Whether you’ve been watching HGTV, love a good thrift store find, or are just looking to save money as you build your new home or remodel your bathroom, creating your own bathroom vanity is a great DIY project. Not only can you save money, but you can also create a vanity that is uniquely your style and perfectly matches your bathroom design, especially when you incorporate natural or engineered stone for the surface of the vanity.
Find or Build a Bathroom Vanity
Thrift stores, garage sales, and even your parent’s attic can be great places to look for vanities to upcycle or shabby chic. Just a short search on Pinterest reveals hundreds of upcycled vanities made from antique dressers, old buffet tables and sideboards, and even oversized nightstands! You can even choose to go the full DIY route and build a vanity yourself to fit your stone remnant perfectly.
Upcycling? What to Look For at the Thrift Store
If you’ve decided to go the upcycle route, good for you! You’re recycling and repurposing old furniture that could otherwise go to waste. When you’re at the thrift store, your local ReStore, or out at a garage sale, here are a few things to look for in a piece of furniture that could be repurposed for your new bathroom vanity:
Real wood furniture
Sinks are heavy. You’re going to need a piece of furniture that’s sturdy enough to hold up a quality sink and all of the plumbing that goes along with it. And if you want to add in a stone remnant top for a touch of luxury, that’s all the more reason to look for a solid, real wood piece of furniture.
Not sure how to tell? Give the piece a lift, or check inside the drawers. If the piece is laminate, it will feel very light, and you’ll be able to see the small strip of laminate finish when you open up the drawer.
Plenty of Space
If you’re going to be adding a sink to your bathroom vanity, you’ll want to make sure you have plenty of space within the piece to add in the necessary plumbing. Choose a piece that has a large drawer at the top that can be closed up and made decorative, or one that has plenty of space between the top and the lower doors.
You may have to do a bit of reconfiguring, and that’s okay, but you want to make sure that the piece is large enough to accommodate the perfect sink.
Refinishing Potential
Finally, while you’re out scouting for that perfect piece of furniture to transform into a luxurious bathroom vanity, be sure you’re looking for pieces that you actually can refinish. If the furniture is too old or damaged, you won’t be able to do much with it. This is another good reason to look for solid wood pieces — they can almost always be salvaged with enough sanding and quality paint or stain.
Choosing the Best Stone For Your Vanity Top
Bathrooms are a tricky spot of the house for furniture, considering all of the moisture and humidity the room is exposed to. One way to keep your upcycled antique DIY bathroom vanity looking great for years to come is to opt for a stone top. Here are a few of the best stone choices for bathroom vanity tops:
- Marble — A luxury option, a marble bathroom vanity top will make your DIY project look like a million bucks. If you choose this stone for your bathroom vanity top, you’ll want to make sure you keep up on regular care and yearly resealing to maintain the color and elegance of that countertop.
- Quartz — Another great choice, quartz will stand up to anything you throw at it. Hot curling iron? No problem. Lipstick stains? Easily removed. Regular humidity? Won’t phase the stone. For a durable option in just about any color, quartz is a quality option.
- Granite — For a one-of-a-kind vanity, you’ll love a granite top. Granite is naturally occurring, so no two slabs are exactly alike. Natural like marble and durable like quartz, this is another excellent option for your DIY bathroom vanity top.
Finding the Perfect Stone Remnant
Remnants of stone slabs can be relatively inexpensive and add a touch of individuality and class to your DIY vanity. They can also help make your vanity unique, as they may be of patterns and colors of natural stone that are sold out and no longer available in full-sized slabs. While many countertop suppliers only sell full-size slabs, Kowalski Granite & Quartz has a unique selection of remnants to choose from.
With a variety of sizes and a whole host of colors and textures, you’re sure to find something that perfectly fits the aesthetic you’re trying to achieve with your beautiful DIY bathroom vanity. We always invite you to come on down to our workshop and take a look around to see what remnants feel like the best fit for your project.
And once you’ve chosen the perfect stone for your DIY bathroom vanity, we’ll help you cut your remnant to size, and we’ll even come out and install it for you. And just like that, your bathroom vanity project is complete!
If you’re looking for a beautiful, one-of-a-kind bathroom vanity that you can say you designed yourself, you can’t beat one with a stone top. Kowalski Granite & Quartz offers a full selection of beautiful stone remnants, along with cutting and installation services. We’ll help you install your stone remnant on your vanity, perfectly. Plus, when we install your vanity countertop, we do repairs on it. If your sink ever comes loose, we’ll come out and repair it at no cost to you.
We have granite, marble, and quartz remnants available for your bathroom vanity project. Stop by our showroom to see our unique pieces!