Bathroom Vanity Transformation From 1965 To Modern Shaker

My bathroom vanity was this ugly and dated piece from 1965. The only thing it had in its favor was the fact that the structure was pretty solid and it fit in the space. The door would not close if I put a new vanity unless it was smaller and moved away from the door. I think it would look pretty silly with that gap. So I decided to keep it and make the best of it.

Here's the before picture. Notice the angle on the counter top? Ugh!

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Pretty dark and dingy. Look at that eye sore cabinet over the sink. It made the bathroom so dark and cluttered.

Cabinet without doors and before paint

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The first thing I did was remove the cabinet from the wall, remove the doors and legs (what was left of them). I also applied wood putty to get rid of the dings and scratches from 50 years of use and sanded it before painting the unit.

Looks better already!

The next step was to prepare the doors to be "Shaker'ed". This is very easy to do but first, take a look at how the doors looked before paint.

Cabinet doors before paint and detailing.

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After removing the doors and "wood putty-ing" them it was time to add the details that would turn them into a Shaker style. To do that I bought 1in x 1/4in wood strips and simply glued them with liquid nails. On this particular door, I added the strips and glued them near the edge where the curve of the door detail ends.

Wood strip before paint

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Here's the wood strip attached before paint. Notice I used wood putty to close the hole of the old door pull.

Doors after paint

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Here they are painted and looking like a million bucks. I simply applied 3 coats of paint and finished them with finishing wax for a better seal.

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Then it was time to add a counter top. I chose butcher block because it would give it a fresh modern look but still keep the "farmhouse-y" look I was going for with the rest of the house.

Hinges

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I even saved the hinges! I know they are about $2 to $3 bucks each but they were in good shape and I already had silver paint a home anyway so I just spray painted them and the screws and reused them.

Final Product!

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And here it is! After adding door and drawer pulls, a new sink and faucet it is hard to believe this vanity is 50 years old! The entire project cost approximately $200 but only because I bought the butcher block, a new faucet and 4 legs. But I was able to use another large piece of the butcher block in another bathroom project and still have some left over for some fancy kitchen shelving. If you don't need to replace your countertop and sink, this project could cost you about $30 (paint, pulls, wax and 4 new legs I added to the bottom.

I hope you liked this project! Cheers!