Hi Sugarplum! Last week I showed you the addition of stripes in our kid’s bath (that also happens to be the main guest bath, so no dinosaurs or tinkerbell! not that I would anyway!! ). The stripes added much needed personality, while still keeping it chic, and only encouraged me to take the room another step.
Since I tend to do most projects with not much forethought, I don’t have very good ‘before’ shots…so I’ll just keep showing you the same one over and over! This one doesn’t reflect the new stripes, but notice the cabinets:
Ho-Hum. So I decided to ‘richen’ them up with some dark, espresso colored paint:
Better, right?! And even the counter looks less “builder standard.” I went with Behr’s paint+primer latex paint, and rolled it on with a foam roller. After a few days, I brushed on a water-based polyacrylic to help seal it since it’s in the bathroom, and give it a bit of sheen. As for the color….um, bad blogger again, not sure exactly….but I picked up the darkest brown I could find (careful, some of them have a pink hue, uck), then had them mix it 25% darker. Even my contractor couldn’t believe I had only painted them….he thought it was a rebuilt unit (that’s what she said).
Next was the hardware…notice the toilet handle in all it’s brassy glory:
That pops right off….so along with the toilet paper roll holder thingy…I sprayed them with Rustoleum’s Brushed Nickel.
They don’t look quite so flat and cheesy in real life…the sun was doing funny things to my pics
And sure I could have just picked up new ones, but the total wouldn’t have been $3.50!!! I thought it turned out so well, I decided to spray the light fixture too.
I don’t love the light, but I don’t really love the idea of spending any real money in this bathroom either. And truthfully, I’d rather the light not be much of a focal point anyway. I gave my son free reign in choosing the faucet (as long as it was brushed nickel), and of course he came up with a $$$$ choice with a little ‘gimmick’ to it…so I think the faucet will take center-stage away from the light. (I need a little professional help installing it…so the final room reveal waits until then!)
Updating the mirror was the next improvement, but I’ll have to tell you about it later. (This wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been called a tease!)
Love the stripes and the shower curtain! So happy to have you as a new follower 🙂 Have a great day!
that looks SOOOOO good! the cabinets dark look AMAZING!!!!!!!!
You've given me a great idea to do with our bathroom cabinet. I never once thought about painting them. Off to Home Depot!!
I painted my kitchen cabinets also with Behr paint+primer. The color I used was Bitter Chocolate so maybe that's what you used. Check mine out on my blog.
Hi! I found you while googling "tween boy room" b/c my 9year old son wants a bedroom makeover! I am a fellow North Texan, and LOVE your blog and all your creative and thrifty ideas.
I LOVE this brown bathroom cab makeover you did. The same son (who shares his bath with 2 younger brothers) informed me rather dryly that he is um, "A bit too OLD for a DUCKY bathroom now", hehehehe. Soooo…I have been trying to come up with something cool to do in their small shared bath. Painting the cab brown sounds like an awesome idea, and it is giving me some other ideas too. I am also contemplating removing the two doors on the ends of the vanity cab and inserting silver/galvanized bins to store towels, extra TP, etc.
So glad to have found your site.
I'm ready to pull out the paint and brushes and get to it. Love the Office references, too.
I have found 4 or five things I want to try in my new little cottage. Number one : Faux moulding who knew Number two: Chocolate painted cupboards Number three : Striped walls and flowered curtain add some chocolate cupboards and it should sweeten my ugly little bathroom right up. Number four : Baby Girls color scheme… charming Number five : Baby Girl's curtains and I haven't gotten through the whole blog yet : ) TY TY your gifted
This looks great! I love your blog. Did you have to sand the cabinet before painting it? Also, how many coats of the paint did you have to do?
Thanks!!! Jennifer
Jennifer — I didn't sand the cabinets, but it probably wouldn't have hurt if I had. Or I should have used a good layer of primer before painting. However, I used Behr's paint + primer, and since the color is soooooo dark, I probably rolled (thin coats with foam roller) three coats? I also gave them a quick layer of polyacyrlic to seal and protect. The key is allowing the paint to cure for DAYS before putting them back to use. I wasn't so patient, and we do have some knicks here and there. Not bad considering it's a kid's bathroom!
Hope this helps!
You've given me an idea..I have a 1977 builder's special vanity..probably MDF in the white with gold trim in the doors. To me it's perfectly fine but outdated. This would really spruce it up, save me hundreds of $$$ too. I do see the doors need some new hinges, because the hinges appear to be made of some type of 1977 plastic that is cracked..If mine would turn out as nice as yours, I'd be happy as a lark! Then have the same year builder's mirror framed, a new light installed above the mirror, walls painted and it'll look like new..Thanks for the inspiration. Did you buy or make your shower curtain? Love it! I have the palm trees shower curtain which I love. That bathroom has a tub which is never used..from the pictures of yours, it looks like it is sheers with a clear lining? White would make our bathroom brighter(ligher).
The shower curtain is a little gem I found at Marshalls! I use a clear liner with it, and keep it pushed open most of the time so the window can light the room.