Customizing Our Builder Grade Vanity

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I’m sure by now you’ve noticed a common theme in my posts: eliminating the honey oak ALL OVER OUR HOUSE. Our master bathroom vanity was no different. The vanity before was a plain, hardware free, honey oak vanity. It was impossible to open drawers and the yellow tone drove me nuts. So when we decided to give our master bathroom a modest refresh, refinishing the vanity seemed like one of the easiest, most inexpensive projects to tackle.

Here is what we were dealing with before:

This project required fairly minimal tools & products and I had it done in two days. It would have taken only one day if not for dry time!

Please read my disclaimer.

Here is what you’ll need:

1. Paint color of choice. A quart was more than enough for me. I used Taby Cat Gray by Valspar.
2. Primer. I used Bullseye 123 Primer.
3. 220 grit sandpaper
4. Power sander (optional)
5. Drill with proper drill bit. I used a 3/16th inch bit. You’ll only need this if adding hardware.
6. Hardware (optional). I purchased these Cosmos square knobs from amazon.
7. Flat edge and phillips head screwdrivers.
8. Washcloth.
9. Paint brush. I used a 1 inch angled brush.
10. Mask. I used while sanding to protect L.O. And me of course 😉

Here is what I did:

I started by sanding down the entire cabinet. You don’t have to go crazy. Just get the finish roughed up enough for the primer to stick to. I used a power sander, but a sheet or block of 220 grit sandpaper would do just fine.

Once you have sanded it down, you’ll want to be sure and clean the cabinet thoroughly. I simply used a damp washcloth.  Next I applied two coats of primer and allowed a few hours of dry time in between coats. Please read the directions on the can to insure proper application! Something you’ll need to decide is when to remove the doors and drawers. I actually chose to leave them in place for all of the priming and first coat of paint. I find it easier to paint them in place.

The next step will be paint. As noted before, I used a color called Taby Cat Gray by Valspar. I painted the first coat on the doors and drawers while still attached to the vanity frame, giving them a full day to dry and cure before removing them. Once they were removed I was able to easily paint the frames. I only painted the fronts of the frames. I gave them two coats of paint, and once thoroughly dry, I reattached the doors and drawers. The last step of painting was the give the doors and drawers one more coat of paint as well.

The final step was to install hardware. As mentioned before, the original cabinet had no hardware and adding this inexpensive hardware by cosmos really gave the vanity a more custom look. You’ll want to be sure and take very careful measurements before doing any kind of drilling. Messing up your placement will be a time consuming mistake, so take double (and triple) measurements to check yourself! You’ll also want to find the appropriate drill bit for the screws being used in the hardware. I used a 3/16th” drill bit. I believe that is the common size but please be sure to double check before getting drill crazy. Here is a quick video tutorial if you’ve never installed hardware:

That’s it! Here is the before and after again. Happy painting!