Hello friends! I hope you all had a great holiday season and an even better new year. I can’t believe 2015 is already here. We rang in the new year with pizza, beer and an early bed time. Such an old maid I am!
With a new year brings new projects and I can happily say we are FINALLY in the finishing stages of our master bathroom. We completely gutted it and started from scratch. Since it was a pretty small bathroom we decided to custom build the vanity. The smaller to medium sized vanities we saw while out shopping were just not what we were looking for or were way out of our budget. So my husband and I drew out a simple plan for an open concept vanity with a countertop sink.
This is the finished photo of how it turned out. He made the base of the vanity and added the bottom shelf at the very end. (We made the vanity stand taller the normal vanity height since we are both tall. I am 5’10” and my hubby is 6’2″.) We lucked out by getting the counter from Habit Re-Store for an unspeakably cheap price. We just had to cut it down to size. The sink and the faucet we found on ebay and the mirror came from Home Depot.
What I wanted to point out to you today is how I stained the bottom shelf. Almost everyone that see’s the bathroom asks how and what we used to finish the bottom shelf. So here it is folks. Other than hanging the mirror it was the simplest of projects in this bathroom.
We chose a pine board that we cut down to fit into the bottom of the vanity. I sanded it lightly before applying stain. I normally apply a pre stain to all my naked wood however the product that I used for this project does not recommend it at all which is great.
I used Weatherwood Stains' Reclamation stain for this project. (which I ordered online.) It was my first time using this and I thought it would look excellent. The stain is a reactive stain which means the stain reacts with the tannins in the wood to change the wood color. The stain is one color, you apply it to the wood and depending on the type of wood, the wood changes color due to the reaction between the tannins and the stain. GENIOUS!!!
I specifically chose pine for this project because it does not have a lot of tannins in it. This means the wood will not turn dark. I wanted a greyish tone to the wood and when I tested the pine it turned out to be the perfect greyish-tan color.
I applied the stain using an old cut up sheet. (I save all my old sheets for staining) They work great! You just dip it in the stain bottle, wipe it on in a uniform fashion and let it dry for about 20 minutes. EASY! Did I mention that this stuff is VOC free. I stained this without the windows open or any ventilation. Not even kidding.
This is what the color looks like after 20 minutes. A beautiful subtle grey tone. I am in love!
So after the stain dried I applied 3 coats of Polycyclic to protect my new beautiful shelf. (Of course you have to let the coats dry in between and lightly sand them with a fine sanding sponge for proper adhering.) I added the extra 3rd coat for extra protection since it will be susceptible to moisture in a bathroom setting.
Don’t you love!!!
It’s a subtle difference however it’s exactly what I wanted. It still keeps the warm wood tones of aged wood yet looks modern enough to fit in with the theme our new bathroom. This was by far the easiest, cleanest, most odorless staining I have ever done and we are thrilled with the results. I am already planning my next staining projects to use with WeatherWood Stain. Stay tuned!
Enjoy 2015 everyone!! See you next month and if you want to check out the full reveal of the bathroom stayed tuned next week over at Always Never Done.
XO – Amy
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Amy's bathroom is looking fabulous! I love her style- both modern and vintage. If you're a blogger who wants to use Weatherwood- you can propose a project for a highly discounted rate -here-!
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