I am happy to say we have already completed another house project and it's only January 27! To no surprise, I have a few more projects up my sleeve to do throughout the rest of the year. :)
But, I am excited to show you all the kids "updated" bathroom!
If you remember from last year, Adam and I updated our bathroom and then added a frame around our builder grade mirror. I knew I wanted to do the same with Adalyn and Landon's bathroom, but we made the decision to make our kitchen a top priority, and then worry with their bathroom at a later date.
Well that later date was December 2014. During our two week Christmas break, I started the process of staining the vanity and the cabinet above the toilet. Adam taped everything off for me(because he's the patient one) and then I was able to start.
On my previous posts, I explained the process on how to stain using General Finishes Gel Stain and thankfully, I had a can left over from our kitchen update so I did not have to purchase stain or the polyacrylic top coat. We stayed with the Georgian Cherry color, but keep in mind, it will not really come out a true "reddish" cherry color. I applied 3 coats and it comes out dark so keep that in mind.
I lightly sanded to start off with.
Like, I didn't even sand for a total of 5 minutes.
With this type of gel stain, sanding is not essential for the product. I had an old sanding block left over from the kitchen, so I used that.
I remember I purchased it from Wal-Mart.
After I sanded, I took a damp washcloth, wiped the dust off, then went back over it with a dry cloth.
After that, I was ready to apply my first coat of stain!
Remember, after your first coat, it WILL look like a hot, ugly mess.
It will be really streaky but it's normal.
I took all of the before and during pictures off my cell phone (iPhone 4 so obviously the quality is lacking! Due for an upgrade soon! Wahoo!)
Here is my before...
You can see I had already started taking off the dated brass knobs before I remembered I needed to snap some pictures.
I'll go ahead and point out the cabinet above the toilet. See the glass inserts? We took those out. I wanted a frosted glass to replace them so we had a local glass guy to cut it to size for us. Just FYI, I would never use him again.
After the first coat of stain...
You can also notice we didn't use painters tape. We didn't have any. I didn't feel the need to buy some when masking tape works just as well.
:)
After the second coat...
(Keep in mind the stain needs to dry for at least 24 hours before applying another coat!)
This was after the third coat. I just applied one coat on the back of each cabinet door.
You can see such a dramatic difference as soon as the 3rd coat is applied. You will probably doubt once you see the second coat, if the third coat will even complete the job or not but it will! I think there were a few tiny cracks that I touched up with a Q-tip but for our bathroom, kitchen(for the most part except a few areas) and now the kids bathroom, 3 coats of stain is all we have ever applied.
Once dry, you apply polyacrylic. This will seal your stain and also provide it with a beautiful shine. This stuff dries quickly so I applied two coats within 30 minutes of each other and then I was DONE!
I picked up the new knobs at Home Depot. I only needed 8, so I bought them individually instead of purchasing a pack of them. I spray painted the door hinges, hand towel ring and toilet paper holder. I forgot to spray paint the air register so I will do that soon.
Once I deemed the vanity and cabinet complete, I moved on to the trim for the mirror. Their bathroom has the same old builder grade mirror that we did, and adding trim to frame it in makes a world of a difference! Since the trim is pine, it really sucks the stain. I had to apply 4 coats to get it dark enough to match everything else. Just keep in mind, each coat will need at least 24 hours to dry and if you are framing a mirror, be sure to turn the trim around and apply 1 coat on the back. Once the trim is applied, you will be able to see the reflection of the back in the mirror. That's why it is important to stain it as well. And it only takes 1 coat. (hallelujah!) Apply the polyacrylic as well to seal it off and to bring that beautiful shine out. Remember, it dries quickly so I applied two coats in less than 30 minutes.
Adam borrowed my dads saw and cut the angles and then in the four corners, put in a tiny nail to secure them together. We picked the frame up and carried it from the garage to the bathroom and just placed it on the mirror to make sure it would fit properly. As we were propping it up, I was getting so excited because it looked so good!
We used this glue
and put it on the back of the trim. You can find it at Home Depot for $5.00. It is important not to add glue to the inside of the trim because once pressed, it would seep out. So just apply it carefully to the outskirts of the trim.
Does that make sense?
I also need to take time to say, if you do have a builder grade mirror with clips, you need to remove the clips. Just a quick side note... when we did this to our master bathroom, we removed the clips, pulled the mirror like crazy, and determined the mirror had also been glued to the wall when the house was built.
We assumed this was the same in Adalyn and Landon's bathroom as well.
Wrong.
Adam was in the garage turning off the breaker that went to the bathroom so he could install the new light and I was in Adalyn's room with the kids. We had just added the frame, stood back in awe, and then went our different ways. Not even 5 minutes went by and I heard a loud noise coming from the bathroom. I jumped up and ran in there to see that the mirror had not been glued to the wall and was only being held up by the clips that we just removed...
The only thing that caught the mirror from falling to the floor and shattering was the faucet. Adam and I quickly grabbed ahold of it and took it to our bathroom to lay flat. All we could say was thank you Lord that the kids were not in there and that it did not break. It's a miracle! So, we made a trip to Home Depot to buy two tubes of the glue (mentioned above), picked up a pizza and came back home to eat and hang the mirror back up. The next day, Adam installed our new light fixture and faucet and our DIY makeover was officially completed!
I think I forgot to mention at the top of my post but I applied the stain and polyacrylic with foam brushes. I buy them at Dollar General for $1.00.
Can't beat that!
I'm happy to now share the "after" pictures with you!
(Hi Adalyn! :))
So, there you have it!
It's nothing fancy, but a little stain and mirror frame can make such a dramatic different to a bathroom!
