Friday, May 24, 2013

Painting A Laminate Vanity

Do you remember this huge bathroom fail from a few months ago?


Well it turns out that the issue was that we used water based enamel. Luckily, it cleaned up fairly easily and we tried again, this time with the oil based enamel. This stuff stunk to high heaven (Nate got it done about a week before Will was born) but it did an AMAZING job covering the crappy white laminate vanity. 


And talk about durable. We tried are darndest to rub it off to see if it would hold up and it didn't even leave a mark. Now the vanity is a nice shiny grey (I wasn't loving the blue we tried before) and it looks slightly less cheap compared to the white laminate.

To add a little more convenience to this situation, we installed drawer pulls and knobs since it was a pain in the butt to get things open. We still need to add the pull to the fake drawer front. It wasn't put on with everything else because we couldn't find it. Then we finally found it (it fell out of the bag in the trunk) and now I have no idea where it is again. Have I mentioned that my short term memory has completely disappeared with the birth of Will?


So we have learned our lesson when painting laminate: Oil-based enamel = Good and Water-based enamel=Bad. At least we started on something small instead of the huge lamenite built-ins that we have upstairs!

If you want to see everything else we did in this room, follow the links below!

Installing the tile wall
Repurposing the mirror into two smaller mirrors
Installing the floor
Installing new lights
Re-grouting the shower stall

Linking To: Hi Sugar Plum, The Great Indoors, House of Hepworths, My Repurposed Life, Our Delightful Home, Five Days Five Ways, Serenity Now, Lovely Etc., The Rooster and the Hen, Six Sisters Stuff, Tatertots and Jello, Wayward Girls Crafts, Twigg Studio, Serendipity and Spice, Ask Anna, Home Stories A to Z, Uncommon Designs, House wives of RivertonCrafty Texas GirlsSouthern InstituteWatch out Martha!,http://www.myrepurposedlife.net/

6 comments:

  1. I really like the grey, good choice. It's great to know what to do with ugly laminate cabinets, thanks for the info. Don't worry about your memory issues, they only last about 18 years or so. I like to say that for every child I have, they were born with a little piece of my brain! Have a great weekend!

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  2. Oh yay!
    I think this is a great project and it turned out so nice for you.
    Also...getting it done before the baby got here was good too. Especially with the fumes... (or stink) Plus...you have visitors coming to see the baby, etc.
    so, I know you're glad that's out of the way.

    I personally did pretty well...until the 3rd one came along... now 4 kids and 22 years later...my memory is shot!
    Good times!

    Pat

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  3. You've given my something to consider for a facelift in my Bathroom and Kitchen.... We have laminate in both places... Yours looks really great!
    Emily @ Nap-Time Creations

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  4. Love the gray! Good to know about the paint type. If you get a chance, please share this on my linky party: http://suburbsmama.blogspot.com/2013/06/sunday-linky-party-12.html

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  5. Hi! Love the outcome. Did you use any primer on the laminate?

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    1. With the oil based enamel we didn't. We were told that it didn't need any primer and so far so good. It is really on there well.

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