Giveaway and Reveal: Vanity Makeover

I can honestly say that this is the LARGEST DIY project I have done on this blog… and I am ecstatic to share it with you! I hope that this post will motivate you to take on any wood furniture redo that you have been thinking of, and be sure to enter the giveaway at the end of this post.

See the ugly vanity At the top left? It’s probably about twenty years old. My sisters had it when they were in high school, I inherited it when I turned 12. Before I started wearing makeup, I would store my lip gloss in the drawer and do my homework at it. Now, every morning when I get up, I sit at the pedestal seat, and get ready for the day. This piece of wood traveled over 5,000 miles from my parents to my home. That trip alone makes it mean the world to me! But, as you can imagine, many years of use has left it in less than perfect condition. Water marks, scratches and stains were tainting its beauty, so I decided to give the place where I gave myself makeovers over years, one of its own!

First, I removed excess items that were on top of the vanity and gave it a good dusting with a microfiber rag. Using 100 grit sand paper, I sanded down the entire thing by hand. I made sure to give extra attention and work to areas that would be getting a lot of wear and tear, like the top, and legs of the set. Once this step was completed, I used the attachment hose on my vacuüm to suck off all the loose sawdust. Lots of people just use a rag for this step, but using a vacuüm will make sure that you get all small particles off.

Next, I pulled off the old handle on the drawer. It was particularly hard to do because it was attached on the inside at the time of manufacturing. Pulling it off with pliers created a few holes and dints int he wood. Using a wood filler that I bought at my local hardware store, I filled in all the holes or irregularities.

After letting the wood filler sit over night I sanded over the filler, with the same sand paper as before, to make sure that is was flush. The step can be repeated as needed. Carefully, I taped off the mirror so that it wouldn’t get paint on it.

Now for the fun part- painting! To prepare the wood and make the paint stick, I used a quick dry, 3-in-1 primer in white. I chose to use a brush on primer because I felt like it would make sure that every crack would be covered.

I did a lot of research as to what kind of paint I wanted to use on this vanity. I was looking for something that would dry quickly, stay on well, and have a lot of pigment. That’s why I decided that a sponsorship with Plutonium Paint was right for this project.

Plutonium Paint is a spray paint, and at first I was worried that is wasn’t going to give me the coverage that a brush on paint would. However, using Plutonium on this project, I am completely sold on their brand!

Here are just a few things about their products that I appreciated when using them for my project:

• 70% pigment! (Yeah, you heard me right.) When I used their “Polar” color for my project it covered better than a brush on paint because there were no streaks or brush strokes visible. The entire thing looked and was airbrushed leaving a flawless finish. Plus, because of all the pigment, I didn’t use as many spray bottles as I thought I would have and only had to give the vanity two coats.
• Fast drying. I thought fast drying would mean poor quality, but I was so wrong. It literally took my project 10 minutes to completely dry! (and this is with a few minutes of waiting time between coats) Because the paint dried so quickly, I was able to prime, paint, and reassemble the vanity all in one day.
• Hard, durable matte finish. I was afraid before the paint dries that it would peal easily or look tacky with a matte finish, but it didn’t at all! This paint is so durable. I literally think I could take my finger and scratch it across the top of the paint now and nothing would happen to it. And the matte finish makes the vanity look more elegant and more expensive.
• It smells amazing! Most spray paints smell terrible, but all Plutonium Paint is vanilla scented.
• A company that actually cares.  I haven’t done this in the past, but a way that companies interact with me is very important to how I feel about them. As someone who often works with companies on product reviews, I feel like I have a good experience with a variety of different interest levels. I was completely blown away with the thoughtful nature in which Plutonium interacted with me. Not only did they send me the products that I required for this project, but a bunch of extra cute stuff too. Some of this included Plutonium buttons, stickers, extra mint colored paint for my next project, a package of interchangeable actuators that would allow for me to make dots and designs. I will definitely be using their products in the future.

To ensure extra long life of the Plutonium paint I finished off with an acrylic enamel clear finish for wood, also in a spray paint. After all the spray painting the wood was left a little rough so I took the 100 grit sand paper again over the paint to smooth it out. I know what you’re thinking, “Sand paper is supposed to take off paint!” Yes, when you use a really rough paper, but this was tiny enough and I didn’t use enough force to take off the new paint.

I also reupholstered the seat, and added extra cushion. To do so I simply detached the top from the frame, ripped out the staples. I picked this lovely light gray to replace the stained silky purple fabric that I previously had on the seat, and cut the fabric to size. This seat was 20″ x 12″ and it took me about 1/2 yard of fabric. I would recommend using an upholstery fabric, or at least a very thick cotton so you can get a lot of use out of it without it wearing down.

For cushion I bought this seat padding in the fabric section of a craft store, cut it to size, and hot glued it down to the wood for extra support. For even more support, I put batting between the cushion and the fabric. Using a staple gun, I stapled the fabric to the wood. If you are doing this yourself, be sure to pull the fabric as tight as possible  before stapling. If you can get help, this is easier to do with two people than one.

To finish off this look I choose a drawer handle by Trinca-Ferro, a company located out of England. They have so many knobs to choose from for all of your projects. Really, they have something for everyone’s style and taste. They have glass, ceramic, and vintage knobs. (They have everything!) And their prices are very affordable for the great quality that they show.

They sent me 3 different styles of knobs, and honestly, I love them all. (See below) For many vanity, I used the mirror melon knob, and I love the quality of it. For my desk I am using the black glass ones, and they are so chic! All of the knobs are easy to install and look like a million bucks.

For you my lovely readers, Trinca-Ferro is going to host a giveaway with me! One lucky reader will win 8 knobs of their choice from the Trinca Ferro website! (That’s enough for any project!) Please enter below. You’ve got to try these knobs out.
Rafflecopter giveaway

****This giveaway is now closed****

Congratulations to winner, Sarah Cool!

Finally, here is what the vanity looks like finished. I’m in love!

If anyone has questions about what brand of primer or other products I used, please comment below. I didn’t include their names in this post because I don’t think they should get free advertising that other companies had to pay for.