May 29, 2013

Dawn's House: Chalk Paint in the Master Bathroom

Updating a Bathroom Vanity with Chalk Paint • AD Aesthetic

Hey there! I have a much (much) delayed master bathroom update for you today. It's, sadly, not a full room reveal, but progress is progress, am I right? Ever since I wrote about how I updated my bathroom vanity by spray painting the laminate counter (yes really), I've had several readers asking me to post photos of the finished bathroom. Well, yikes... that was over a year ago and the bathroom still isn't finished. In fact, it pretty much looks the same. You see, this past year has been a struggle for me in my battle with anxiety, and when I'm at my worst, my projects suffer. I'm still not sure I'm where I'd like to be in that regard, and the bathroom mirrors that struggle, but I figured it was time to share the one bathroom update I did manage to check off the list since we left things off a year ago: painting the vanity.

If you remember the pathetic photo of the vanity from the counter post, you may recall that at one point I began painting the vanity a deep chocolate-brown color. Pretty quickly I changed my mind about the color, and it sat like that— partially painted— for way too long.

After getting the counter painted, however, I was inspired to get the whole vanity in shape. With the new dark counter-top, I knew that I wanted to go with white for the vanity. We plan to have dark tile flooring in this room also, so I think the white will help to brighten up the space and provide a nice contrast. I've heard a lot of great things over the years about chalk paint, but strangely enough had never tried it for myself, so I decided this was the perfect project to give it a go. I bought this paint and this wax from Michael's and spent an afternoon giving the vanity a much-needed makeover. Chalk Paint Bathroom Vanity 2• AD Aesthetic

Chalk Paint Bathroom Vanity 2• AD Aesthetic

Chalk Paint Bathroom Vanity 8 • AD Aesthetic

Chalk Paint Bathroom Vanity 1 • AD Aesthetic

I have to say, I'm not sold on chalk paint. I realize it may have been the brand I chose, but took several coats to get to a point where the wood wasn't bleeding through. No really... like 10 coats of paint or something ridiculous. But once I got it done, it did look very nice. A coat of wax finished it off and I haven't had any issues with water or anything else messing up the paint job in there. Another change I made while I was at it was adding new hardware to the vanity. I bought some new drawer pulls, knobs, and hinges from Lowes and now it looks like a brand new vanity. I went with brushed nickel for the hardware, but I'm kind of on the fence about that decision, and thinking I may have a plan to make me love it even more. We'll see where that goes.

So anyway, that's where we're currently at. And for those who have asked, YES, I still LOVE my countertop and it still looks great. Super smooth and shiny, as you can see in the photo above. No complaints!! Next up on the list is wallpaper stripping, wall patching, and new paint. As a refresher, here are my plans for this room:

~~Update dated counter top~~
~~Paint vanity~~
~~Update vanity hardware~~
New faucets
Remove wallpaper
New lighting fixtures
New mirrors (I have these purchased and just waiting to be put in!!!)
Paint walls
Add storage (there is NONE in here!)
Remove carpet/vinyl and add new tile floors
Add modern tile accents around tub, shower, and vanity
Install new hardware (towel bars, shower curtain, etc.)
Fix shower so it's usable (I'm going to gloss over this for now, but will explain this completely separate issue some other time.. uhg.)
Final decor touches