Shabby Bath Vanity Ideas

Vintage Floral Fabric

• Sweeten up your shabby bath vanity with a spot of vintage floral fabric -- slightly faded if possible. Faded vintage floral fabric can be used to reupholster the vanity stool, wrap the mirror frame or cover the fronts of the drawers. Alternately, procure half a dozen vintage tea towels in mismatched floral prints, and stack them near your perfume atomizer for a shabby yet glamorous vignette.

Base Color

• Paint the vanity you wish to make over in shabby style a solid, light color, such as white, lilac purple, robin's-egg blue, butter yellow, creamy eggshell off-white, rosebud pink, silvery sage green or even latte brown. Or go with an eye-snatching color like limoncello yellow, key lime green or citron orange if you have a flair for decorative drama. Light and bright colors are more suited to the shabby look because they are more casual; a stolid mahogany-brown vanity with rubbed paint spots would merely look old and mistreated while a cheery lemon-yellow vanity with rubbed paint seems jaunty. Rub the paint away in spots with sandpaper. For a peekaboo look, apply a second coat of paint in a different color; let it dry, and rub away the top coat in spots to reveal the hidden color.

Metal Accents

• Add metal accents to your shabby bath vanity to contrast with the warm shabbiness of the rest of the piece. Choose metal accents that subtly complement the style in the rest of your bathroom and home. For example, for a nod to nautical style, replace the drawer pulls with gleaming silver drawer pulls engraved with anchors. Paint the mirror frame gold, and apply a crackle finish for a feeling of faded Hollywood glamor -- perfect for a boudoir inspired by "Sunset Boulevard."

Accessories

• Sprinkle your bath vanity with items that continue the shabby look without making the room look like you furnished it with garage sale castoffs. ("Shabby" in decorative terms isn't quite the same as actually shabby.) For example, store your cosmetics in a battered basket or a rust-spotted metal lunchbox from the 1950s. To keep the shabby look from veering too far over the line, balance the shabbiness with sleek, cool, elegant accessories like an antique atomizer or a set of high-end makeup brushes laid out on a stainless-steel tray like surgical instruments.