The Tale Of A Vanity

A few months ago, I inherited an old vanity from our grandma’s house. It had such beautiful details, although it was pretty beat up, and we were looking forward to restoring it and putting it in our daughter’s bedroom. Well, that plan changed when we moved and realized that there were already way too many furniture pieces for her room. (In addition to the stuff she already had, she also received my mom’s old dresser and a chair.)

So, the poor vanity was stuffed away in a corner. That is, until we started painting around here. Which meant that it was temporarily moved up to our bedroom with the hopes that I would actually be able to use it, myself, for makeup and hair and what not. (Nobody puts Vanity in the corner.) But after a few moments in front of it, admiring my awesomeness, I realized that I wouldn’t really be able to see very well through the aged parts (the stripes in the photo above) to do much makeup.

After pondering for a few days, I decided that it would be great to use it as a desk/nightstand and replace my current, tiny Ikea nightstand. Unfortunately, we don’t have a spare closet to create an office in, so this was the next best bet to give me a place to work.

Since we planned on refinishing it anyway, I started working my magic on this awesome piece. I decided to use it without the top part attached, for the time being, until we can replace the mirror. After some sanding and a few coats of Behr’s Paint/Primer in the color Polar Bear, it was looking pretty spiffy. I removed each of the handles and the escutcheon (that’s the little key hole thingy) and glazed them with Rustoleum Universal Oil Rubbed Bronze. Then I assembled the pieces back on and voila!

Lookin’ good!

I love the way it turned out and I’m especially in love with both of the paints I used. Don’t be surprised if you see Oil Rubbed Bronze on everything in this house.

Oh, yeah. I also added some wrapping paper to the inside of the drawer as a lining.

So, what do you think? I still need to figure out some sort of seating that’s a little more comfortable for long periods of time (thinking of the Henriksdal from Ikea with this cover.) Also, there will be some organizational items brought in to help keep supplies corralled, but that will be another post. Check back soon!