When we bought this crazy house it came with some equally crazy vanities that had been retrofitted from dressers. You might be thinking, "oooh, that sounds great!" No, it wasn't great. They were too short to start with, the finished was ruined, the sinks were too small, the faucets were akwardly off-set, the drawers were broken, and to top it all off, none of them worked because all of the traps had been removed - just crazy!
I stared by removing the sink and faucet, then the entire top. After that I rubbed the entire cabinet down with Porter Paint's deglosser, "Prepare It." I thought about sanding it as well, but it was just to curvy.
As you can see, it was really too rough to re-stain - which was fine by me, because although my husband likes to keep it simple and traditional, I like things a little bit more interesting. I was inspired by some really gorgeous refinished furniture I saw at the flea market that had been painted grey - so I thought I'd try my hand. I don't have pics of each step, because it was really a trial and error kinda thing, but I can at least tell ya what I did.
1 First, I used a very dark stain to try to give the cabinet a more uniformed base color.
2Next, I put on a coat of Valspar crackling medium, that you can get at Lowes (fyi, I've tried several different crackles, and this is the ONLY one that has worked!).
3I waited a couple of hours, and then brushed my flat grey paint over the crackle medium. I'm sorry I can't give you a fabulous grey, because I mixed this myself, but I would recommend one that is just slightly taupe-y, such as Porter Paint's "sharkskin" or "Eiffel Tower"
4Then, I rubbed just the edges of everything with some Mohawk stain ("Perfect Brown"). You might have to find that online, because I haven't been able to find it retail, but it doesn't already have any finish in it and it isn't diluted like most other stains, such as Minwax (which I also like, but for other projects). I also used a stain marker to fill in deep crevices, such as those on the claws.
5After a couple of hours, I finished the vanity with Minwax Polycrylic in satin. Technically, I should have used laquer, since I was covering stain, which is oil-based, but that stuff is so toxic I try to avoid it when I can. Polycrylic is latex. It looks kinda milky, and even a little blue-ish when it's wet, but it dries completely clear. (Again, you really should use laquer over stain, so in about 5 years or so I'll give ya an update and we'll see how well they've held up!)
I saved the top I removed and took it to a cultured marble company and had them pour tops to fit each vanity. I asked them to make each top 2 inches deeper than would actually fit the vanity, to allow room to appropriately set the faucet behind the sink, instead of the crazy cock-eyed system they originally had goin.
Here is another one. This vanity was in better shape, and a lighter stain so I was able to keep the hubby happy and re-stain this one.
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And here is one more. This was originally the double vanity in the master bath. Well, originally, it was a dresser, but when we got it, it was already a disaster of a vanity. We turned it back into a vanity by screwing closed the drawers that had been cut out to allow for pumbing. Then we cut a piece of beaded plywood for the top (to cover the holes where the sinks had been). As for the finish, I did the exact same 5-step process I detailed above. Since this piece was already so dark, and not nearly as rough, I skipped the first step and went straight from deglossing to crackling.
And now it is a lovely buffet for the dining room! If this doesn't convince you not to throw ANYTHING away, nothing will!
Also, I couldn't help but throw this last pic in here. As blurry as it is, it's still fun to see the "before and after of the dining room. Check it out! (By the way, after WEEKS of searching, I FINALLY found the power cord to my camera, so no more phone pics after this week...yay!)
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