Paint the vanity, don’t paint the vanity?  Indecision kept me from taking action for far too long.  This bathroom has sat here for months with bare walls and a peeled ceiling and floor. Gross. I looked closely at the wood finish on the vanity.  It was 43 years old, scratched and pitted, dry.  I didn’t love the color.  I tried updating the hardware–meh.  It is mine.  We aren’t planning to sell this house.  I can do whatever I want. And paint is strippable if I hate it.

So I painted it.  The color is Behr, Misty Mountains.  It is outdoor paint that I bought to paint my shutters to match our new front doors.  I only needed a tiny bit to do the vanity, so I borrowed a from the shutter project while we waited for the weather to be warm enough to paint outdoors. The first coat looked a little army green and I was tempted to snow shovel my way to the hardware store for a sample of something different.  But two coats turned into the yummy shade of gray I was hoping for. The sink top is a little washed out here, but it has olive green grain in it.  It’s pretty awful, but the painted vanity makes it look brand new.  My mom thought we had replaced the top when she popped over for a visit.  I love paint. (Since this photo was taken DH has put in a new oil rubbed bronze faucet and caulked all the seams perfectly.  I’ll show new pictures later this week.)

I didn’t sand the wood, but I did use liquid deglosser, then a coat of Zinser primer and 2 coats of paint.  The new hardware is from our new kitchen cabinets.  I bought contractor packs from Amazon so we would have enough to update the vanities in the house.  Bonus: they were a lot less expensive than similar ones from the big chain hardware stores. I also bought some oil rubbed bronze spray paint to update the hinges.  I never would of thought of that until I read how Young House Love did theirs. I plan to use the same paint to update the original big brass vanity mirror.  I already love the size and shape.

Next I painted 3 walls in Behr Silver Drop (a beige/gray color) and painted the ceiling and back wall bright white. In a room this tiny painting was super fast.

I wanted to stencil the back wall to look like wallpaper, and then have it reflect in the mirror over the sink on the opposite wall to look like I had done more than one wall.  I used DH’s laser level above (that’s the state of our family room right now–jealous?) to make sure the stencil was centered and level.  They are too expensive to buy just for a project like this but since we had it on hand already.  It made the job really easy.

The stencil is from Sarah M Dorsey Designs on etsy.  It was a big splurge for me, but I justified it by pricing wallpaper and promising that I would use it more than once .  I bought it over the summer and thought I would be using it way before now. (#procrastination) I used the same Silver Drop wall paint that was on the other walls and a cosmetic sponge to do the job.  A foam roller might have been faster, but we were snowed in and I was working with what I had on hand.

The secret to getting clean lines without bleeding is to not use too much paint.  I’d dip the sponge in the paint, then tap it off on dry places on the tray to get off the excess.

 Perfect!  I love it!

After the first pattern dried, I could overlap and keep going.  This went much faster as I went along, because one side would dry as I worked on the other side.  I could bounce from side to side and not have down time for drying.  I got 12 patterns done in about an hour.  I think another 3-4 hours and I’ll have it!  I can’t wait to see the whole room come together.  And have a bathroom with a door that shuts.  It’s the little things that I’ve come to appreciate.

I want to choose an accent color to break up all this neutral. What would you do?  Literally anything could go.  I would bring in the accent color with towels and art.  I’m a fool when it comes to picking out art. Do you have some favorite pieces?