Before I even moved into my house, I knew I wanted to turn a vintage dresser into a bathroom vanity in my only bathroom. It’s a 1920’s bathroom with a tub, vintage knobs, black and white subway tile and a basket weave tile floor. A vintage dresser turned into a vanity was the perfect solution to compliment the time period, scale and color palate of the room. This was no simple task! Read on to see how I did it.

The first step was obviously measuring the space that I could fit a new vanity into – 48″ wide would be an exact fit. I started searching on Craigslist and Craigslist Alternatives pretty much every night (I have no life) until I found the perfect dresser. I knew I wanted something with legs that lifted it off the floor and 3 drawers across the top so I could loose 1 for the sink. Once I found it, I obsessed over it for a while and stressed out while it took the seller forever to write me back. But, finally it was mine! My step brother went out with me to pick it up so I didn’t get kidnapped and also to help with the heavy lifting (he was the first of my many helpers on this!).

Once I had this beauty in my possession I started sanding with my beloved power sander. Lots, and lots of sanding… I even got to use some of the fun attachments to get into all the little nooks. It was right around this point in the project when I realized that my wonderful, perfect, dresser was TOO DEEP to fit in my bathroom! Unless I wanted to never close the bathroom door I needed to figure out a way to chop about 3″ off the back of this baby. Enter helper number 2 – my awesome Uncle David! Somehow he harnessed his super powers to take those 3 inches straight off the back, shorten the legs so my vessel sink wouldn’t be up to my armpit, and also cut out a couple of the drawers to accommodate the plumbing that would be done by a professional (such as https://www.silverwaterplumbing.com.au/plumber-penrith/, though we used a local service instead). All that and he delivered it to my house when he was done! Best Uncle Ever! (If my other uncles are reading this, I love you too!).

If you aren’t as skilled as Uncle David or have never attempted the diy route when it comes to making your own furniture, don’t worry about it. There are various companies you can look into like Bathrooms and More Store, where you can purchase everything you would need for a bathroom. It is a lot easier shopping online. But who doesn’t like a challenge! Shopping online for new home energy quotes from websites similar to Money Expert makes the challenge a lot easier! And helps save more money towards that lovely bathroom.

Below is what the dresser looked like with legs chopped off and my beautiful vessel sink and modern faucet perched on top. The green tape served as temporary drawer pulls. Doesn’t Lucy just look overjoyed? Believe me, we were jumping up and down off camera!

The next step after a few final sanding passes, was to prime the whole thing. I used Kilz Latex Primer like I have on other projects. A little bit goes a long way, I did my kitchen cabinets and this dresser with just 1 little can.

After the primer had time to dry, I went in with this great Sherwin William Matte Enamel that is meant for painting wood and metal that will be outdoors. So I knew it could stand up to the moisture of my bathroom. I choose a matte finish because I thought it would look nice with the rest of the room. I applied several coats, all with a high density foam roller that left a beautiful, smooth finish. I couldn’t wait to see what the Jadeite drawer pulls looked like against the black. Gorgeous!!

Here is the dresser finally up in my bathroom the day my plumber was installing it. I can’t tell you how excited I was! I had to leave the room while he fit the dresser in there, I was so nervous it would be 1 inch too wide or something horrible like that!

Can you even handle it?! Check out the before and after below. The before was taken after I replaced the light fixture, so in reality this is even more of a transformation from the true “before”!

I can’t get over how much I love this vanity now! I mentioned earlier how we had to cut out some drawers to accommodate the plumbing, well check out how they turned out. I didn’t have to completely loose the top middle drawer. It’s now a little shorty that holds my glasses and various eyeliner and lip pencils. The big middle drawer below it had some pretty extensive alterations done to it, and now has 3 little compartments, perfect for holding my hair dryer and all sorts of products. When I got the dresser in the house, of course I need a few alterations made to how my uncle had cut the drawers down – luckily I made friends with the most amazing and talented neighbor who helped me make it work!

Sources:

Vintage Dresser, Craigslist
Sink & Faucet, Overstock
Vintage Style Pulls, Flea Market, Etsy AND eBay! It was hard to find the full set I needed!
Bathroom Wall Color: Evening Shadow by Sherwin Williams.
Dresser Paint: All Surface Enamel in Black

Linking Up With: Motivational Monday and Thrifty Decor Chick.