror from Target and also added a more modern gold and black light fixture we found off of Amazon. Fresh  shower curtain, simple gold hooks, faux plants and storage decor all from Target and found some really cute wooden shelves + leather strap on Amazon. Macrame plant holder was $4.50 from Michaels – worth it. Wasn’t quite long enought to hang from the ceiling so we did a plant hanger on the wall.  Purchased this rug from this Etsy shop:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/Vintagearearugs out of Turkey and I’m obsessed. It was just what I was looking for. Purchase this print from this Etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/BohoArtConnection and black frame from Michaels. Overall, I’m very pleased with this space. I am sure I will switch in and out decor until the end of time but that is just what I do.

This DIY project was my first time painting a bathroom vanity and it was so much fun. I see more projects like this in my future. Let me know if you guys have any questions – I’d love to help. If I can do it, so can YOU!  I hope this inspires you to set aside a weekend and make something pretty in your space soon!