If you ask me what I enjoy the ABSOLUTE MOST about blogging, my answer is always helping others with their home projects. Hands down the best part of this gig. I love getting comments or emails from readers expressing their gratitude for something they found on our site. Really makes my day. Just last week, one of our newsletter subscribers emailed me some pictures of her custom bathroom vanities she built from scratch. She told me that she was able to complete the task after reading our TV stand series. I was so impressed with her work that we’re featuring her vanities as our 4th installment of Your Home from Scratch.
You guys. Wait to you see these cabinets.
Andrea’s Custom Vanity
1. Your vanities are beautiful. Why did you decide to build them instead of buying them?
Thanks for inviting me to share in your blog! I decided to try to build these vanities after pricing ones that I really loved and found them over-the-top expensive for the value and quality of construction. For the double sink vanity prices were $1000 +, the single vanity $700+ – add on tax and shipping and that was the deal breaker. Also, I wanted my mirrors and vanities to match.
2. How much money do you think you saved by building them yourself?
Assuming I bought the two vanities mentioned above at $1800, minus my supplies $300 (?), I guess I saved about $1500.
3. How long did it take you to build and did you have much carpentry experience before you started?
It took me 1 month of on-and-off work while carpenters did complicated bath renovation including moving walls, plumbing and electric. My only other carpentry experience comes from building a step back cupboard a few years ago. I had a picture from an antique catalog, so I started by drawing a picture on the wall where I wanted it to be to get the starting dimensions and then drew up plans on graph paper. Oh, I am also building my 2nd canoe.
4. Give us a quick overview of how you built them. Did you use roughly the same build method as our TV stand? What material?
I built the first single vanity using your plans for the entertainment cabinet. I figured out the width dimensions first and built the face frame. I did want the cabinet to sit on Shaker legs to appear as a piece of furniture, so I extended the right and left vertical face frame pieces to extend about 3″ below the lower horizontal piece. I used poplar wood as you suggested, along with cabinet grade birch veneer plywood for sides, base and shelves. For the second, larger double sink vanity, I again determined the width first. I knew I wanted 3 doors so I evenly spaced them and repeated the same steps as the first vanity.
5. What sort of finish product did you use (Latex paint, acrylic, lacquer)?
As far as the finish, I again used your advice of applying 2 coats of latex primer and 2 coats of latex paint. I got the most perfect finish using a velour covered, small roller from Sherwin Williams. The finish is so perfect that it looks factory applied. I was very pleased with this roller finish. I did lightly sand between coats. Beautiful.
6. What was the hardest part of the project?
The hardest part of the project was becoming familiar and comfortable with using the radial arm saw, skill saw, table saw and biscuit jointer (affiliate) ( I don’t have a router set-up). I am a real safety freak, so I took this part very seriously. I am really alone on all these projects, so your quick response to my hardware questions, etc. was a big confidence builder – like, I had a big brother that was just a email away!
7. What are you planning on building next?
I am planning on building a second mirror/cabinet for above the first single vanity. I have gained so much satisfaction from this project that I know I can do just about anything just taking it one step at a time. Thanks again, John.
Thanks to Andrea for sharing this incredible home improvement project. If you have a home improvement project that you’d like to share with our readers, shoot me an email: John at Our Home from Scratch dot com.
