How to Paint Honey Oak Bathroom Cabinets without Sanding them

Today I am sharing how to paint honey oak bathroom cabinets without sanding them. After all, it only took me three and a half years to do it so I figured it deserved a special place on the blog.

A little backstory of our current home, it was built just over seven years ago, and as my husband would say “it’s pretty much brand new”. But as I’m sure you guessed his version of “new” wasn’t what I wanted. Just take a look at these before pictures and I’m sure you’ll see why I wanted to update it in the first place.

before

You can read more about our mini bathroom renovation here, including why I choose the color and the specific things I want to change.

I also want to note that everything is almost how it looked when we moved in. Except I did change out the previous light for this pretty gold one.

How to paint a Honey Oak Vanity without Sanding it

1. You don’t need to start by removing all your things from the vanity, but I would. Especially if there is something you don’t want paint on.
2. Take a damp cloth and wipe everything down. Make sure there is no dust or dirt on anything you plan on painting.
3. Take off the door handles by unscrewing them. You might want to save these to use again or if you’re on a really tight budget try spray painting them!
4. Take off the cabinet doors by gently unscrewing them.
5. Tape around the floors and walls.
6. I also taped on the inside of the cabinets since I was leaving the inside white.
7. Start priming!
8. After you finish with a coat of primer, you can start painting on the topcoat.
9. I originally used about 2 coats. But I noticed a few spots I need to fix and I will most likely do one more coat.
10. That’s it! Wait for it to dry before you put everything back in place.

Why is Primer is Most Important Part of Painting Honey Oak Cabinets

Like I said, to avoid sanding the glossy honey-toned vanity you need to get a good primer. After asking a few other home blogging friends, I found that the best primer was actually Behr’s Kitchen, Bath, and Trim stain-blocking primer and sealer. Not only does it stick to the gloss but it’s covers the oak colour in just one coat. Plus it’s quick drying time is perfect for painting the vanity in just one day.

When I shared a bit of this process on Instagram stories, I got a ton of questions asking about the paint color I used. It’s actually a paint I had already that I planned on using to paint our front door with (but decided it wasn’t the color I wanted instead). It’s called Night Flight by Premier Paint. However I would suggest sticking with a Behr Paint like this one specifically for painting cabinets.

Below is the exact colour I used if you want to get it matched.

It’s also a good idea to tell you that the topcoat is just regular paint. Thankfully I didn’t need special paint for the cabinets because of the primer but if you have the option I would use this paint instead.

What You’ll Need

In order to learn how to paint honey oak bathroom cabinets without sanding it. You’ll need to get a few things first:

• Painters Tape
• A couple of quality paintbrushes,
• Paint tray or what I used was a paint cup
• A gallon of Behr Kitchen, Bath & Trim Primer & Sealer
• Screwdrivers
• Cleaning rags
• I only used 426ml of paint for the bathroom cabinets however I would suggest getting this paint from Behr instead.

Finally, once you’re all done you can check out the 11 ways to update a bathroom from Amazon next. It’s where I’ve shared the finishing touches that I ordered for our bathroom. Also, be sure to keep an eye out for our next blog post where I add wallpaper to a bathroom.

In the meantime, don’t forget to pin this for later!

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