DIY Monday: Dresser to Bathroom Vanity? Part 3: The Big Finish!

If you read Part 2 of this series you'll see that I had a foot to replace on my vanity. The vanity was also full of dings that I wanted to fill in before painting the piece. Since I needed an open back for the pipes to go through, I pulled the back off of the vanity. I used spackling compound just as I would for a wall to fill in the gouges and holes. Just as you would with a wall, I waited for it to dry and then gave it a light sanding to smooth out the ridge.

I then lightly sanded down the whole piece to give the paint something to grab. Anytime you're painting a piece of furniture like this that has a finish on it (especially anything with a shine) it's a good idea to sand it down before you paint. It makes little tiny ridges for the paint to stick to instead of just a shiny surface on which the paint will streak or bead up. When you're finished sanding, run a cloth over the piece to get off what you've just sanded. Just to be safe, I also run over the piece with a tack cloth. A tack cloth is a cloth that's got sticky stuff on it made especially for this purpose. You can find it in the paint section of your home improvement store. The piece has to be clean before you paint it or you'll end up with little grainy bits in your paint instead of a smooth surface.

Before I painted the drawers, I wanted to replace the French Provincial handles with glass pulls. This required my filling the two holes required for the handles and drilling a single hole in the center of where the handle had been for the single pull. It's easier to do this before painting so you don't mar your paint and you can paint over the filled holes.

I used a shiny, oil based, outdoor paint on this piece because I wanted it to shine and wanted it to hold up to water. It is, after all, a bathroom vanity! I suggest, however, if you use an oil based paint, you get a set of brushes and rollers especially for this project as well as a pair of throw away gloves.

As I've said before, I like to be careful of the environment, but using turpentine to clean out a roller is almost impossible. Cleaning a paint brush is easier, but still difficult. For that reason, I usually use a wooden handled brush (cheap) and a roller I can throw away when I'm finished with the job. I start early in the day, cover my brush, roller and paint tray with plastic so it won't dry out, and then put on a second coat later in the day after the first coat has had time to cure (no longer tacky to the touch).

After two coats of paint, I checked for places I missed. Because there were so many cracks and angles on this piece, I really had to look at it from different angles to make sure all the brown was covered. Some opt to do some light sanding of the edges to let the brown underneath shine through for a more primitive look. I prefer the shiny opaque look!

Once the second coat dried, I then applied a coat of Deft to the top. And this is where my trouble began. Listen closely my friends for I am about to impart a piece of knowledge that will save you many hours and quite possibly your sanity. Never, NEVER use a latex paint over an oil-based paint. Never.

Now I know not to do this. I've known not to do this for most of my life because my Mama said, "Honey, never, NEVER use a latex paint over an oil-based paint." And I listened to my Mama and never did it... until now. I had just finished coating the entire top when I noticed the crackling, buckling and bubbling had started to occur. And THEN, I realized my mistake.

Many hours of stripping, sanding and repainting later, the vanity was ready to be installed. Since your "guts" will be different from my "guts" I won't get into how to hook up the pipes on the vanity. Every piece will be different and require creative problem solving on your part. I will say, however, you should set your sinks on the vanity and look at the placement before you cut your holes into the top.

In our case, we set the vessel sinks on top, measured from the side of the vanity to the base of the sink on both sides and in the front to make sure they were evenly placed. (Yes, this was during the sanding phase and before the repainting phase.) Once we were sure of placement, I marked the drain hole on the top of the dresser with a pen. We removed the sinks, drilled the holes and installed the sinks with the drains, hooked up the water pipes.

And then we stood back and admired our beautiful new vanity!

DIY Monday: Dresser to Bathroom Vanity? Part 2: The Fix

We found the dresser we wanted to use for our bathroom vanity. One of my "conditions" for the right piece, though, was that it had to be banged up enough that I could bear to paint it and cut holes in it to work in our bathroom. And this piece needed some TLC.

One of the lovely little feet was only half there. It needed repair. And I was just the girl to fix it!

First I turned to the Internet to find a molding compound that would make a mold of the foot that was still intact. I found something called Easy Mold Silicone Putty that was used for jewelry making, but I knew would work for this purpose. It's malleable for a few minutes and then takes about 30 minutes to "cure" or take it's final form. I shaped some of the putty around the remaining foot, left it to cure and then pulled off the finished mold.

I then took the mold to the missing foot and marked in the mold what was left in the foot. This gave me a measurement to follow when pouring my replacement foot. Since it was on an angle, I needed to tilt the mold so that the plaster would dry with a smooth surface at the right angle. I mixed some Plaster of Paris (from the paint section of my local home improvement store) and poured it into my mold. Since the mold is flexible silicon, I didn't worry about coating it with anything to make it release my form. If you look closely at the picture, you can see the black marks in the sides of the mold where I marked placement. I also placed the mold in a measuring cup to help tilt it in the correct position to dry at the right angle to attach the foot.

Once the plaster was cured (per the instructions on the box), I pulled it from the mold and fitted it to the foot of the dresser. There were a couple places that had to be gently filed down (with a metal nail file) for the fit to be perfect. Once I was satisfied with the fit, I then put a bit of liquid nails onto the plaster piece and fitted it to the existing leg. I left it alone to give it time to cure and then took some paintable caulk and filled in the seam where the two pieces joined, smoothing it with my fingers. Since I used oil paint on the piece to finish it, I didn't worry about sealing the plaster before painting. If, however, you are using latex paint, you should seal the plaster with a primer before painting.

Next up, preparing to paint...

DIY Monday: Dresser to Bathroom Vanity? Part 1: The Search

I love, love, love the look of a sideboard or dresser turned into a bathroom vanity. I looked at so many pictures of furniture that had been turned into a sink vanity. These top two options are from Canton Antiques, a shop that seems to specialize in this conversion and has some fabulous pieces! Others I found used sideboards or buffets, some used dressers, some used Victorian wash stands. Many replaced the top with a custom slab of marble. All looked expensive... and the ones I could actually buy WERE.

Yet again, we were working on a budget. We couldn't afford to drop $3,000 on a custom vanity. So we had to get creative in our search.

I knew we had to find a piece that left room for the pipes as that was the trickiest part of this

endeavor. As you're searching, you should also keep the following in mind: height, stability of legs, placement of pipes (do they come from the wall or the floor) storage needs, room for sinks on top, room for "work space" on top and dimensions of the area in which it will be placed.

Given my love of antique furniture, I really didn't want to tear apart a piece of furniture that was otherwise salvageable to use in it's original purpose. So the more scratched up, dinged up or beat up, the better for me.

When looking at possibilities, buffets often had cabinets that allowed room for the pipes, but they were on tall spindly legs that, once cut above the supports to make it short enough, would not provide us the support and stability we needed. Sideboards were lovely, but they usually had a row of drawers in the center that would need to be gutted giving us less storage space (a valuable commodity in our home). Dressers were often full of drawers as well.

We also had to keep in mind the dimensions of the space in which the finished piece would fit. Some were way too short for double sinks. Others were too long for our space. We had picked out the vessel sinks before we picked out the piece so we could be sure to have enough surface area on top for two sinks and some work space in between. We had to think about the placement of the drain as well - whether it would be in the center of a cabinet or the center of a support piece or drawer.

I looked at estate sales, on ebay, in used furniture stores and poured through Craigslist postings. In the end, we found a well-"loved" French Provincial dresser on Craigslist that was exactly the right length and height for our sinks, leaving some work space in between and that would fit in our space. The sides - the part that would be under the sink - had open cabinets that were perfect for the pipes and drains. We had to cut into one side of the drawers because our pipes came from the wall and were fixed in place, but the cuts were slight and easy to do. We still had the remaining drawers for storage space. And best of all, I had no problems painting and cutting this dresser up. It was perfect, but it was brown and needed some work to fit in our overall design. Stay tuned for how I did it!

* Click pictures to find their sources.

DIY Monday: Wainscoting and Chair Railing

When we were doing our bathroom renovation, we ended up with a mess when we pulled out our old bathroom sink. The sink was original to our home, put in by the original builders. The problem is they not only glued the backsplash to the bare wall, but they also painted AROUND the cabinet. What was left was bare, bruised wall board that hadn't been sealed.

We could have pulled out the spackling to patch the wall, sanded it, washed it down and waited for that to dry so that we could prime and paint it. We COULD have, but we didn't. We had taken a week off to do the renovation, were on a tight schedule and did not expect this little wrinkle in our plan. There was too much waiting involved. So we decided to cover it all up with bead board!

You might be familiar with this option? The cover it up option? Sometimes it's really the best way to go. And note to self, when doing home improvement, expect to be over budget and find things you couldn't anticipate no matter how well you planned!

So we made yet ANOTHER trip to the home improvement store to get some supplies. Luckily, they sell pre-cut 3 foot long lengths of bead board (some pre-primed in white) ready and waiting for our wall. You can also get larger sheets of the board (slightly cheaper per square foot) and cut them, but we don't have a ton of space to cut large boards. Chair rail moulding can be bought in 8 foot lengths (usually labeled "chair rail moulding), can also be bought pre-primed, and cut to the length you need. We got the longer lengths to limit the number of cuts and patches we'd have to do. We also pulled some liquid nail that fit into our caulking gun (see picture) and some white finishing nails to hold the board in place.

We were lucky to have a mitre box and saw to cut the corners on the chair rail. Mitre boxes allow you to cut just the right angle when trying to fit corners. They take a bit of visualization to get the angles right, but it's a handy thing to have if you are doing home improvement.

As with the cabinets, the first step to this project is finding the studs in your wall. Pull out your stud finder and start searching. I marked them lightly in pencil because my paint is semi-gloss and can be wiped off easily. Also, we didn't want to pull up the existing baseboards and the baseboards had flat tops, so we laid the bottom of the bead board directly on top of the baseboard. The other way to do this would be to take up the existing baseboards, lay the bead board and then reinstall the baseboards over the bead board.

Once your bead board is positioned correctly, tack the board to the wall with several finishing nails. There's a handy tool called a nail punch that helps ensure the head of the finishing nail doesn't stick out from your board. Once you've hammered the finishing nail in as far as you can, place the punch on the head of the nail and hammer the other end of the punch with your hammer. Be careful not to drive it in too far! When you're finished, you can spackle the tips and paint over where your nails are located for a smooth wall.

Continue installing your panels of bead board until you've reached the end or corner of your wall. Be very careful when cutting the board - measure twice - so that your corners and edges are even. If you're a little off, you can sometimes lightly caulk the joints for a smooth corner.

When finished putting up the bead board, it's time to cut and install the chair rail. The concept is similar. Cut your length of chair railing and I would suggest a thin layer of liquid nails to help hold it in place, then use your finishing nails and punch to secure the chair rail above your bead board. Since we used pre-cut bead board, there was a smooth edge to butt up against.

When finished installing the chair railing, go around and fill all your holes with spackling and allow it to dry. As I said earlier, you can use PAINTABLE caulk to fill in any of your rough cuts - make sure it's paintable or your paint will just bead up on it. When all this is finished, you've only got to paint! The finished product is lovely!

DIY: Kitchen Cabinets

We always seem to be on a budget with our renovation projects, which means we have to be creative with the way we accomplish our renovation goals. We priced out new cabinets for one wall and refacing all the cabinets and the estimate was over $5,000. I don't know about you, but we don't have that kind of money laying around!

This is where the brainstorming comes in handy. Just down the road from where I work is a place called the Habitat Re-store. Builders donate cabinets, building supplies and assorted things they take out of construction sites they demo. We've taken quite a few things to the Re-store ourselves and my parents have picked up some amazing used appliances for their rental units at great prices.

So I stalked the Re-store for several months. Luckily, we have cabinets that were standard for builders in this area and quite a few people have been redoing their kitchens and donating their used cabinets. It took a couple months to find all four cabinets we needed, but we finally found all we needed.

Probably the most important thing about installing cabinets is finding the studs in the wall if you have drywall walls. If you DON'T find the studs, you'll have cabinets falling off the walls. The best way to find the studs is to get what's called a stud finder from a home improvement store. Basically, you move the stud finder over the wall and it starts beeping and blinking when you find the stud.

Before you start, you should find and mark the studs. You should also determine the space between the counter (or floor) and cabinets and mark what's called a plumb line to guide the placement of your cabinets. Mark them high enough that when you have the cabinets against the wall and ready to drill, you don't have to go hunting for the lines.

Gather up your drill and your screws - there are special screws made especially for this purpose that are long enough to anchor the cabinet to the wall. Don't be stupid, as I was, and get screws that are too long. Measure the length of the screws against the width of the wall and the cabinets so that you don't go through the wall and out the other side. Trust me on this. Not good. Creates a bit of a new mess to fix!

Next, you should either get a helper to hold the cabinet steady and in place or find a way to prop up the cabinet you want to put on the wall. We first tried the jack to our truck, but that didn't work very well. We ended up using a large bucket and building up height with various things laying around the house to get the right height. Very scientific let me tell you - especially when we pulled out the cardboard boxes!

Put the cabinet in place so that the bottom is right on your plumb line and in the right place. Pull out your screws and drill, find your studs and start drilling. After the second or third screw, you will be able to pull the prop. We were super careful and put in like 6 screws per cabinet - mainly because I have heavy things to store and want to make sure they're secure.

Continue with the next cabinet, propping and putting in the screws until you have all your cabinets in place. It's easier to accomplish all this with the doors off of the cabinets. When you're done, put the doors back in place!

When we finish the refacing, we'll post that as well!

DIY Bathroom Renovation - Tiling a floor Part 3: Grouting the tile

Your mastic has cured, right? You've waited at least 24 hours? You've pulled the spacers out from between the dried tiles? Great! Let's grout!

For this step, you should have gathered your tools. You'll need some grout - sanded or unsanded depending on the amount of space between the tiles (ask your local home store employee to help you with your choice if you're unsure). I used pre-mixed because that ensured the consistency was right, but you can also use the kind you mix yourself. You'll also need a tool called a rubber float - it's the thing with the handle in the pictures. This will help you make sure you get the grout fully down into the holes between the tiles as you're grouting. You'll also need a bucket, sponge and some rags. All of these to get rid of the extra grout. Finally, I would suggest getting a good pair of knee pads. Bare knees on a tile floor for a long period of time can be quite painful.

Throw on the knee pads, fill up your bucket, open your grout and go to the furthest corner from the door. With your rubber float, pull some grout out of the bucket and slap it onto the floor. Working in an area of about 1 foot by 1 foot, pull the float diagonally across the tile being careful to push as much grout into the spaces between the tiles as you can. I usually try two coats of grout across the same surface area. Scrape off as much excess grout as you can as you go.

Once you're sure you have as much grout as you can get into the spaces between the tiles, wet your sponge in your bucket and draw it across the tile to wipe up the excess grout. Work in a diagonal movement to keep from pulling the grout out of the floor. It might take a couple wipes to get up the excess grout. I then wipe the surface dry to polish the tiles as I go.

Continue to work in small sections until you've reached the door of the room. Make sure you've packed the grout well in the larger areas - such as the areas around pipes where you've had to cut the tile to allow for clearance. I'd also suggest having a buddy to help you keep your water clean as you go. It really helps not to have to continually get up and down to dump the dirty water and get clean water.

Allow the grout to cure for at least 24 hours - or 48 hours if you are able (check the directions in your grout). Once the grout has cured, you should seal it with a sealant. Sealant is also available in your local home improvement store in the tiling section.

Once you've finished sealing, stand back and admire your beautiful work. You've earned it!

DIY Bathroom Renovation - Tiling a floor Part 1: Preparation

I think of ceramic floor tiling projects going in four distinct phases.

Part 1: Preparation
Part 2: Laying the Tile
Part 3: Grouting
Part 4: Sealing

Each of these phases is distinct because of the timing involved. For example, you have to wait for the mortar to cure, then you have to wait for the grout to cure. But I guess that’s part of what made grouting easier for me – you have to take breaks! Can you tile a bathroom in a weekend? Probably in a long weekend. It all depends on the preparation.

So let’s get right to tackling the first phase: preparation. In some ways, this is the most important part of the process. Like many things, if you don’t start with a good foundation, your finished product is doomed. In the case of tiling, if you’ve not created a level foundation, you’ll end up with cracked tiles!

The first thing you have to find, however, is the subfloor of your space. Sometimes, like it was for us, it’s an easy process because you’re facing roll out linoleum that’s only been tacked down at the sides. Sometimes, however, you’ll face layers and layers of glued on linoleum that could take days to remove. So let me try to take you through a couple possibilities.

In a bathroom, the best way to do this is to take up everything off the floor (see my prior post on demolition). Sometimes you won’t have the option of being able to take up the vanity and you’ll have to work around that. You should, however, take up the toilet. I’m not going to lie. It’s not a pretty job. I suggest rubber gloves and lots of plastic.

First, cut off the water (there should be a cutoff valve at the back of the toilet) to the toilet and flush it so that all the water in the tank drains out of the tank. If the water is turned off completely, it shouldn’t fill up again. Then you’re going to have to disconnect the water lines from that part of the tank. You should be able to easily find those joints and unscrew them. Next comes the first yuck part: bail out as much water as you can out of the bowl. If you have a wet vac, suck it all out if you can. Trust me.

The next step is to look for the little screws at the base of the toilet near the floor. You should take off any caps that cover them, and unscrew those screws. You should be able to gently wobble the toilet at this point. Here’s the other yucky point: pull the toilet toward you and lift it from the floor. I’d suggest putting it in the bathtub if you have one close by, if not, make sure you have plastic ready to put it on. If there’s any water left in the base, it’ll slosh out now. There’s also a sticky wax ring that helps seal the toilet drain line. I usually put on rubber gloves and pull that off before I put the toilet down since you’re going to have to replace that when you put the toilet back.

If you're facing a ceramic tile floor, grab a hammer and start banging. Flat pry bars and putty knives are also helpful in getting these tiles up. Once you start breaking them up, you might have to scrape them up, but they should start coming loose.

If you have several layers of linoleum, there's a tool that looks like a flat hoe (like a garden hoe) that you can use to pry the linoleum off of the floor. It's hard work and takes time, but you need to get all those layers up. Large lip putty knives are helpful here as well.

If you are pulling up carpet, you can take a carpet blade and cut the carpet into strips and roll it as you pull it up. Sometimes carpet is only tacked down with tack strips at the edges of the floor, but sometimes people staple the heck out of the entire floor. If this is the case, make sure you pull up all the staples and vacuum up as much dirt and padding as you can get up. Ideally, you'd like a clean floor to begin.

If you're lucky, as I mentioned before, you're facing linoleum that's only glued down at the sides or is glued down in the center as well. Just start pulling that up and scrape up the bits that are left with the glue on the floor.

So is your floor as clean and flat as you can get it? Great! It's time to lay the backer board. First, measure your space so you know how much to get. You might have to cut it and lay it out like a puzzle.

Concrete backer board can be found at your local home improvement store. It can be found in several thicknesses and is very heavy. When you're buying it, think about where your sub floor is in relation to the flooring you'll connect to at the threshold of the room. We opted for very thin board. I highly recommend talking to someone in that department about your project and getting their recommendations as well. While you're there, grab some screws - they make special ones for this purpose that are usually located close to the backer board. Ask if you don't see them because the type of screw is important. If they don't lay flat, you've got trouble. We also grabbed a circular saw blade that was tough enough to cut through the board. Remember, it really is like concrete, so you'll need a tough blade.

If you're a do as you go person (my family is bad about this), you can just lay the board as you go. If you like to prepare, however, you can lay out all the boards to make sure they fit, and then begin screwing them into the floor. Make sure that you keep a level handy as you screw the boards into the floor. It's very important that you keep these boards level with each other. You can help keep them level by screwing the high places tighter and the low places looser.

So your old flooring has been taken up, your backer board has been laid and is level. You're ready for the next step. And you probably need a break. Take it. The next step can wear you out!