Bathroom Vanity Makeover

This post is sponsored by Build.com.   I was provided some of the materials for this post, but the opinions are my own.

Those of you that have followed my blog for a bit know that we're currently taking on a pretty huge home renovation/addition project.  Beyond that though, we have a LONG wish list of things that we'd love to update in our house, but just don't have the budget for right now.  So when Build.com contacted me about collaborating on a project, I was super thrilled to be able to tackle one of the projects on my wish list!  

I've never been a huge fan of my hall bathroom vanity and I jumped at the possibility to update it with some new knobs, faucet, and paint.  I'm not exactly sure what the finish was on the cabinet originally (you can see from the before picture above), but it had a sort of pink tinge to it.  Not my favorite--to put it lightly.  Since the drawers didn't have knobs, my kids liked to hang on the drawers to open them...and break them. (Yes, this why my "Before" picture is missing a drawer.  It was in the "drawer hospital.")

Build.com is a great resource for home DIY projects.  Not only do they have a huge inventory of products, but the website is extremely easy to navigate.  As a parent, I also appreciate the ability to shop from my computer rather than drag my kids to the hardware store.  I fell in love with this faucet from Danze and these black knobs from Amerock.  After I found them, it was easy for me to plan my vanity makeover around them.  

Build.com  has some really terrific styling products as well. The recycled glass vase I received is simply stunning.  The glass is thick and heavy and I couldn't be more pleased.  All in all, these were the products that I used in my vanity makeover:

For more details about how I made over my vanity, keep reading below:

Those of you that know me know that I'm not some home remodeling pro.  That said, a bathroom vanity remodel is totally in my comfort zone.  The hubby and I have tackled this type of project in the past, and I've always been happy with how it can totally transform a space.  Believe me...you can do this!

I knew I wanted white cabinets. I was worried though that my tile counter tops were too outdated, but I decided to embrace them after reading this post on Apartment Therapy.  I loved the idea of the white tile with the white wood.

I'd picked up this chalk paint a while back and was eager to give it a try for painting my bathroom vanity.  If you haven't heard about chalk paint before, it's pretty amazing stuff.  It can attach to almost any surface, no sanding required! I'd never used chalk paint before, so appreciated being able to skip the liquid sandpaper/priming steps.

I took off all of the doors and painted them and the rest of the vanity separately.  The paint seemed to be a bit more streaky than I would have liked, but overall I think it turned out alright.  

After the paint dried, I measured carefully and drilled holes for the knobs.  (Sorry for the lack of pictures, my garage is so dark I couldn't get good pictures here).

Then it was time to change out the bathroom faucet. We found the instructions included with the faucet to be easy enough to follow, but if you've never changed out a faucet before you might want to check out Build.com's Learning Center, where you can watch some great videos on lots of home improvement projects, including  this great video on how to replace a vanity faucet.

With that I was all finished, but I couldn't help but feel like the bathroom vanity was just a bit too sterile:

I felt like adding a little bit of design... I've been totally digging all of the great geometric designs that seem be appearing lately, so I decided I wanted to try out the look on my back splash.  Before I committed to something really permanent though, I decided I wanted to try something out and see how I liked it.  

So I used a Sharpie.  Now maybe this seems strange to you, since a Sharpie is a permanent marker after all.  When I used to work in a laboratory years ago, we often used Sharpies to write on glass bottles.  Then we'd use an alcohol to remove the markings from the glass when we were ready to remove the writing later on.  I thought that this approach might work well on my glossy white tiles, so I tried it out on a small corner of my tile.  The sharpie drew beautifully and came off easily with rubbing alcohol.  

That said, I was extremely careful to not get the sharpie on the grout, which is a whole lot more porous and much more likely to stain.  If you'd like to try this approach I highly recommend you try it out first on a test tile or corner somewhere.  You don't want to ruin your backsplash, ok?  (Try at your own risk, ok?)  When I did remove any designs I was super careful to not let it bleed anywhere near the grout.  

I just added the design by hand, using a straight edge for the triangles.  I think the design added a nice little touch, don't you?  I figure that I'll live with it for a while, and if I don't get tired of it I'll go ahead and use a more permanent solution for the design.  For now though I love how it totally dresses up the vanity. 

and who said that a tile counter top can't look modern, right?

One more picture--because, well, I laid in an empty bathtub (fully clothed, of course) to take this picture (much to my giggling toddler's delight).

Now every time I walk by this hall bathroom it makes me smile.   It's light, and bright, and somehow fun.  Don't you think?

And can I say that I think I might need to add a flower garden to my backyard plans.  This vase just looks too good to be empty!

All finished!  What do you think?  Does it make you want to tackle your own home improvement project?

Big thanks to Build.com for making this project possible!

UPDATE:  After living with the backsplash for about a month, the sharpie lines started looking a bit fuzzy.  So I got rid of most of my lines.  Everything came off easily, but the sharpie is definitely not a long term solution.  I found a solution though!  Vinyl!!  Check out how I added Vinyl here to recreate the look.