Cement Bathroom Vanity
Come check out this amazing DIY vanity makeover! You can transform your outdated vanity with concrete for less than $50.
DO YOU HAVE OUTDATED, CULTURED MARBLE VANITIES THAT YOU WANT TO UPDATE ON A BUDGET? If so, you are in luck because I am here to show you all the details of my DIY vanity makeover using an inexpensive concrete overlay.
Buckle your seat belts. Things are about to get exciting! A bit of background… Our bathrooms are full of cultured marble countertops with integral sinks that were quite popular in the early 80's. Not my favorite look. It was not in our budget to replace the vanity top in our recently revealed powder room makeover, so I had to get creative. We had successfully created our own DIY concrete fireplace and loved the results, so we took a risk and decided to attempt the same technique on our vanity. IT WORKED! Now, read on to learn how you can do it, too!
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DIY Concrete Vanity Tutorial
Materials Needed for DIY Vanity with Concrete Overlay
- Ardex Feather Finish or Henry's Feather Finish (this is the concrete product)
- 14 inch drywall tray
- 6 inch metal Drywall knife
- 2 inch putty knife
- An electric sander (makes some of the sanding work easier, but you CAN sand by hand if you don't have an electric sander. This is the sander we have: Ryobi Random Orbit Sander)
- Latex gloves
- Acrylic concrete sealer (this is the exact sealer we used: Quikrete 873002 Concrete Cure And Seal Satin Finish)
- 150 and 220 grit sandpaper
- A large sponge
PS- We also painted the vanity cabinet for a quick update. We used the same process and paint as we did when we painted our kitchen cabinets, which you can read all about here. This is another way to paint cabinets that we used in Thea's kitchen which was also awesome!
Steps to Create a DIY Vanity with Concrete Overlay
Sorry for the horrible lighting in these photos–you can tell that I was working on it at night, when there was no natural light to photograph by!
1) Remove your faucet and drain stopper. UPDATE–leave your drain stopper in! You can read all about why we now recommend leaving the drain stopper in here.
2) Sand your countertop and sink. This will dull the finish of the cultured marble and make it easier for the concrete to adhere.
3) Mix your concrete. Pour some of the dry mix into your drywall tray, add water and mix it with a small putty knife. You want to mix it to the consistency of thick pancake batter. After mixing it, let it sit for a few minutes and then mix it again. Now it is ready to work with.
4) Apply your first coat of concrete to the entire cultured marble countertop and any backsplash. You want to apply a THIN coat–do not strive for full coverage on the first coat. It will look like a hot mess, but don't get nervous. I use my large drywall knife to apply it to most of the countertop surface and I use the smaller putty knife to apply it to the small backsplash piece. Use your fingers to apply it to the corners and top of the edges. You may get some on your walls in the process. Don't worry, it wipes off fairly easily even after it dries.
5) Next, apply it to the sink basin. You have to do this with your fingers. You should protect your skin with gloves. Spread it around as best you can. Again, it will be messy and you will see finger marks. That's okay!
6) Allow it to dry. It dries fairly quickly, but I allowed each coat to dry overnight because I was working on it at night anyway. Once it is dry, give it a light hand sanding. NOTE: If you applied your first coat too thickly and there are significant imperfections, you may be better off using an electric sander.
7) Repeat steps 4- 6 until you achieve the coverage you want. I was happy after 3 coats, but I am fairly experienced using this product since we used it on our DIY concrete fireplace and am able to apply it fairly smoothly. If you have more imperfections, you will probably require more coats to get it nice and smooth. The photo below shows you what the second coat looks like drying–a splotchy mess! DON'T PANIC!
When you put your second and third coats in the sink basin, it helps to smooth the ridges left by your fingers out with a sponge AFTER the concrete has dried a little bit. You want it to be just firm enough to smooth out the ridges–if it is too wet, you will wind up wiping off the concrete, which you do not want. This requires a little bit of trial and error, but I would say as a rule of thumb, you can smooth it out with a sponge about 10 to 20 minutes after you have applied it. (Do not try to smooth out the first coat–it will wipe right off. Only do this with your second and third coats!)
8) Once you are happy with the coverage, you will want to do a final sanding of the entire vanity surface. I do it by hand to ensure that I don't remove too much of the concrete, particularly on the edges and corners. But again, if you have significant imperfections, you may need to break out the electric sander.
9) Your last step is to apply a sealer. I recommend using a water-based acrylic concrete sealer in satin finish {this is the exact sealer we used: Quikrete 873002 Concrete Cure And Seal Satin Finish
10) After the sealer dries, install your new faucet (or reinstall your old faucet). We found our awesome new faucet on Amazon for only $39, which is an amazing deal. You can find the exact faucet we purchased right here: Designers Impressions Oil Rubbed Bronze Two Handle Lavatory Bathroom Vanity Faucet 
IMPORTANT UPDATE! COME SEE HOW OUR DIY CONCRETE VANITY PROJECT IS HOLDING UP 18 MONTHS LATER AND LEARN ABOUT THE 1 UPDATE WE MADE–READ THIS UPDATE BEFORE TACKLING THIS PROJECT!!! You can also check out the video below to see how it's holding up!
Time and Cost Involved:
So, how long did it take me to complete this DIY vanity transformation? Each coat/sanding cycle took me only about 30 minutes. Including the sealing step and removal and reinstallation of the faucet, this project took only about 2 1/2 hours, spread out over several nights after work and getting my girls to bed. The cost was very low, coming in well under $20.00. We purchased our Henry's Feather Finish at Home Depot for $16.00 for the box and used less than 1/4 of the contents. We already had the sealer leftover from when I used this same technique in our laundry room. And, since we are frequent DIYers, we had all of the other supplies on hand. Even if you had to purchase the sealer and some of the other supplies, you would still spend far less on this DIY vanity makeover than what you would spend on a completely new vanity or new countertop!
How is it holding up? How do you clean it? Does it darken when water gets on it?
First, we completed this project a little over 3 months ago and it is holding up PERFECTLY! It looks just as good as it did when we finished it. I am curious as to whether and/or how often we will have to re-seal it, but so far, so good! In anticipation of some of your other questions, I have created a video for you! Check it out for answers to your most burning questions. UPDATE: This vanity held up beautifully the entire time we had it! We loved it right up until the day we demoed it for our new powder room design. You can see the reveal here!
Check out the final result! Not bad for an amazing, inexpensive transformation, huh? We just love it!
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Source: https://designertrapped.com/diy-vanity-concrete-overlay/
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