Builders Grade Teal Bathroom Vanity and Faucet Upgrade for only $60

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I've decided it's time. Time for me to actually stick to one room long enough to finish it. It's so long overdue. I've started to really notice how bad my DIY ADD has gotten. It's almost comical how I've become a crafting/painting/up-cycling hurricane leaving half finished rooms and projects in my wake throughout my entire house.

It's not really my fault! At least I tell myself that ;). I just have so many ideas swirling through my head and I want to start them all NOW, before I forget all about that project that my home wouldn't be complete without! If you're anything like me you know exactly what I'm talking about...I know I can't be the only one with DIY ADD!!

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 my first "real" blog post, Owl-trageously Cute Kids Bathroom, on my progress thus far.

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.

You can really see the difference the glaze makes in these two pictures.

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 also needed a new faucet. I had already bought oil rubbed towel rods and a toilet paper holder (to replace the truly horrible wood one that was stuck on the side of the vanity). I mean really, who would want this in their house?!

So of course I needed an oil rubbed one to replace the chrome builders grade faucet. 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. Cory replaced it with a helping hand from Jackson and his play tools. I managed to get a few cell phone shots. Jackson really got in there to help, practically sitting on Cory's chest haha. Did I mention Cory's a tad claustrophobic?

Ah, so much better :).

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.

They were a half inch too tall to fit under the vanity so Cory trimmed them for me with some gentle nudging since he was hesitant to cut them without rigging something up because they weren't flat. I figured he was over complicating what I thought would be a simple cut (this opinion could totally be my ignorance on all things woodworking) but it worked perfectly when I gave him the go ahead that it was OK if they got messed up, they were only $6, and totally replaceable.

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! Here's a bunch of pictures of the finished vanity for you to ogle over.

These pictures don't really do this vanity justice. I just replaced two burnt out bulbs in the vanity light and apparently they are a little too bright and harsh :( and I didn't notice until I went to edit these pics. Plus Jackson was also taking a bath, so it fogged up the room. Or I could just be making excuses for my horrible picture taking abilities in a cramped bathroom...

Here's another comparison:

You could say I saved the vanity from going to a landfill, but who am I kidding, we don't throw anything away that can still be used somewhere, somehow.

Until the next post which will be just in time for Halloween with a project I've been dying to show you all ;)!