Old Sweetwater

Old Sweetwater

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

DIY Vanity Part 3


It's onward to the doors, sides, backsplash and paint finish! Remember, we used what already had already to save $$$ and all dimensions can be altered easily.
Doors: We made our's from grooved pine flooring found at a home improvement store. 1) Measure the front and side openings. 
2) Subtract 1/4 inch from top and bottom measurement of the FRONT DOORS ONLY so you'll have 1/8" clearance around. Dry fit and adjust as needed remembering your hinges.
3) Hammer and sand them to take away hard edges. Old farm furniture has soft edges from everday use.
4) We had old wooden keyholes, so we drilled holes where the *key* would have gone and finish-nailed/glued them on. Use whatever you want to add character and charm.
5) The sides can have *wooden splints* like our doors, or left plain. 
6) Go ahead and put on your small hinges because you'll want to paint them. That's what I said. Don't worry if they're not all alike. Keep in mind, hard-working farm furniture!
Backsplash: It has an open back for easier plumbing and attaching. Our's measures 31" long;  3" deep, [l suggest if you have room, make it 3-1/2" deep. The deeper will be in brackets]. It's 11" tall. 
1) From your 1X4's cut 5 pieces 31" long.
2) Cut two side pieces at 10-1/4" long. Rip to 3" width [obviously don't rip for 3-1/2"].
3) Rip two - the top and bottom 31" pieces - to a 3" depth. [Not necessary with deeper splash]. 
4) Assemble it. Distress it. Don't attach it until you plumb in the faucet.
Paint: We have woodwork from 1867, so I studied it and came up with a fairly decent facsimile.
1) Prime everything with flat paint. I used our wall paint. Let dry.
2) With leftover craft paint, in the gouges and depressions I blobbed in black, brown and gray. You can use any colors you want to come through. Let dry completely.
3) I then poured yellow wood glue over these dark spots and gouges. White glue is best if you don't want yellow peeking through later! Let dry for at least 4 hours.
4) Paint with satin or gloss latex enamel. Be sloppy. I am serious. Drag the brush lightly across to get texture. Runs are good. What? 
5) When it's dry to the touch, sand those gouges and depressions with a fine grit sandpaper by hand. You'll see the paint and glue underneath appear!
6) Next, I antiqued it all using more leftover craft paint mixed with Flotrol. Water will do on a pinch.
7) We had 1867 square nails I used to attach our splints. Mismatched nails and screws would work too.
Plumbing is next. Just a note: I'm doing this all on my smartphone, so please let me know if I need to adjust anything or have lots of typos. Thanks! ♡♡♡





2 comments:

Suz said...

wow I'm impressed again
I cleaned my stainless steel appliances and I had to collapse
where do you get your energy?
Can't wait to see these in the room

Janean said...

Suz, what I ♡ about zinc, it's carefree. Water marks and scratches only make it better!