Twin dressing vanities for two daughters (and a third for a friend)

With only two bathrooms in the house, one our Master bath and the other for the rest of the house, having two teenage girls getting ready for school in the morning could be an adventure in patience. One sink, one vanity mirror, one shower, you get the idea. I remember seeing these types of dressing vanities in antique shops, but the price always put me off from buying them. Five to six hundred dollars for anything decent was more than I was willing to pay, so I decided to make them. I went to an antique store and found one that was just exactly what I was looking for and took some measurements and pictures. I took them home and using a cheap CAD program I found, I made my working plans. Cabinet Cruncher software was helpful in planning the boxes, and the rest I used my pictures and dimensions and made it as I went. Seeing as these were for teenagers, style was not high on my list of importance. Functionality and durability were. I was lucky in that both girls wanted theirs painted and not natural wood, so that made wood selection a breeze. I used poplar for the legs, drawer fronts, and tops, and 3/4 birch ply for the cases, and 1/2 birch ply for the drawer boxes. Biscuits and pocket screws were used to assemble the cases and drawer boxes. The legs are laminated from 3 pieces of poplar, then cut and planed to a final 2 inch width. The most expensive items were the mirrors. I used 1/8 inch mirrors, backed up with 1/4 plywood set in a 3/8 rabbet in the frames. The girls were also complaining about not having enough light in their bedrooms, so I added a three light lightbar across the top, with a switched outlet in the mirror base for hairdryers, etc. Final finish was 3 coats of Zinser Sealcoat, followed by 4 coats of Mohawk vynalized sealer, followed by 3 coats of Mohawk precatalyzed white gloss lacquer. I love Mohawk finishing products. They are about as user friendly and idiot proof as it can get and it’s very easy to lay on a professional finish. The girls love them, and my wife love the quiet bathroom (which abuts our bedroom) in the morning. The only drawback is that several of our youngest’s friends like them so much they want one of their own, so now I have one more definite to build, along with a possibility of 3 more. Oh well, maybe I can make enough extra to get the drum sander I’ve been looking at.

The main differences between Leah’s and Nicole’s are minor changes in the edges, and also Nicole opted out of having the jewelry box center section.