Upcycled Bathroom Vanity

Our bathroom dresser journey started when we had purchased a farm-style rectangular vessel sink on sale and then built the bathroom wall to fit the large sink.  The problem, a year later we still had not found a vanity that would work to fit the non-standard width wall and said sink.  As our quest progressed to find a suitable cabinet, we decided to look for a furniture piece that might work versus having a custom piece of cabinetry made. 

Hunting high and low for a furniture piece at every thrift store and rummage sale we came across.  We were starting to lose hope.  Our search ended after a full morning of rummaging when my faithful thrifting friend Joy & I screeched her car to a halt at the sight of a garage full of old furniture.... a dresser not the prettiest of things when we found her, but she was the right width & depth = SOLD!! 

My hubby on the other hand was a skeptic when I texted him this picture of it from the sale. He was however sold on the price of $2 and later the magic of what wood stripper can do.

Here is our covered in crayon, scratched and watermarked find.  

And after some coats of Furniture Refinisher (wood stripper) we had removed 95% of the old beaten finish and it was a great color that seemed to match our maple trim perfectly. At that point we stopped stripping the finish and prepped it for poly to seal it for use as a exposed to water bath vanity.  

To seal it we lightly sanded to even the finish and then put on 5 coats of Soft-Touch, Water-Based Matte Polyurethane.  We decided on water-based poly due to the fact that it remains crystal clear and does not yellow tint the finish - keeping it exactly the color it was before poly.

The top of the dresser we removed and flipped it over to give it a flat edge finish, not the rounded bevel the dresser originally had. It also was coated in about 8 layers of poly due to the fact it would have the most water exposure over time.

Love the raw wood look that the matte poly gives, even after multiple coats.

We were also able to keep one of the drawers for storage, always a plus.  The top two drawers were unable to be saved for use due to the plumbing needing space.

This was a roll with it and see what happens kind of project and we love how our $2 upcycled vanity turned out.