Okay, let me start by saying that using this cabinet wasn't in my original vanity idea. I first wanted to use a three cube storage shelf that I bought from Target for about $25, painting it, adding tall table legs, and screwing stained wooden slates on top. I knew in the WAYYYYY back of my mind that I should have sanded the shelf since the shelf was actually laminate, but I was being super lazy so I decided to just paint it. Well, as the paint started to dry, it looked "wet", which meant that I literally created way more work. So, what I'm trying to say is, I spent a few hours scraping the dried paint it, sanding it, then re-painting it again, but by this time I was already over using this shelf so I gave up on using this shelf. I'll use it for some other DIY project.
After spending several days trying to fix my laziness on this one shelf, I was given a white-ish double door cabinet with 3 shelves by my parents. I believe it's from IKEA, I've linked the closest matching one here. I learned my lesson and lightly sanded this cabinet down using a palm sander 150 grit. Then I painted the cabinet 3 times with an oak-white color, used polyurethane to seal it, and then prettied it up with some gold leaf.
This was the first time I used "Gold Leaf", and honestly I had never even heard of it but I randomly had this inspiration from when the golden robin's egg nails were super trendy a few years ago. I googled "Robin's Egg Nails" for DIY, and learned about the gold leaf technique. I used a sponge brush to dab the special glue onto the furniture. I had to learn that you really did not need much of the liquid glue and you HAVE to let it slightly dry. I was really impatient and tried to put the gold leaf on right away but I just ended up with a sticky fingers. Here's what I used:
Oh, and also, be sure to figure out where you want the gold leaf, and if you want a "weathered" look. I got a little carried away with the gold leafing because it was just so pretty and I was like a 5 year old finger painting. I still like how the cabinet turned out :). The original cabinet pull hardware was a dark gray color but because of the white base, and gold leaf, the hardware did not match. So, I ordered some gold cabinet pulls from Amazon. (I use Amazon A LOT because I'm just too lazy to leave my house but also because certain DIY items are just cheaper on Amazon -- Are you starting to figure out that I'm a lazy DIY-er?) After all of this, I had bought two 2 raw wood slates from Home Depot, I stained it using Varathane Interior Stain (Oil-Based), used polyurethane to seal it and then had my good sidekick AKA my boyfriend screw the boards on to the top of the white cabinet.
This is the final finished project! I hope you guys can learn from my mistakes and be diligent about doing things correctly.
I really love how it turned out. The gold adds a bit of glam to the entire piece. Especially, with the dark stained wooden boards. BTW I do have to brag! I found that mirror at a thrift store for TWO DOLLARS. The striped globe lamp (it's a pair) were found at a garage sale for $5. I'm working on our bed side tables atm, I'll have a new post up soon!
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