How To Paint Your Bathroom Vanity – No Sanding Required!

I have seen so many of the beautiful pictures of newly painted kitchen cabinets or bathroom vanities on Pinterest, that I got inspired to do the same. What I did not want to have to do was tackle a project that involved sanding!

The thought of sanding down the doors or drawers on my bathroom vanity was just not happening in my world.

So I was looking for was to get around this and discovered the product Oil Bond.

It is is a latex paint additive that helps latex paint adhere to oil-based or glossy surfaces, including polyurethane. I’m going to show you today how I used it to paint my bathroom vanity and tell you that if you are considering painting yours, use this stuff, because it was so easy and it turned out amazing!

Here is the before picture of my outdated golden oak vanity in my bathroom (fully covered with kid toothpaste drippings and all!).

I personally don’t mind that this stain of wood was so popular, and I personally still like the look of natural wood.  But I do like the new “trendy” grays and whites that I am seeing on cabinets and vanities.

I am considering painting over the same style cabinets in my kitchen, but I used my bathroom vanity as the guinea pig first before I tackle the entire kitchen.

Our house was built in 1997, and I’m sure this vanity was installed at that time.  The structure itself is still in great shape!  With a new coat of paint and some new hinges and hardware – this will look brand new!

Here are the materials I used to paint my bathroom vanity (without sanding first!)

• Paint – I used Valspar Cabinet Paint
• Oil Bond
• Cupboard foam roller brush and tray
• Trim paint brush
• Drop cloth
• Painters tape or packaging tape
• Shower Curtain to match your new paint color (optional)

The instructions on Oil Bond say to work in a well-ventilated area (I took the drawers and doors out to my garage for the majority of the painting) and use an old rag and wipe on Oil Bond all over the surface where you want to paint.

I also put on a pair of latex gloves because I wasn’t sure the exact chemicals I was dealing with and when dry, Oil Bond can get pretty sticky.

I wiped on Oil Bond all over the doors and drawer covers until a smooth, thin coat was on and let it dry for about an hour.

Then you need to mix some Oil Bond in with your paint.  Read the directions on how much to add as it will vary depending on if you have just a quart (like I did) or a full gallon of paint.

The other great thing about using Oil Bond is that no primer is required! 

Just use a few coats of the cabinet paint and that will be enough!  The first layer here actually looks like a primer, but it is just my first coat of the gray.

After I put on 2 coats, the shade I got seemed a bit light to me.  I put it back in my bathroom and realized that there was not enough contrast between the light gray I chose and the light blue wall color in my bathroom.

So I decided that if I was going to truly like how this turns out, then I needed a darker shade of gray for the vanity.

I took my paint back to Lowes and asked to make it darker.  They made it two shades darker, for free, no questions asked!  And the second time around, the color was perfect!

While I let the doors and drawers dry in the garage, I put down a drop cloth in the bathroom and used packaging tape (I didn’t have any painters tape on hand and packaging tape worked just as good!)  around the floor and proceeded to use the cupboard foam roller to cover the wood frame of the vanity.

There was a total of 2 light gray coats and 2 of the darker shade coats on here to get the perfect finish. 

With new silver hinges to match the other hardware (that I had replaced with the original awhile back) it turned out fantastic!

The paint is very smooth – no brush marks noticed!  It was totally worth it to spend a little more on cabinet paint plus the Oil Bond for a professional finish – no sanding and no primer required!!

I also wanted to find a new shower curtain to complete the look – and found this beautiful gray birch tree shower curtain with light bluebirds.  My walls are light blue, so its the perfect match.

I love the way it turned out and am glad that outdated oak is covered!

Now I’m feeling way more confident that I can do the exact same steps on my kitchen cabinets and get a kitchen makeover as well!

Looking for more house DIY tutorials?  Check these out:

How To Reupholster an Ottoman Tutorial

How To Fix Broken Canvas On A Porch Swing

How to Re-Decorate a Room on a Budget | 9+ Project Ideas + Before & After Pictures