DIY Thrift Flip: Bathroom Vanity

A new DIY  Thrift Flip!!! That means, I create a completely new piece out of second-hand furniture. You can read about my last thrift flip here, where I transformed an old dresser into a new, modern one.

Today, we’re turning an old changing table into a chic, modern vanity that fits perfectly in our Victorian-inspired bathroom! We found the vintage dresser on Facebook Marketplace and picked it up by car. I think it cost around 40 euros. Here you can see how the cute piece looked before:

In the first step, we thought about what exactly we wanted to change about the dresser. Our plan was:

• shorten the legs
• take off the upper edges
• saw off the curved edges at the bottom
• paint
• install new handles
• attach a sink

Steps 1-3 went in one sweep. We took the whole thing completely apart, sawed off all the edges and legs we didn’t want, and reassembled the whole thing. 

After that, we filled all the holes and uneven edges, as well as sanded the surface and all edges until they were smooth.

In the next step, we painted the dresser and the doors cream-white. To do this, we very carefully taped off the rattan insert on the doors so that no paint gets on the woven pattern. I think the dresser needed 3 coats of paint. We unfortunately didn’t use a primer, we forgot to, but I would recommend it to anyone! In addition, we applied a clear coat on the worktop, so that the chest of drawers is water resistant.

To convert the dresser into a vanity, we ordered a sink and cut out holes on the back and countertop for the pipes.

We also added the new handles and ordered a brushed brass faucet. We found both online and in the hardware store, but here I have picked out similar for you (advertising or affiliate link, what that means see below).

German shops:

UK shops:

What we haven’t finalized yet is the silicone around the sink. We still have a few things to do in the bathroom, build a box for the washer and boiler, paint the skirting and install the backsplash, so we’ll get that done in the next few weeks.

Other than that, we screwed everything together and pushed the table tight against the wall. The plumber connected the sink to the water and we were done with our vanity:

What do you think, how do you like the transformation? It took a while and was a lot of work, but I think it was worth it!

Here is a small overview of how much the whole thing cost:

• dresser 45,- Euros
• Handles 20 Euros
• Sink 130 Euros
• Faucet etc. 110 Euros
• plus tape and color