House Project: Antiquing Bathroom Cabinet & Vanity

I promised a very, very long time ago that I would write this post.  And I keep my promises!  Even if it takes a couple of months...  I can blame it on the pregnancy right??  ;)

For quick instructions, jump to the bottom of the post - I condensed it all without the personal jargon.  :)

When we started talking about the house redo, we had to start thinking about what our "style" was.  We aren't modern.  We aren't primitive.  But we are somewhere in-between.  After a lot of time on Pinterest and then Houzz, we settled on "Rustic Contemporary."  We like things a bit earthy - leaves, trees, earth tone colors - which is pretty contemporary.  But we also enjoy the occasional antique and love a "worn" look - which brings us to the rustic half.  :)  

So, Hubby wanted to make sure, as a designer, that we had a cohesive look throughout the house.  Since our large bathroom was set to be fairly contemporary in color and style, we wanted to bring in something a little more rustic.  That's when we decided to antique the vanity.  The knobs were already vintage and I thought antiquing the vanity would be the prefect solution!

Well, it turns out that whatever the vanity is made of (not wood), didn't take well to the Valspar Antiquing Glaze** we purchased at Lowe's.  I did change the color of the vanity to make the vintage knobs pop but that is for another post.

Thankfully, because of an unfortunate leak, the smaller bathroom became a priority.  And I actually tried the glaze on the vanity and cabinet there first!  It turned out wonderfully!  :)

Here is what I started with (along with a matching vanity):

When we first looked at the house, I loved these - they just have SO much potential!  So I took the doors off and went to work.  The first step was to paint these cream instead of white.  Pretty uneventful....well, except for the fact that I forgot to remove the hardware.  Eek!

So don't forget to do that first when you're painting.  

To start the antiquing process (an optional step...though one I highly recommend) I sanded over everything, paying special attention to the edges and where the handles were located.  Here's a comparison of one drawer sanded and one not:

The drawer on the top is not sanded and the one on the bottom is.  The original white paint is showing through as well as the wood beneath that.  I was stoked that it was working so well.

Then I got out the rest of what I needed to finish the antiquing process:

Yep, that's it - a vacuum, a terry cloth, and Valspar Antiquing Glaze**. 

First vacuum off the sand.  Using a tac cloth here would probably be good, but we didn't have one and I wanted to get this done, so I just vacuumed over everything a few times and went to work.

Applying the glaze - intimidating right??  I was SO nervous about this...and just consoled myself by reminding me that another coat of paint would fix it if I messed up.  But it was SO easy.  Dab a terry cloth in the glaze (just a little bit...it goes a long way) and then rub it on to the surface.  It will stick more to the areas you sanded more.  But you can keep working with it until you get the desired look.  Here is one door done and one waiting:

Close up:

Crazy difference right??  I kept getting Hubbies attention (he was working on something else in our temporary work space...trim maybe??) to show him how awesome it was coming.  This was, by far, one of my favorite projects.  Because we are using that same cream color in a couple of other rooms - I have a few other antiquing projects in my future!  :)

Here is the finished project:

Here is a comparison photo just so you can get a better idea:

And here are some of the up close and personal details that I just love!

P.S. My next post will most likely be the quick redo I did on the hardware.  It was black and covered in paint before these pics were taken.  So be on the lookout for that!  :)

So, in the end, I highly recommend Valspar Antiquing Glaze**!  But only when you know you are working with wood...whatever our other vanity is made of, it just looked dirty.  There wasn't a grain for the glaze to find - it just looked smudgey.  Since you only use a tiny bit for each project, I have SO many more project ideas for this wonderful amazingness!  ;)  

Okay, so here is the condensed version:

Items Needed:

- Paint in the desired color(s) 
- Sand Paper
- Vacuum or Tac Cloth (or both)
- Terry Cloth
- Valspar Antiquing Glaze**

Directions:

1. If working with unpainted wood - paint the edges and easily worn spots (handles, etc.) with a color you would like to show through your finished product (I have a bit of white showing underneath our cream finish).

2. Let dry completely.

3. Paint over the entire piece with the desired finish color.

4. Let dry completely.

5. Sand over the entire piece (a finer grit is probably better, I just used what we had on hand).  Pay extra attention to areas that are easily worn - edges, anywhere there is a handle, etc.  The glaze will stick more where there is more sanding - so keep this in mind.

6. Use a vacuum cleaner or tac cloth or both to remove the debris from sanding.

7. Go back over any areas you think need to look more "worn."

8. Vacuum/tac cloth again.

9. Dip terry cloth in antiquing glaze (a little bit goes a LONG way).

10. Rub over the entire piece.  Get more glaze as needed.  It remains pliable for a while, so keep rubbing it around until you get the desired look.  Again - pay special attention to the "worn" areas.

11. Some sites recommend a sealer.  I suppose this depends on the material you are working with.  The glaze soaked right in to our cabinet and vanity and no matter how much I rubbed, it wasn't coming off, so we skipped this step.

12.  Admire your finished product.


**Another note - I did not receive this product for free.  In fact, I only got it because another blogger recommended it!  In other words, everything I said in this post was said because of how much the product impressed me!  :)

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Where could you use the wonderful magic of Valspar Antiquing Glaze??