Nothing Wrong With a Little Vanity

I admit it, I am a girly girl. I love to go to weddings just because I love to get dressed up. I love to pick out an outfit, accessorize it and coordinate my makeup to it. That is why I have been obsessed with having my very own vanity for years. I love the idea of having all my makeup and hair stuff organized in a place that is just for me. So when the DH and I moved into our new house with 1 master bathroom sink and almost no counter space to speak of there was never a better time for me to start the hunt for my little makeup station. Now, for as long as I can remember I have been putting my makeup on on the floor. That's right, I had a mirror propped up on the wall and a towel spread out with all my makeup. I would sit as close to the mirror as possible. I think this stems from my days in the sorority house when 40 girls would be trying to get ready at the same time and you had to fight for bathroom mirror space.

Anyway, about 6 months ago I began my quest for a vanity table. I first tried shopping online. To my disappointment, I didn't really find anything decent and substantial for under $600. So, I broadened my search and went to almost every furniture store within a 30 mile radius. Apparently the vanity is a lost piece of furniture and almost nobody carries them. Or, if they do, they are for children or made of particle board.

I then turned my search to Craigslist. Everyday I would search the word "vanity" and check out my selections. I was looking for a dark wood to match our other furniture but everything I found was a cherry color or the wood was badly damaged. Now I love DIY projects, but I will NOT strip and re-stain furniture. This is just too much work. So, after dragging the DH to check out a few disappointing CL postings, I decided my search was never going to end and started to give up.

Enter my good friend and fellow DIYer, T. T also shared my obsession with vanities and finally found one that she painted. Wow, light bulb, genius! Why hadn't I thought of that? I should PAINT an old one. No staining required! So, after a few weeks on CL I brought home a bright yellow vanity with 70's floral drawer liners and green trim. The DH was not impressed and did not share my vision at all.

But, I had hope for my little treasure! I decided to paint it red with bronze trim. I first sanded off the top layer of the old paint. Since I wasn't sure what was used on it before, I primed the entire thing with a grey primer. Grey is a better base coat for red paint because it is darker and does not require as many coats to cover it. I used a high-gloss enamel paint and had to put 3 coats on to get the coverage I wanted. I added some trim in a bronze finish and replaced the knobs with an inexpensive style from Lowe's. Total cost of the project, around $175. Here she is:


The color is a little bold, and took some getting used to, but I love it. It didn't come with a mirror so after trying and returning several, I finally settled on a frameless style from Lowe's that I purchased for just $40. Since the vanity is dainty, a frame looked too heavy with it.


It also did not come with a stool, and that was quite a challenge. The space in the center is pretty small and all the stools I looked at were too wide for the space. I finally found one that was the right size, but the wrong color - but that didn't stop me! Check back later this week for a little lesson on how to paint and recover a chair..........