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Antique Dry Sink Re-Do

SimpleDecoratingTips.com before and after antique dry sink re-do step by step

**update… A reader was kind enough to remind me this is not a dry sink… As soon as I read their comment, I realized my mistake. This is a commode! Oops! (Everywhere in the post where you read ‘dry sink’ think commode, and all is well again) ?

A couple weeks ago, I shared with you one of my favorite ‘secret places’ to find wonderful vintage finds… and this antique dry sink was a recent acquisition from that source… (If you want in on that ‘secret place’ you can read about it here!)

Here’s what I did…

This was the before… (Obviously a very cute piece, but a little rough)

I’m so happy though that even though the marble wasn’t attached to the piece correctly, and the mirror was mounted incorrectly, mostly all the original pieces were amazingly still there!

SimpleDecoratingTips.com antique cabinet before

First thing I did was wash the piece, inside and out with soapy vinegar water and leave it out in the sun to dry for a few hours. The vinegar helps kill any weird odors, but also I always feel that it helps sanitize it too.

Next, I set up my little paint area.

Er… sorry, I tend to paint pretty much wherever… especially up here in the Midwest where we have so many months of cold weather, if one wants to paint furniture, one must be willing to paint indoors in the heated space… so breakfast room, here I come…

SimpleDecoratingTips.com setting up to paint

Using a leftover gray latex paint from some painting projects in the restoration of our 100 year old house… I used this light pale gray for both the built ins in the living room, and back kitchen stairway.

First a primer coat. My all time favorite primer is THIS BONDING PRIMER! It goes on smooth, is water clean up and assures you that your paint will adhere properly.

SimpleDecoratingTips.com 1st coat of gray

2 coats of latex paint over the dried primer finished the painting project.

This piece of furniture, basically a dry sink, is from the later 1800’s. I know that because of the styling and confirmation of the drawer construction:

SimpleDecoratingTips.com tell age of piece by drawer construction peg and scallop drawers

Check out this post I wrote about our family’s Eastlake style dry sink, you can read some interesting information about this exact peg and scallop joinery.

After I got all done painting the cupboard and drawers, I realized I had totally forgotten to paint the mirror!

Argh! I hate when I do that!

SimpleDecoratingTips.com painting mirror

One thing I always do when I’m leaning stuff, like how this mirror is precariously perched, I place something in front of it to prevent it from sliding or flipping forward when it’s not be attended to… that’s why that chair is in front in such a weird spot while the mirror was drying.

Here’s a little painting tip… overlap the paint onto the mirror, (works well for windows too)… because to try to carefully edge it just takes too much time and to tape off the mirror usually results in leaked paint on the edge anyway.

SimpleDecoratingTips.com mirror with over paint

Then once the paint is dry, I just simply remove the excess from the mirror with a straight edge razor.

SimpleDecoratingTips.com use razor to scrape over paint off mirror

This little razor widget works great for this job. (I do windows like this as well)

Once all the pieces were totally dry, it was time to reconstruct the antique dry sink.

To attach the marble top to the cabinet I squiggled on some clear silicone caulk.

Here’s a caulking tip: squiggles are good, circles of caulk with empty space inside the circles are not good because they can actually trap air in the empty circles and cause less adhesion

SimpleDecoratingTips.com caulking for stone top

Once the marble top was in place, I put a line of silicone on top of it in the back for the backsplash to set on.

SimpleDecoratingTips.com backsplash on

Let me just pause a moment here and say this marble did not look like this when I bought this piece…

It looked like this:

SimpleDecoratingTips.com marble before refinishing

Horrible!

But I found a really simple trick to restore it, and I’ve written a post on how to DIY marble restoration here… so be sure to check it out!

The mirror was the last thing to go on, and screwed onto the back of the cabinet with the long ‘legs’ on the frame of the mirror you can sort of see in the painting picture.

My husband needed to give me a hand with this part of reconstruction… he held the mirror in place and I screwed it from the back. (we added some silicone to those long support legs of the mirror to secure the backsplash a little more than just the line on the bottom.

SimpleDecoratingTips.com mirror mounted from back

The newer white porcelain hardware you can see in the before picture, wasn’t in the right style for this late 1800’s piece, so after searching through my treasured ‘junk drawer’ I found the perfect stuff… and after restoring it, it looks great on this piece. (to see my tips and tricks on restoring this old hardware, be sure to check out my post from last week: Restoring Antique Hardware)

It’s hard to see in the picture, but there are actually holes in the marble along the two back corners… looks to me like there were originally some type of brackets there, perhaps to support the backsplash? But it seems pretty sturdy now with the silicone, and I like the top open like this, so I’m not looking to replace them.

SimpleDecoratingTips.com antique dry sink re-do all done

I am thrilled with this antique dry sink re-do! The pale gray looks absolutely beautiful with the gray marble top… now that the marble is restored that is!

Also, I love repurposing this dry sink into an end table for the sofa in the breakfast room… it’s the perfect size and looks and works great for this purpose!

This is an easy DIY type of project, just take your time and have good lighting to prevent drips in the paint… and so gratifying to re-do a piece that has potential hiding behind an ugly surface.

Here are some more furniture redo projects:

Glazed Antique Finish
Painting Concrete with Fusion Mineral Paint
Gold Harlequin Table Redo
Wet-Sanding-title-page
Industrial-Grunge-Textured-Trunk-Redo
Spring-decoupage-Project
How to Paint Faux Driftwood
Nightstand ReDo
Window with Reverse Paint and Decoupage
MCM Table ReDo
Secretary-Desk-Redo
Boho-Style-Table-Re-do
Paint-and-Decoupage-Chest-ReDo
embossing paste stencil
Christmas table redo
Easiest-Color-Wash-Glaze-Ever
Stencil-Tips
Buffet-Re-Do-Transfers-Fusion-Mineral-Paint-and-Gel-Stain
Vintage-Halloween-Napkin-Decoupage-Plate
how-to-rub-on-transfers-simpledecoratingtips
French-Patisserie-Cafe-Set-Re-Do
Petite-Bookcase-Makeover
Vintage-Romantic-Style-Cabinet-Re-Do
Coastal-Themed-Desk-Re-Do
old-world-finish-decoupage
How-To-Decoupage-and-Painted-Dresser-ReDo
Milk-Paint-and-Tung-Oil-Benches
Milk Paint Cupboard Frame and Frills SimpleDecoratingTips.com
diy-faux-aged-metallic-finish-1
Iron-Chair-Re-Do
How to Assemble this Boss Drafting Stool VIDEO
Furniture-Facelift
Proportion
DIY Inspiration
Restoration Vintage Medicine Cabinet
How-to-Age-Galvanized-Metal
SimpleDecoratingTips.com
Simple Stool Re-Do
6 Furniture Projects to Inspire You
DIY Vintage Window Shadow Box
Tips on Restoring Antique Hardware
How to DIY Soapstone Restoration
before and after antique dry sink re-do step by step
How I turned this $10 piece of junk into a Masterpiece
How  Why I Made Faux Delft Tiles
How to Create Let it Snow Artwork
Painting Tips
tips to find the right lampshade
How to Make a Pulley Light
Repurposing: Stencil a Vintage Window
sofa table redo before and after
Counter stool makeover and my 1st attempt at chalk paint
Inspiration for Colors
Coastal Cottage Style Table
DIY Directional Arrows
DIY Table with a Coastal Design
Mirror Mirror on the Wall
Before and After Retro Cart Re-Do
Creating a Trophy Wall in a Whimsical Library
A Lesson in Identifying Furniture Age
Vintage Umbrella on Door
Before and After Headboard Re-Do
Handpainted Table
DIY Picket Fence Wall Hooks
Creating a New Faux Finish on Antique Tin Tile

Thanks so much for stopping by! Please feel free to follow and share this blog with your friends, as well as on Facebook, Pinterest, Flipboard, Bloglovin, YouTube and now Instagram! I appreciate you reading along.

This post can be found at the following other sites:Thrifty Chic Decor, Too Much Time on My Hands, Design, Dining & Diapers, Posed Perfection, Vintage Charm, Pocketful of Posies, DIY Dreamer, Yesterday on Tuesday, Cozy Little House, Home Stories A to Z, A Stroll Thru Life, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Confessions of a Plate Addict, Coastal Charm, Between Naps on the Porch

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Welcome to Simple Decorating Tips! I’m Liz, the author, and I’m so glad you’re here!

My goal is to encourage you with DIY tips, techniques and tutorials so you feel empowered to join in the fun! Along with this DIY blog, I have a DIY shop, Frame and Frills!
Frame and Frills is in Wisconsin. I stock amazing DIY products! Fusion Mineral Paints, ReDesign Transfers, Decoupage, Waxes, loads of DIY Goodies, re-done Furniture and more! Even if you're not close to where the shop is in Wisconsin, good news... I ship nationwide, (USA) daily! Check out the link here and let's get your DIY on!
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Welcome to Simple Decorating Tips! I'm Liz, the author, and I'm so glad you're here! My goal is to encourage you with DIY tips, techniques and tutorials so you feel empowered to join in the fun! Along with this DIY blog, I have a DIY shop, Frame and Frills!
Frame and Frills is in Wisconsin. I stock amazing DIY products! Fusion Mineral Paints, ReDesign Transfers, Decoupage, Waxes, loads of DIY Goodies, re-done Furniture and more! Even if you're not close to where the shop is in Wisconsin, good news... I ship nationwide, (USA) daily! Check out the link here and let's get your DIY on!


Disclosure Policy: According to FTC guidelines, I want you to be aware that some of the content of this blog may be a source of income and therefore may be used to promote products, services, or other businesses. I will only choose to promote products/services/businesses that I feel will be beneficial to my readers. While I hope to generate a small profit for my time and effort to create this blog, I hold myself to the highest standard of integrity. I appreciate my readers, and make it my goal to deliver quality, honest material on this blog through each post. Thanks for reading along, Liz

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Sharing is great! Please feel free to share this blog with your friends, as well as on Facebook and Pinterest and Flipboard and Houzz and YouTube the more the merrier! I appreciate you stopping by. But please remember that all photos, images, text and content are owned by SimpleDecoratingTips.com. So anything you share, please be sure it always links back to my original post it came from. Please do not remove watermarks, crop or edit anything without written permission from me first.

Disclosure Policy: According to the FTC guidelines, I want you to be aware that this blog is a source of income and may occasionally incorporate endorsements or testimonials and shopping links. It is important to me to disclose this to you. The content of this blog is a source of income and therefore may be used to promote products, services, or other businesses. I will only choose to promote products/services/businesses that I feel will be beneficial to my readers. Products provided to me by my advertising partners for my review are given to me free of charge with no cost to myself. This does not ensure a positive review of the product in any way. While I hope to generate a small profit for my time and effort to create this blog, I hold myself to the highest standard of integrity. I appreciate my readers, and always make it my goal to deliver quality, honest material on this blog through each post. Thanks for reading along, Liz

Disclosure Policy According to Federal Trade Commission guidelines, I want you to be aware that this blog is a source of income and may occasionally incorporate endorsements or testimonials. It is important to me to disclose this to you. The content of this blog is a source of income and therefore may be used to promote products, services, or other businesses. I will only choose to promote products/services/businesses that I feel will be beneficial to my readers. Products provided to me by my advertising partners for my review are given to me free of charge with no cost to myself. This does not ensure a positive review of the product in any way. My truthful opinion will be what I state, no matter if I'm getting paid or not. Accuracy and truth are the priority for me on this blog's information, no matter if it's about a product or anything else. Not every product or service or store etc. may be mentioned in each and every post as an affiliate. While I hope to generate a small profit for my time and effort to create this blog, I hold myself to the highest standard of integrity. I appreciate my readers, and always make it my goal to deliver quality, honest material on this blog through each post.

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