I want to paint old vanity in my bathroom, any suggestions?
by
Mary
+5
My bathroom vanity is showing lots of wear after 30 yrs. should I paint? restain, what are the steps? it is dark wood.
7 answers
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It depends on the vanity. If it's a stained antique in ok condition, try to save the wood. Lightly sand, stain, and polyurethane. But I love painted pieces. To paint a bathroom vanity, lightly sand to rough up the surface, then prime. If you're going from a dark stain to a light paint, use BIN primer which is a Shellac primer that prevents bleed-through. Then I suggest Benjamin Moore's Advance paint in semi-gloss. This paint takes 60-days to fully cure so be careful with it in the meantime. If you can't wait that long, you can add a water-based poly as a topcoat (I like Rustoleum's Polyurethane which is soap & water clean-up). For more tips, follow me at EntriWP.com
Vicki at Entri Ways
on Oct 04, 2015
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Painting or staining is preference and to determine which way to go should be based on the rest of the bathroom. Requardless of what you choose the vanity will need to be stripped down in order for the new paint or stain to adhere.
Janet Pizaro
on Oct 04, 2015
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Whether you paint or stain is your preference but, in my opinion, painting would be much easier and, if you use latex paint, you would have endless color choices. You do NOT need to strip the stain to paint. You don't even have to sand it as long as the existing finish is not rough or bubbly, or it doesn't have deep scratches or gouges. Just give it a good wipe-down with a liquid sandpaper/deglosser product. That will clean it and leave a film of tackiness that will give the first coat of primer some *tooth* to stick to. Apply 1 or 2 very light coats of a good bonding primer, allowing adequate drying time between coats. Then add thin coats of a good quality latex paint until you get complete coverage. One of the important keys to a good, long-lasting paint job that adheres well is not getting impatient and rushing it. The longer you can wait between each thin coat of primer or paint, the better. As Vicki said, most latex paints take up to 30 days or longer to completely cure and harden. If it were me, I would prefer to be careful around the cabinet until it cures rather than applying a protective top coat. If you don't use a top coat, it is very easy to touch the vanity up if it should happen to get a few little nicks or dings. I always keep extra paint on hand from my furniture and bathroom vanity painting projects just for this purpose (but I rarely ever need to do touch-ups). By the way, if you decide to use latex paint (rather than chalk paint or milk paint), 1 quart of primer and 1 quart of paint should be more than enough to do a vanity. If you can find paint without the primer already in it, that would be my recommendation. It might be okay for walls but I have not been completely happy with the all-in-one paint & primer combo paints for furniture/cabinet painting. However, that is sometimes the only choice you have these days,depending on where you buy your paint and the brand. Even if your paint ends up having *primer* in it, please use a separate bonding primer first anyway.
Shari
on Oct 04, 2015
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I painted an old dresser to use as a vanity in the bathroom. My suggestion is to use outdoor paint as it stands up to water. I did use polycrylic on the front as an extra layer of protection from abuse and water.
Faye Heine Baker
on Oct 04, 2015
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Sand it.. paint and get some old picture frames to use as trim..
Sharon Gavala
on Oct 04, 2015
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Hi Mary. Are you really attached to this vanity? If it were me I'd have a great time hitting thrift stores and garage sales looking for a new piece. Is there a lot of water damage? If you went over this, I missed it. :D
AmericanWoman
on Oct 04, 2015
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I used General Finishes gel stain in the color java and used a clear coat to protect the finish. You will be amazed at the transformation.
Andrea Mosse Brown
on Oct 05, 2015
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