DIY Luxury Furniture For Cheap

Our new moody bathroom needed a vanity and if you’re asking why I decided to build a bathroom vanity instead of buying one? Well, I have two reasons for you. One, because I actually purchased the lumber for this last year for a different project and never used it. So, girl math basically means this lumber is free in 2026. And two, I just love making things more difficult for myself. I’m sure you can relate.

In actuality, I wanted a pretty big vanity and I couldn’t quite find exactly what I was looking for online that didn’t cost $5,000. So here’s the game plan fam. Keep reading to see how I built a 60-inch-wide vanity to fit into what is the moodiest, most emo kid, it-was-never-a-phase, bathroom that the internet has ever seen. Let’s get started friends!

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Want to see this build in action? You can watch my build video here (+ make sure to subscribe to my channel)!

Want the printable plans for this project? Check them out here!

Tools + Materials

TOOLS

MATERIALS + DECOR

Cut Down the Lumber

I started with some fancy measurements and chicken scratch, as per usual, in my fancy and official notebook.

Like I said, this beautiful lumber was purchased a year ago and therefore was free for this project!

The actual build started by cutting down some wood and realizing that I had exactly enough lumber to not make any mistakes. No pressure.

I can get a pretty straight cut on my table saw because of the way I’ve aligned it. But it’s not perfect, and I don’t have a jointer.

So, with that in mind I decided to glue up the panels anyway and see how they looked. I figured if I didn’t like the way the seams matched up after being glued, I could take my track saw and cut down the seam and then join them back together because then I’d know that the cut was perfect.

I just made sure that if I had to do that the sink would still fit, and it looked like there was some wiggle room. So with that in mind I kept moving ahead.

So, this is a helpful tool that I’ve started using a lot. It’s called a featherboard. Basically, it helps hold your piece of wood tight against the fence while you’re cutting and you’re more likely to get a really straight cut. So, once my boards were all the same size, I was able to use the featherboard for the final cut.

In true Sam fashion I saved the offcuts to use for an art piece someday. Yes, that’s how scrap wood hoarding problems start, oh well!

Glue-Up

As a general rule, there are never enough clamps.

I’m also going to argue that you can never have too much DAP Weldwood wood glue. This stuff is like the Frank’s RedHot sauce of woodworking for me. Like, I put this stuff on everything.

Also, just to get some context to what’s going on in this shot, I know earlier I was talking about gluing things up and seams that might not match and blah, blah, blah.

Well, I actually decided that instead of making a panel with three boards next to each other that are glued up, I was going to glue two boards together to make one thick board first.

So Jordan and I got to work making chunky wood and glue sandwiches.

These will be the legs for the vanity and I wanted them to look thick and substantial.

Glue-Up More

After letting them dry (for a few days during a blizzard I might add…) we removed all of the clamps and got the boards cleaned up.

Then we got ready for yet another glue-up. Which is why I stand by my earlier statement. You can never have enough wood glue.

I know what some people are going to ask. Sam, how come you’re not adding any dominoes or dowels or anything in between these boards?

Well, the reality is that the wood glue is strong enough to do what I need it to do, and these panels are not necessarily structural. They are just acting as legs, with a lot of weight pressing down on them.

That is the beauty of DIY. You can do these projects however you want. If you feel like it’s not enough for your vanity build or cabinet, or whatever you choose to build, you can totally add some joinery.

Spoiler alert, it’s been in my bathroom for a few months now, subjected to a lot of moisture and it’s holding up perfectly.

Quick question for you guys. So, as you know, my goal is to make DIY projects approachable. And that is why I kind of like this project because, yes, I have a lot of clamps and things, but I’m making it using tools that you can purchase at the home improvement store.

But a lot of people in the comments say that a project like this is not considered DIY because of the tools I’m using. But to me, DIY means do it yourself. So, would you consider this a DIY project or something different? Let me know in the comments.

Cut + Sand

We let the glue-ups dry for a full day, and then removed all of the clamps to make more room to actually work in the shop. Next it was time for me to start cutting all of the pieces down to size while Jordan started sanding.

We went back to basics with this one. I decided not to use my fancy track saw to cut all of the pieces so I can show you how to use a circular saw and a straight edge and get the job done just as well.

It was a lot of work but Jordan and I powered through and I was really happy with the results of our glue ups, even with out using fancy tools and fancy joinery.

Then so much more sanding. Be sure to have snacks and a buddy for this step, it will seriously help.

Fill Gaps

This can happen even if you do use joinery, but there were a few spots in our glue ups that had gaps. Probably no one would notice this, but I’m a bit of a perfectionist so I had to fix them.

So basically you just apply some wood glue and then sand it. The wood dust combined with the glue makes the perfect filler and hides the gaps like they were never there.

Assemble The Vanity

Because the pieces were so heavy, assembling the vanity in the space made the most sense. So we brought all of the pieces up to my bedroom shop. See you don’t need a garage full of tools, you can keep them in your bedroom!

Aero was happy to help with the pocket holes!

Yes, I used a fancy pocket hole machine, but you can use any pocket hole machine for this, doesn’t have to be the fancy one. Or you can use dominoes or whatever makes your heart happy.

Side note, I always use spacers to make sure I’m placing everything evenly.

I decided to eyeball this cut to 7 ½ inches like the shelves in my downstairs bathroom. You guys, it was a perfect 7 ½ inch cut, I was so impressed with myself.

Apply Finish

I got these rubber feet for the bottom of the vanity. I was going to get the adjustable ones, but the reality is that the bathroom floor had just been leveled, and self-leveling feet really weren’t necessary.

The plan was to apply the feet and then two coats of finish on the vanity before flipping it over, because once it was flipped I didn’t want to have to flip it back.

If you’re wondering why we attached the bumpers before sealing the bottom this is why; the adhesive on these bumpers sticks better to a porous, non-sealed surface. And halcyon sealer takes a couple of days to fully cure. I wanted to avoid any wood bowing or cracking which can happen when you only seal one side of the wood. So, feet on and one day for sealing was the way to go.

Once it was upright I was able to finish assembling it.

Jordan installed corner brackets while I got ready to seal the top.

Then I rolled 4 coats of halcyon onto the top. This thing is definitely waterproof now.

Install Sinks

Once we were done with the finish we drilled holes through the top for the sinks.

Then the plumbers finished the plumbing from the piping to the sinks.

Phone A Friend

So this is the point where I broke my hand and had to have emergency surgery, and the project significantly slowed down. But my bestie Danie came to help and lend her two hands while I only had use of my non-dominant one.

At this point I purchased some drawers from Ikea because we didn’t have enough time to make our own drawers.

We installed them on some custom drawer slides that we made.

And as we so perfectly planned, they worked and cleared the pipes!

Next it was drawer pulls and drawer fronts.

Of course we used a spacer to make sure the drawer pull had enough space and the vanity would be identical on both sides.

And after some left-handed nails we had ourselves a completed vanity!

The Reveal

You guys, I couldn’t have done this without Danie. With her help we were able to finish this vanity and the entire bathroom. If you haven’t already seen it make sure you check out the full bathroom project either on YouTube or the Blog! It turned out so cool. But especially this vanity. It looks so good.

I still can’t believe that I made this.

I know I’ve made some cool things in my workshop before, but this particular DIY project just feels so elevated and professional.

And I feel like it just looks really cool, like something I would want to buy at the store. And that is the goal, right?

It really does make this bathroom feel like a spa. I am really beyond proud of how this thing turned out and I do have moments where I cannot believe I made this in my garage, but I did!

And here’s the thing, you can do the same. My whole goal with all of the projects I share with you guys is that I want them to be approachable. I want to empower people to build things, and if I can do it, anyone can. There will be more projects coming soon so make sure to subscribe to the channel and stay tuned for more projects here! Until then, Happy DIYing friends!