You know those projects that you complete 80% of the room and think to yourself, “This is good for now. I’ll do the rest in a day or two.” Yup, the boy’s bathroom was one such 80 percenter. I finally took the time to finish the last 20 percent of this bathroom makeover by giving it a refresh with some paint and new knobs.

The bathroom used to look like this:

But, before that, it looked like this:

I find it comical that I took an underwater themed bathroom and gave it a seaside retreat feel. I guess you could say I pulled this big whopper from within the ocean and laid it out on the beach. LOL.

Let’s break it down now. Here’s how to paint a bathroom vanity so it will withstand the abuse of two young boys:

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Materials:

• Valspar paint + primer – Beige Shadow
• Paint brush
• 3M Sandblaster Pro Sanding Sponge 150 grit
• ScotchBlue Painter’s Tape
• Minwax Polycrylic Satin finish
• Shelf liner
• Sumner Street nickel cabinet knobs

(Before I painted the vanity, I gave the mirror frame a quick coat of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Provence. I gently sanded the frame and added Miss Mustard Seed antiquing wax to give it an aged and distressed look.)

Clean off the vanity with a gentle all purpose cleaner or a damp rag.

Remove all the doors and drawers. You can leave the dummy panel on the top if you don’t want to go through the hassle of removing it. Remove any knobs or hardware.

Protect the vanity counter top with painter’s tape. Also, cover the floor and the wall where the vanity meets the wall with painter’s tape.

Rough up the vanity surface with the sanding sponge.

Paint the vanity with two coats of Valspar Paint + Primer in Beige Shadow.

Replace the doors and drawers once they are dry. To protect the bottom of the drawers, add adhesive shelf liner. (Because you NEVER know what two  young boys will spill or store in those drawers!)

Apply 3-5 coats of polycrylic protective finish to the entire vanity. Allow each coat to dry before applying the next one.

Re-attach or add new knobs to your vanity.

Stand back and admire!

You can read my tutorial for adding a decorative wall shelf .

The opposite wall still has my branch towel bar .

And I recently added those Waterlogue vacation photos. You can read the tutorial for making your own watercolor art and matting it like a pro .

You can also follow my tutorial for installing board and batten and decorative moulding .

I’m not sure why it took me 3 years to finish this bathroom.

The resulting refresh feels soooo…well refreshing!

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Disclosure: As a #LowesCreator, I was provided with a Lowe’s gift card to purchase supplies for this post. I was not told what to write. All ideas and words are my own.

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