I Built My Own Floating Bathroom Vanity!

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I found this inspo picture on Pinterest and knew I wanted to make a vanity that was similar. I was over having a regular builder vanity where everything just gets thrown in the cabinet and no matter how many times you try and organize it it doesn’t stay organized. Things are just harder to get to in those kinds of cabinets, I prefer drawers over open cabinets for the most part.

I got to work emptying out the cabinets. To be honest, I don’t use most this stuff under here so I’ll be throwing most of it away or giving it away.

I scored the caulk on the countertop side pieces with a razor knife and used my trim puller to remove them.

I don’t typically mess with the plumbing but Tyler is pretty good at it, so he unhooked the faucets for me.

Then a friend was over and helped him remove the countertop, it was REALLY heavy and I don’t think I would have been able to lift it and maneuver it out of the house.

I was able to get the middle cabinet out on my own by unscrewing a few screws.

We had to cut the back out that was around the plumbing on the wall to get the side cabinets out, the plumbing was put in after the cabinets were put in and we’d have to remove all of that plumbing to get them out, so it was easier to just cut the back out around it. Tyler used a multitool to cut it out.

Then it was time to start building the new vanity. I figured plywood would be the easiest to work with. I’ve had trouble in the past with real wood shrinking or warping and I didn’t want to deal with that. I took measurements and cut down a piece of Oak veneer plywood and brought it in for a test fit. The original countertop was 22in deep, I was going to make this one 24in deep so we’d have more counter space, but after test fitting it at 22in I realized the sink would be too far back from the edge of the counter if I added another 2in on. So we went with the original size. I did have to remove the frame it was sitting on and cut those pieces down so they wouldn’t show, and I also lowered them so the sinks would be the correct height.

I cut all the pieces down to size. This was made out of 1 sheet of plywood and some oak 1x2s!

I got it all put together in the garage with wood glue and brad nails and a few pocket hole screws.

I was really excited to get it inside to test fit it, so when Tyler got home he helped me bring it in.

But then we ran into a problem. The piece I test fit fit great with a little wiggle room. But the walls aren’t straight so we couldn’t get it to slide in from the front, we were about 1/4in too long for this space in the wall. We even tried going up high over the door frame and that didn’t work either. We couldn’t put it sideways and then set it down like I did with the test fit because it was too thick as a whole cabinet and you wouldn’t be able to set it down all the way.

I wasn’t very happy about this so I took the rest of the night off and decided to mess with it again the next day when I wasn’t so angry at the walls! The next day I decided I’d take most of it apart and rebuild it in place. It was a sad day! It’s SO frustrating to have to take something apart that you just built!

I only took the top and one end off and was able to wedge it into place on to the 1x2s that I screwed into the studs.

I was feeling a little better once I was able to come up with a work around.

Tyler has longer arms than I do so he helped me screw it back into place as I put weight on the top to hold it down. Ellie is there supervising.

I got the faceframe put back on. I had to remove and break off a bunch of brad nails, that was annoying.

Then it was time to choose a stain color.

I didn’t want to go with the same Behr stain color that was in may closet because I hate working with water based stain, even though I really liked the color. As you can see in the below picture, water based stain leaves streaks and is hard to work with. Oil based stain doesn’t do that.

I ended up choosing the color Spice Brown by DuraSeal. I wanted to go a little darker in here since this bathroom is pretty neutral with the Accessible Beige and Alabaster paint choices.

I got to work staining.

Usually I find staining therapeutic, but this time was a little stressful because I ran into a problem. It looked like someone had set something on the plywood before I stained it and the stain was really dark in those spots! I was freaking out a bit!

I took a step back to gather my thoughts…I decided to sand those areas down with my orbital sander with 180 grit sandpaper followed by 220 grit sandpaper and see if that helps. I’ve been told I should try wood conditioner next time but I’ve never had a problem with blotchiness before and that wood conditioner is $20 and felt like an unnecessary step, but people swear by it!

Then I went back over those areas with stain very lightly and it worked!! Thankfully! I was worried I’d have to add another thin piece of plywood to the top to get rid of those spots!

Tyler picked me up some 1.5in oak edge banding from the Rockler store to cover the ugly unfinished plywood edge.

This is a wood veneer that has glue on the back that you just iron on. Home Depot and Lowes has some that’s 3/4in thick but they didn’t have any thicker. This is literally the only time I ever use an iron!

Then I cut the excess off by holding a piece of wood up to it and trimming it off with a sharp razor knife.

Then I stained the edge banding. It’s also paintable.

I know lots of people were concerned about wood being used as a vanity, but I have a plan. I did 3 coats of sealer to protect the wood. This General Finishes is the best!

I applied it by dumping it onto the countertop and rolling it on with a foam roller. I sanded in between each coat with 220 grit sandpaper so it was nice and smooth.

The vanity was still a little plain for my taste. I had this vanity saved to my Pinterest Master Bath board and I loved the way it had a wood backsplash.

I got some 1×6 oak boards from Home Depot and routed the edges with a decorative bit.

One of the boards I just routed straight across and the other one I rounded the edges and routed those.

I cut them down to the right size with a 45 degree angle at the ends so they go together smoothly and I installed them with a brad nailer into the studs.

I caulked all the seams with a clear caulk to waterproof everything. You can see it has a little bit of a shine to it.

Then I added another layer of General Finishes sealer. That makes 4 coats for the top and 1 coat on the edges. I want to MAKE SURE water isn’t going to damage this vanity easily.

Then it came time for the most nerve racking part…drilling holes into the top of the countertops with a hole saw for the faucets and the sinks. I let Tyler do this part.

Then my handy dandy live in plumber, aka Tyler, installed the sinks and faucets for me! He’s the best! We caulked the sinks on the bottom and just made sure to set them down in the correct spot once the plumbing was hooked up.

The original plan was to have another shelf underneath for towels and a few baskets, but these pipes come down so low I think that might look funny, so I’ve decided against it for now…maybe one day I’ll change my mind. But we will have plenty of storage on the wall opposite this vanity so I don’t need any extra.

Once that was all installed I got to work building the drawers. I did the middle one first because it was easiest. Instead of adding grooves to the inside with a table saw for the bottom to sit in like I’ve done in the past, I just added thin pieces of wood on with wood glue and taped them in place while they dried. These drawers won’t have anything heavy in them, so this worked out great!

This way you can just set the bottom in and glue it into place. I also caulked the bottom later.

The side drawers under the sinks were a little trickier because they have to go around the pipes. I took measurements and built them. These drawers are put together with wood glue and brad nails.

The middle one went in easily!

I was a little nervous about the other 2 drawers.

But those also went in perfectly!

I didn’t want to do a false drawer and waste all that extra storage space just because of some piping! This is what it looks like on the inside.

I had just enough oak left over to use as the drawer fronts. I cut them down the side and routed all the edges. I held them up in place and shot a few brad nails in through the front to hold it in place as I gently opened it.

Once they were open and in the right place I clamped them.

And then I screwed them in place from the inside.

I was really excited about this step because it took it up to the next level of doneness. I was wearing a dress here because we were heading to a wedding and while Tyler was taking a shower I couldn’t wait to get these drawer fronts on!

Here’s a quick video on the whole process.

I’ve used these handles on other projects in my house like my entryway built-ins and I had a bunch left over so I thought they would go perfectly in here! Not as bright as the faucets so they blend in a little more with the vanity color and don’t stand out too much.

I measured and installed them.

I love them in here!

Now to address those ugly exposed pipes. RubNBuff is always my go to for this kind of stuff! I had a variety pack so I tried a few of the colors on a scrap piece of pipe to see what closely matched the faucets.

Turns out Gold Leaf was the closest match. Not that it had to be perfect because it was under the vanity, but I wanted it to be as close as possible.

I tried putting the Rub N Buff directly on the pipes but it wasn’t adhering very well. I put some primer on and let it dry first and then added the Rub N Buff and that worked perfectly! I applied it with an old makeup brush.

I added the rest of the baseboards, repaired the drywall and painted the back wall. That was the boring part I’d been putting off.

I purchased some drawer organizers from Amazon and got all our small things put back in the vanity. These organizers come with little rubber feet you can put on the bottom so they don’t slide around at all and they work great!

The tall things, like mousse, hair spray and mouth wash, I will put in the cabinet I’ll be building on the opposite wall from here. All the small things fit great and all have a place now!

And this is where we are currently at! Kind of, I took these photos before I painted the back wall white underneath. Still a lot to do but I’m proud of how far it has come!