Believe it or not, we’ve actually been spending a bit of time working on the guest bathroom between installing new doors, landscaping, and costume-wearing. You’ve probably almost forgotten that we ever started working in this room, it’s been so long since an update! The last time you saw our guest bath, we had just removed the backsplash from the vanity to reveal gaps as large as my finger between the countertop and the wall.
While we pondered what we were going to do about that countertop, we decided the vanity base needed an update. We originally painted the base dark brown to match the mirror above the vanity and the original color scheme in this room, but the brown wasn’t jiving with our new gray walls.
I figured we might as well paint the vanity white since the rest of the cabinetry our house has gotten that treatment.
Famous. Last. Words.
Step 1 was to sand down the glossy brown.
Then we primed…
Then I busted out the trim paint and put 2 coats of white on the vanity. It still needed a third. By this point, I was sure the vanity would be at least 1/2″ thicker from all the coats of paint I’d given it!
Then something funny happened… We changed our minds.
We finally decided to go the re-glazing route and to try painting the countertop white. Then we decided the wall treatment above the countertop would be white as well. All of the sudden we were going to have white walls, a white countertop, and a white vanity. And that was too much white for me. Something had to go.
So I got out the paintbrush, sanded down the vanity, and started painting… again.
Luckily changing the paint color of this vanity for a third time only required precious time and not precious cash. The paint color we used was leftover from our master bathroom walls. Gray walls and a darker gray vanity – believe it or not, we love it!
The doors and drawers got a couple coats of the same gray as well after a thorough sanding.
Finally it was time to move on to the countertop. I picked up this Tub & Tile Refinishing Kit at Lowe’s for about $50. The kit included everything needed to prep and paint the sink except for a mask to prevent fume inhalation.
We opted to remove the countertop completely and prep and paint it in the garage while the vanity was drying. The preparation stage took forever, but I’m glad I took the time to follow the instructions to the letter. We wanted this finish to last!
While I was prepping the countertop, Stephen made a paint tent for me in the garage. The tent worked perfectly – sheltering the countertop from dust in the air while allowing me to open the garage door for good ventilation while painting.
We placed the prepped countertop in the tent…
And three coats of epoxy later, we had a white countertop! As a side note, the instructions included in this kit only recommend 2 coats of epoxy. I could still see darker areas through the white paint after 2 coats, so I very carefully applied a light third coat to achieve this finish.
After letting the countertop cure for the requisite 3 days, we put it back in place.
The result? I LOVE the new white countertop!! Who knew a $50 kit could so completely transform the way I feel about this room??
We still need to hang the cabinet doors, address the area above the countertop, and install our (new) faucet, but I’d say this bathroom is slowly inching its way towards completion!
Have you ever tried refinishing a tub or sink before? Would you have tried rescuing this old countertop or replaced it entirely? What do you think of our dark gray cabinetry?
Thanks for reading!
