Main Bath Makeover

The saga of the Rast Hack continues. Given I nearly fumed us out of the house I moved my work to the garage where it’s about 32 degrees. Or less. Which means the stain is taking forever to dry. I poly’d the frame and finished painting the drawer fronts but I am still staining the rest of the drawer pieces. While closing the stain yesterday, I managed to splatter stain all over the just finished white drawer fronts. Oy. S after scrubbing, sanding and another coat of paint I should be able to poly the fronts today. I doubt the rest of the drawers are finished drying so poly may have to wait another day or so. Can I say this has turned into the longest. Project. Ever?

With that said, we (we = mostly my husband) managed completed Phase 2 of our man bath makeover (you didn’t hear about Phase 1? i probably was too covered in paint to discuss it). Phase 2 involved ripping out the old tile & putting in travertine, of which I purchased WAY too much (thank you, Lowes, for your return policy). Here are some before and afters.

Before:
– pinkish tile
– old faucet, light fixture, hardware
– brown vanity

After:
– travertine tile (which seems to have the same pink hue but hoping I just need an eye exam because if we went through all this effort and ended up with the same tile I’d be a little annoyed)
– new hardware, faucet, light & mirror
– white vanity

We obviously kept the almond tub and toilet. A white tub, tile and toilet will run us about $1K and I’d prefer to put that into our kitchen.

Hooray for another completed project!

Ikea Rast Hack: questions and chaos

I am in the middle of an Ikea Rast hack and given this is the first time I have ever stained anything it has turned out to be more of a bear than I expected. First, I wasn’t familiar with the difference in quality, smell, dry time, etc. between Minwax and Rustoleum stains. I started with Minwax. In my basement. And subsequently stunk up the whole house. I had fans running so I thought I would be okay, but no, clearly I was wrong.

I’m now in the middle of my second coat of Rustoleum (a kind man at Lowes said it has less odor than Minwax). It appears to be drying much faster than the Minwax but I am also doing the sides and rear of the drawer (why? I didn’t want to see the unfinished wood when I used them) but now I’m concerned the stain will rub off on the items inside — is that possible with a poly topcoat? I’m such a novice this is ridiculous. And it’s taking forever given I’m now doing it in the garage and its freezing! Maybe it will be done by summer. It doesn’t help I already want to move onto the next project – a painted credenza/buffet/server I found for $40 at a local resale shop.

Hang with me people. Pictures of the chaos to follow.

Have you stained a Rast? If so, what brand did you use, how many coats did it take and did you stain the drawers as well?