A Little Project: Saving an Old Vanity

Last year I purchased a little vanity set from an antique shop. I thought I could strip all the paint and create a nice table for our foyer, but when I first attempted to remove the paint, it seemed to do nothing but reveal more paint! I was discouraged, so when the weather turned cold we put the vanity in the shed and I happily forgot about it.

I dug it out in early May when it was warm enough to work on it again. I was not feeling particularly confident in my skills to make the vanity into anything usable. It still looked liked a mess. The paint was chipping in some places from the stripping but other places were completely unfazed. The paint that did come off revealed that the top of the vanity was not wood, as I had hoped, but laminate that looked like marble.

Since I didn’t have much hope that I going to salvage the vanity, I decided to try sanding it. To my surprise the sanding revealed, mostly, beautiful wood. I asked my husband to pry off the laminate top and it revealed a wood top. I was completely stoked and now every weekend I spend at least an hour or so slowly sanding this baby in hopes that one day I can actually use it in the house.

The top is in pretty rough condition. The sheet of laminate was glued which did not come off without some damage. In addition, the top had a several small nail holes, various gouges and discoloration. I am encouraged though because, although it may not look like much, the “nice” wood that you see below is the “after” section of the top. I still have a lot of work left to do, but I’m already dreaming about where I’m going to put it in the house.

Fingers crossed it’s completed by the end of summer!!