Found a Vintage Vanity and Now I Get Ready Like a Movie Star
Lately I have been really successful in all of my thrift store searching. Sometimes you come away with nothing and sometimes you come away with a vintage vanity for $50!!! I couldn’t believe my luck when I found this forgotten beauty-I knew I had to have it and with a price that low it was probably destiny.
The vanity is not in perfect mint condition, there are a few scratches here and there, a broken mirror clip and missing glass shelves-but all things I can replace and fix. The first thing I went about researching was the glass shelving-apparently there use to be mirrored shelves that were broken and disposed of. So I called around and found that glass is very expensive-plexiglass and acrylic, however, is much cheaper and more durable. After more research I found a rose gold mirrored acrylic sheet from a company called Canal Plastic, they even cut the acrylic sheets to custom sizes.
Next I wanted some rose gold knobs to match my new shelves and found the perfect pair in these pink glass with gold trim beauties from Amazon. They match perfectly and give the vanity an even more feminine appeal.
I also knew I wanted to add some vintage lighting and while traditional art deco lights can be super pricey I found a great alternative in these table lamps with exposed globe bulbs. (Also from Amazon) They came in black and gold and the black just didn’t go, so I painted the whole in a gold metallic spray paint-it took one afternoon and looked exactly how I hoped. With the exposed bulbs I think it feels like the old traditional make-up lights.
Lastly after a final polish of the wood, I just needed the perfect vanity chair to finish it off. What I found was this charming stool in rose pink with a gold trim. The colors were perfect and I liked how the seat was round to mimic the large round mirror on the vanity.
All said and done the touch ups and additions I added ended up costing more than the original vanity price of $50, but had I bought it anywhere else or even brand new it would have cost several hundred, so I’m still considering it a bargain.
Once all my updates to the vanity were complete I needed the perfect place for my vanity to live. In my new home there is the most adorable nook with an arched ceiling and it is the exact width of the vanity! I knew it was fate. I added some art deco wall paper from spoonflower to really bring it all together.
I absolutely love how it turned out! I have wanted a vanity for as long as I can remember, my mother has one, my sister has one, it’s just something the women in my family have. It just seems so elegant and refined. There is nothing I love more than sitting at my vintage vanity putting on makeup and feeling like a Hollywood starlet!