We’ve started our guest bathroom overhaul. We’re following this bathroom inspiration plan. As mentioned in that post, I want to paint our builder-grade vanity Footpath by Olympic.

bathroom inspiration mood board benjamin moore moonshine etsy wheatfield anthropologie penny tile

I was going to leave the vanity in place and paint it, but I was inspired by Centsational Girl, who opted to add legs to her bathroom vanity! So chic. (After much request to include this picture…!) Here’s the after – and a link to the post about it.

But to get there, we had to rip out the vanity completely.

Step One: Turn Off The Plumbing And Detach The Pipes

bathroom plumbing

Step Two: Cut Away Caulk And Pry Sink Out Of Place

remove bathroom sink how to vanity

Step Three: Unbolt Vanity From Wall And Prepare To Remove, Then Realize The Builder Basically Permanently Installed It. Uuuuuugh.

The builders cut holes that perfectly fit the pipes, then installed the (wider) inlet valves. Um. Yeah. That meant we couldn’t just slip the vanity out of its place.

remove bathroom sink how to vanity

We considered turning off the plumbing and removing all the pipes, but that seemed like a recipe to invite leaks. SO. Next best thing?

SAW IT OUT! Haha. Yep, there’s a piece of MDF left behind. We’ll get it off later. But, believe it or not, this made the most sense: since we’re going to add furniture feet, the old holes wouldn’t have lined up.

remove bathroom sink how to vanity

Here’s the undercarriage of the ol’ girl. In order for the new legs to be visible, I had to remove the box of wood at the base.

The front piece popped off. Using a level, I drew a straight line down the sides and cut the other three sides off.

how to install legs on bathroom vanity

In Centsational Girl’s post, she makes a frame that screws into the base of her vanity. Since our vanity is sad MDF, there wasn’t really a place to screw a frame in. We opted to glue a “frame” of scrap pieces of wood. I think they’re all 1″ x 3″ pieces, so they’re almost flush with the lip on the bottom of the vanity.

Boom. Frame. With this, we can screw in legs and 1) they’ll stay in and 2) they won’t come through the bottom of the vanity. Not to mention the added height, so an extra inch of the legs will show.

I bought three furniture leg options at Lowe’s. I didn’t go to Home Depot, but I’d be curious to see what they have. Eventually, we decided on the center tulip leg. Four legs were $28.

lowe's furniture legs bathroom vanity

Fast forward a few hours, into the yellow light of nighttime. I drilled some pilot holes for the furniture feet. I can’t remember the bit size, but it was one size smaller than the legs’ screws. And I measured to make sure placement was consistent and the wide base of the legs didn’t hang past the vanity.

how to add legs to bathroom vanity frame

I screwed in the feet and set the vanity upright in the kitchen. I figured gravity would help seal the glue more. Side note: Liquid Nails would probably be a good option too, we just didn’t have it on hand.

After a quick sand (60 grit followed by 220 grit) and some deglosser to clean it up, I primed it.

how to add legs to bathroom vanity prime

Back when we painted our kitchen cabinets, I used a water-based primer. Why? We were using Benjamin Moore Advance paint, a REALLY good paint that dries hard as nails. This time around, I’m using a regular latex paint (because Advance is $$$), so I used an oil-based primer to really cover the gloss and MDF of the vanity. Not my favorite, but I know it’ll make a difference in the long run.

We’ll be painting it and adding hardware this weekend. Already an improvement without paint!

Big shout out to Centsational Girl’s bathroom makeover for helping inspire this. I would have never thought of adding furniture legs to a bathroom vanity. Have you ever been inspired to try something new or different thanks to a blog?

6 Responses to Tear Down, Rebuild: Adding Legs To The Bathroom Vanity

  1. Justin says:

    You should add the after picture to this post

  2. andea says:

    disappointed. no before/after picture.

  3. Barb says:

    Thank you for posting this. I’m going to give it a try!

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