Purple Vanity Makeover

This purple vanity makeover is one of my favourite pieces of painted furniture. When I finished my first piece of furniture, It was puchased by my hairdresser, for her shop. She had a similar piece in her basement and asked if I wanted it. Of course I said yes please!! I really love the shape of this vintage vanity. Ok, before we get too carried away with the how to – Let’s take a look at the before shots.

Before shots

Front

Side

Top

Detail

Prep

Step one with any project is always cleaning. I generally use lysol wipes to remove the built up grease and grime. This includes inside the drawers and underneath. Then a damp cloth. Next I remove all of the hardware – and this part is important, Mark pieces for location, if needed. And put everything in a box, Tupperware or other container, so when it’s time to put everything back together it won’t be like a puzzle missing a final piece.

This piece was in pretty good shape, but it definitely had it’s share of damage. So once everything is cleaned up it’s time to start patching. Use a good quality wood filler. You don’t need to worry too much about matching colours since we are painting the piece anyway. Patch, sand, repeat. Which will probably not be quite as quick as patch sand repeat.

Colours

I personally always find it difficult picking out colours. But for this piece I knew before I even started working on it, that I wanted to do it in a rich shade of purple. I used fat paint chalk paint, and mixed this colour custom. I used Red Barchetta red and Navy. It was close to 2/3 Red and 1/3 blue. But basically I just kept mixing and testing until I was happy with the colour. If you take a look at the photo above, you’ll notice my board on the floor that I was using to test colours.Remember the colour will change quite a bit as it dries.

Painting

Now the fun begins! I really enjoy the painting process. I find it very relaxing. When blending colours I generally start with my mid tone, which in this case is my custom mixed purple and the using my darker shade to outline around the edges. And my light tone for a highlight in the centre. And then of course I just blend the colours until I’m happy with them.

Transfers

I had chosen this transfer to go with my paint selection. It is called Midnight Floral from Re-design by Prima.

I have to be honest, I don’t find placing transfers to be intuitive. I just cut the transfer into pieces and then hold them up over the furniture piece until I find a location that I feel works. Then it’s just a matter of taping it in place and rubbing it on.

Be careful handling your transfers, because I have had a few pieces get stuck to themselves, and then they are ruined. Also dust and dirt are not your friends. They are sticky on one side, so attract dust. Keep them in their tubes and they will will stand a much better chance of making their way onto the furniture without issue.

Drawers

If the insides of the drawers would have been in really good shape, I would have left them as wood and just sealed them. But they had stains and damage. So, I added a pop of colour to the insides of the drawers with my highlight colour – posy. I painted 2 coats and then sealed with top coat. I love the way this colour plays off of the purple.

Hardware

I always always keep all the original hardware. These handles are Bakelite. But the original colour was very close to orange, which did not work on this purple piece. In fact I ordered these pulls specifically for this piece. But I just didn’t feel that they worked. So, they go back in the box for another project. In order to make the original handles work with this piece I pulled in the gold tones found in the transfer, and used my eternal Decor Wax to give them a similar finish. I think they came out great, and really tie the piece together, and give it an extra bit of glam.

TopCoat

And of course everything is properly sealed with at least 2 coasts top coat. I used General Finishes Satin Topcoat for this piece and gave it two coats. Even the inside of the drawers and the handles got a top coat.