Furniture Builds & Makeovers

Custom Ikea Vanity + Antique Brass Faucets: ORC Week 5

For our basement half-bathroom addition, I created a custom Ikea vanity using the Ikea Fullen sink cabinet. And it’s bright purple!

For our basement half-bathroom addition, I created a custom Ikea vanity using the Ikea Fullen sink cabinet. And it's bright purple!

It’s the start of May, and we’re officially into crunch time with the One Room Challenge hosted by Linda of Calling it Home.  For us, that means finishing off our basement bathroom addition; and I would have loved to tell you that everything is on schedule… but not so much.  I did manage to create a custom Ikea vanity, so that is what I will be sharing with you today (along with my regular updates).  Let’s have a look :)

– Note: This post contains affiliate links. See more information about affiliates here

First off, my ORC posting timeline:

Week 1: Sharing Design Plans
Week 2: Plumbing, electrical + framing
Week 3: Installing drywall, patching, priming and painting
Week 4: Tiling (floors and walls)
Week 5: Grouting / installing trim + furniture (ie: vanity + toilet) (that’s this post!)
Week 6: Bringing in accessories for the final reveal!

Now, behind the scenes I’ve mentioned I like to have things done ahead of time right?  As in, a week or two (yes we did lose a week because drywalling took me twice as long).  BUT I was still planning on having everything done by May 1st.  Seriously, I have a detailed spreadsheet of all the tasks that need to be done – and all the things we have left said – BY MAY 1st.

Now, you may be thinking – oh wow it’s May 3rd, everything must be done right?

Well, let’s just say someone decided to go on a fishing weekend with their friends… at that someone is an integral part of the last bit of things that need to get done around here.

No… it was not me who went fishing :)

I did manage to get some other house projects done this weekend though, but as far as the bathroom goes, we still have a lot to do before the big reveal next week.

(For-real list) Still to finish:

  • Wire ceiling light + sconces
  • Install the plumbing intakes and connectors
  • Install a plumbing vent pipe (and re-route current house plumbing vent)
  • Finish the baseboards (patching, priming, caulking)
  • Install the vanity + sink
  • Install the toilet
  • Install the shelf, toilet paper hanger, towel hooks
  • Seal the grout
  • Decide on the mirror
  • Install the door hardware and hang the door
  • Decorate and take pictures
  • Oh, and fix the phone cable wires (that were damaged during the demo)

Custom Ikea Vanity

But let’s forget all that for a bit (as soon as I publish this post I’m going to work on the baseboards and seal the grout) AND look at the custom Ikea vanity I was able to come up with and build during the rest of our bathroom progress!

For our basement half-bathroom addition, I created a custom Ikea vanity using the Ikea Fullen sink cabinet. And it's bright purple!

In the original bathroom design, I was planning on using a black Ikea vanity, but since we vetoed the purple tiles, I thought the black vanity might be a bit too much.  But really, I just wanted to keep my purple in the room!  I ordered the cheapest Ikea vanity cabinet (“Fullen”) available, which is still on sale right now for less than 20$!!!  I also got it during their bathroom event, so it was another 15% off.  Including the separate sink – it was less than 75$ (but we would have needed the sink no matter which vanity we went with).

Since the Husband didn’t want me taking a whole day to drive to Ikea (it’s about a 4 hour drive one-way), I had them delivered.  Let’s just say delivery cost more than all the stuff I ordered (boo).

For our basement half-bathroom addition, I created a custom Ikea vanity using the Ikea Fullen sink cabinet. And it's bright purple!

Anyways, I built the Ikea Fullen cabinet as normal, and then I purchased 3 lengths of thin lattice trim to dress it up.

For our basement half-bathroom addition, I created a custom Ikea vanity using the Ikea Fullen sink cabinet. And it's bright purple!

I got some 5/8″ long brad nails to attach the lattice to the cabinet, but 1/2″ would have been perfect (our nail gun takes 5/8″ as the shortest length though).

For our basement half-bathroom addition, I created a custom Ikea vanity using the Ikea Fullen sink cabinet. And it's bright purple!

I also used some wood glue, then would put the pieces in place and nailed them in.  (If I pressed too hard, the nails did go through – but at least 90% of them are fine!).

For our basement half-bathroom addition, I created a custom Ikea vanity using the Ikea Fullen sink cabinet. And it's bright purple!

I clamped the pieces in (I really did not want these things to move!) and let them dry.

For our basement half-bathroom addition, I created a custom Ikea vanity using the Ikea Fullen sink cabinet. And it's bright purple!

For the doors, I knew a regular shaker style would be perfect; but I wanted to jazz up the side of the cabinet a bit more (only one side would be visible in the room).

For our basement half-bathroom addition, I created a custom Ikea vanity using the Ikea Fullen sink cabinet. And it's bright purple!

On my Facebook Page, I posted this above graphic and asked everyone to vote on their favourite design.  Most votes were for style “D” so that is what I went with!

For our basement half-bathroom addition, I created a custom Ikea vanity using the Ikea Fullen sink cabinet. And it's bright purple!

I then covered the holes and gaps with some wood filler, sanded everything – then caulked the inside edges and used drywall joint compound to smooth over any seams.  I followed with a coat of Zinsser Bull’s Eye 123 Primer (including the actual Ikea wood part too).

For our basement half-bathroom addition, I created a custom Ikea vanity using the Ikea Fullen sink cabinet. And it's bright purple!

Since purple is my favourite colour, and I knew I wanted something bright – I went with the boldest one I could find.  It’s Rona Collection’s “Wax Crayon” and they mixed it in a Sico eggshell quart-size for me.  I needed about 4 coats to get a nice smooth finish.  (And yes, I left everything spread about in the living and dining room for the past few weeks during this process haha!).

For our basement half-bathroom addition, I created a custom Ikea vanity using the Ikea Fullen sink cabinet. And it's bright purple!

Thankfully I only painted the outside of the doors and the sides of the main cabinet that would be visible – or it would have taken much longer.  Actually, I prefer a nice bright cabinet interior (easier to clean and see things).  Tootsie loved laying on the dropcloth!

For our basement half-bathroom addition, I created a custom Ikea vanity using the Ikea Fullen sink cabinet. And it's bright purple!

For the legs, I wanted something a bit chunkier/square-r, kind of like the legs of the Lillången cabinet (which I considered using in the original design).  I had the Husband cut me 6″ lengths of 2″ x 2″ HSS (it’s square metal tubing) which fit perfectly around the legs that came with the Fullen cabinet.  I still needed these to help level the cabinet of course, my little metal pieces would just be like loose “socks” that hide the plastic legs (the Husband said socks the other day, so that’s what I’ll call them!).

For our basement half-bathroom addition, I created a custom Ikea vanity using the Ikea Fullen sink cabinet. And it's bright purple!

I spray painted them with some Tremclad rust-proof primer, then a coat of Antique Brass spray paint (that I used on the handles as well – and in some other places in the bathroom you will see next week).  Don’t worry, there are 4 little metal “socks” – I just didn’t have them all on in this photo (and the doors aren’t screwed in yet either).

OH!  I almost forgot!  I did also add 2 coats of Polycrylic sealer on top of the paint, because I found it to be a bit too fragile/chippy as it was (yes, I did have to touch up some areas after someone decided to use my cabinet doors as a table surface).

Installing the Custom Ikea Vanity

It’s not actually in place permanently right now, but we did manage to kind of set it where it will be going.

For our basement half-bathroom addition, I created a custom Ikea vanity using the Ikea Fullen sink cabinet. And it's bright purple!

Because the Husband decided it would be easiest to plumb from the ground up (rather than go back through the wall like I would have preferred), I knew that our cabinet needed to be cut into in order for it to fit (and you know, have plumbing).  Rather than measure the distance from the walls and then measure that on the base of the cabinet, I used my cheating method.

Which basically just involves painting the cap of where the plumbing pipe is, then holding the custom Ikea vanity down onto it to leave the paint mark.

For our basement half-bathroom addition, I created a custom Ikea vanity using the Ikea Fullen sink cabinet. And it's bright purple!

We then just had to drill out a hole so the plumbing would go through the cabinet, and we made it a bit bigger to account for any shifting we would have to do to install it to the wall and make sure it’s level (there will be a lot of that since our floors aren’t 100% level).

For our basement half-bathroom addition, I created a custom Ikea vanity using the Ikea Fullen sink cabinet. And it's bright purple!

And here’s how it looks in the bathroom so far!  It’s not screwed in, and the doors will need to be attached once the plumbing is done, but the little legs just work perfectly around the trim that I installed (and again, still need to finish).  I’ll be putting in a drawer liner with the plumbing hole cut to exact size… just in case small things get dropped in the cabinet (but I mean, we could still just grab them from the ground I guess).

For our basement half-bathroom addition, I created a custom Ikea vanity using the Ikea Fullen sink cabinet. And it's bright purple!

So, if you consider the price of the cabinet and include all the things I added; we’re in at under 150$ for something completely custom!  Plussssss if ever I hate the vanity for some reason (or we need to change it because it broke or whatever), we can always use the same Ikea sink and get a different base cabinet to match.

Here is my pricing breakdown:

Ikea Fullen Cabinet: 20$
Lattice Pieces: 30$
Purple Paint + Nails: 30$
Pulls: 35$
Polycrylic: 20$
Antique Brass Spray Paint: 12$
Metal “socks”: Free

I already owned the Zinsser primer, wood glue, filler and Tremclad primer spray paint; plus I have a LOT of purple paint, nail gun nails and Polycrylic leftover, so there will be more projects that may use them in the future :)

And since I’m talking about the vanity/sink today – figured I might as well talk about our faucet options too!

Antique Brass Faucets

Believe it or not, the faucet was actually the first thing I purchased specifically for our bathroom renovation!  Because I knew I wanted to get something that was already in an Antique Brass finish (rather than customize it myself), it made narrowing down my choices much simpler.

Apparently, there are not that many “off-the shelf” antique brass faucets available, but here are the few that I did find:

For our basement half-bathroom addition, I created a custom Ikea vanity using the Ikea Fullen sink cabinet. And it's bright purple!

  1. Amazon Ouku Antique Brass Faucet
  2. Amazon Rozin Antique Brass Faucet
  3. Home Depot Verdanza Widespread Antique Brass Faucet – no longer available (faucet here)
  4. Home Depot Verdanza Antique Brass Faucet – no longer available (sort of similar faucet here)
  5. Amazon Rozin Sanitary Antique Brass Faucet – no longer available (similar faucet here)
  6. Amazon Greenspring Antique Brass Faucet
  7. Amazon Aquafaucet European Style

Thankfully, all the faucets were around the 50-150$ dollar range, so I didn’t have to splurge too much with the one I chose!  Can you guess which one we ended up with?  I’ll give a big hint – because we went with the Ikea sink, there is only one center hole (so that eliminates about half of this list, aka the ones that require multiple holes to function).

Wish me luck this week, and don’t forget to check out all the Week 5 One Room Challenge progress on Calling it Home!

Subscribe & Follow

Newsletter

You Might Also Like

25 Comments

  • Reply
    Louise aka Mommy
    May 3, 2016 at 9:03 pm

    love the brass legs and handles and the lattice dressed up the vanity nicely .. did you borrow my Polycrilic or was that yours? I do have to get around to finishing that dresser.

    • Reply
      Nicole
      May 4, 2016 at 8:40 am

      Thanks, I actually just bought this one (didn’t know you had one I could borrow…). It was quick to use, although they recommend sanding in between coats (I was a bit scared, but it worked out in the end).

  • Reply
    Tara @ Lehman lane
    May 3, 2016 at 9:59 pm

    Wow you guys are really making progress in your bathroom Nicole! Great job changing the cabinet. Can’t wait to see your finished bathroom!

    • Reply
      Nicole
      May 4, 2016 at 8:41 am

      I wish we would have made more progress, but the Husband already knows this weekend will be alllll about work on the bathroom to get it done, haha!

  • Reply
    Laura Ingalls Gunn
    May 5, 2016 at 11:26 am

    Nicole I adore the vanity and I can’t wait for the reveal! I love the direction the space is going in. As a fellow ORC participant it’s been wonderful to gather some fantastic inspiration. I’d love for you to share your progress at Thoughts of Home on Thursday. Our readers would love to see it. The gathering is at http://www.decortoadore.net

    • Reply
      Nicole
      May 7, 2016 at 8:37 am

      Thank you Laura, I’m excited to see everyone else’s spaces too!

  • Reply
    Mila
    May 5, 2016 at 3:06 pm

    Very nice DIY- it looks great. Your to-do list is still long! good luck next week.

    • Reply
      Nicole
      May 7, 2016 at 8:37 am

      I wish I could say we were done the list by now, but we still have more :)

  • Reply
    Jen @ Fresh Crush
    May 5, 2016 at 10:00 pm

    Nice work on that vanity! It’s totally transformed and I love it with that incredible floor tile! Can’t wait to see next week!

    • Reply
      Nicole
      May 7, 2016 at 8:39 am

      We’re getting so close, but somehow last minute things just keep adding to the list!

  • Reply
    April R - Uncookie Cutter
    May 7, 2016 at 11:14 am

    Oh, this is looking so cool! I love the direction this is going. That is a genius vanity hack!

    • Reply
      Nicole
      May 9, 2016 at 9:06 am

      Thanks April, I’m just hoping I sealed it properly and it will last without additional touch-ups

  • Reply
    Lindi
    May 9, 2016 at 10:10 am

    This is seriously amazing! I LOVE this transformation! Now I feel like I need to run out to Ikea just to do the same thing, lol. Looking forward to the big reveal!

    • Reply
      Nicole
      May 9, 2016 at 5:03 pm

      It was actually super simple and has such a big impact. I think the most time-consuming part was painting and waiting for everything to dry!

  • Reply
    Sarah
    May 10, 2016 at 8:39 am

    That is the most rad shade of purple!!!

    • Reply
      Nicole
      May 10, 2016 at 6:05 pm

      It’s definitely “purple” and obviously my favourite colour :)

  • Reply
    Katy {ashadeofteal}
    May 10, 2016 at 10:07 pm

    The vanity is perfect, I love love love the color! Also love the brass fixtures and details.

    • Reply
      Nicole
      May 11, 2016 at 9:26 am

      It’s my favourite colour too, I think it adds a nice touch without being too over-the-top (that’s what I tell myself at least haha!)

  • Reply
    Carrie at Kenarry: Ideas for the Home
    May 11, 2016 at 11:02 pm

    Wow! That doesn’t even look like an IKEA piece now that you’re done with it. I love the bold color for the bathroom. So daring – and eye catching! Can’t wait to see how the whole room turned out in your reveal this week.

    • Reply
      Nicole
      May 12, 2016 at 1:54 pm

      It’s such a small space, so it’s easy to make a big impact in one piece without being too over the top (I hope so at least!)

  • Reply
    Krisanna
    April 21, 2017 at 9:37 pm

    Totally random question, but do you have an idea of how tall your cabinet is without those legs? I’m trying to figure out the height of it if I leave the legs off or put a different leg on. Thanks so much for your help!

    • Reply
      Nicole
      April 21, 2017 at 10:39 pm

      Not counting the legs, and WITH the sink, the cabinet is just over 27.5 inches (the legs add an extra 6.5 inches). The Ikea website is usually pretty good for giving dimensions – but if you go legless you’ll definitely want to elevate it a little bit (if just do add a plain wood base underneath to create a toe kick area). Good luck :)

  • Reply
    IKEA FULLEN Sink Cabinet Hack | district of decor
    October 1, 2017 at 5:52 pm

    […] 4. Similar to how I turned my cheap, laminate kitchen cabinets into shaker cabinets, you could also paint these and add wood give them more character, as seen here. […]

  • Reply
    DTA Design Group
    February 27, 2019 at 1:59 am

    Very nice looking! I love it this color! Thanks a lot !

    • Reply
      Nicole
      February 27, 2019 at 11:21 am

      Purple is my favourite!

    Leave a Reply

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.