Thanks everyone! So here's what I did. Very little prep involved. I removed all the doors, drawers, and hardware. Washed everything down with some soap & water with a sponge and dried well with a towel. Then I did VERY little sanding. I mean, less than 60 seconds per door/drawer. Just roughen it up a little. The sides of my cabinets are fake wood veneer, so I sanded those even lighter. Then I rubbed everything down with a tack cloth. Finally I rubbed everything down with mineral spirits. I used 2 coats of Java gel stain and 2 coats of poly (both by General Finishes). I brushed the stain on with a sponge brush and did NOT wipe off. I just made sure there weren't any globs anywhere. I set up a ladder in my garage and hung the cabinet doors so I could do both sides. (I'm pretty impatient!) The first coat of stain took the longest to dry. I applied it sunday afternoon and waited until Tuesday after work to apply the second coat. After that I only needed 24 hours between coats. I applied the 2 coats of poly with an old t-shirt just wiping it on. And that's it folks. Let me know if you have any questions. Here are some threads I used to get the instructions. There are also more pics from different people. http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg0109393919706.html http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg0112173522421.html

That's SO nice of you to say, Shelayne! Does feel like an entirely new room to me. Thanks so much for your enthusiastic reply! Lyban, thanks. I'm so glad you feel the vanities work. I got a great sale price on them &...they came from HD! I'm happy with the quality. They're quite sturdy & solid, not flimsy or cheap feeling. I love the soft-close drawers & doors, & yes, the hardware is what I'd have chosen myself! If you like the shower, will send my tile guy over to you! He'll make you one just like it! He's VERY reasonable price-wise & a delight to work with. Thank you EG3d! Upa Lazy River, wowza, thanks! Good to know, Olychick. Please post pics if you do add a door!

Valinsv, yeah, I agree no border. Thanks for the compliments. I'm glad you like the marbles. That was a very cheap and easy fix. I have always been more of a gold than silver girl, so I don't mind the brass, and I like the combo. I keep kerosene lamps around the house because they're great for when the electricity goes out. No, I missed that post by My3dogs, but I love her decor so I'll go look for it, thanks. Brilliant suggestion about the rug -- that's just what I should do. May be tricky dealing with red tones, not sure, as my paint looks terracotta, then looks pink, then looks brown at different times. Verti, thanks for your kind words! If you ever do the marbles thing, there are a couple of things to keep in mind. Yayagal, thanks, I do have one set of fat fluffy white towels I got for when the bath was blue. I can try those out. Arcy, they varied. Hahahaha, well, yes I have repainted my bedroom FIVE times in five years, and I'm still not happy with it. My living room I only repainted three times, I think. I'm a paint nut, and keep striving to make things better. It took me about 30 years of changing things in my last houst to get it to where I loved every room. lol JJam, thanks for your very sweet words! I'm thinking you're right, I need a different rug. The rug I have is 2x3 -- how big should I go? I do want to keep it back from the toilet, as you know men splash. I did toss some silk ivy up onto the cabinet top and I like it there unless I come up with something better. Mitchdesj, thanks, I'm glad too. I kinda thought "no" but thought I'd run it by you all. I like the simplicity of the room now, it's quite crisp. Gsciencechick, what a coincidence. Yeah, I'll leave the border off as I'm liking the clean look without it. The good thing about borders though, is they hide the place where two colors (wall and ceiling) meet. It's hard to get that line just perfect. I've been touching it up with a 1" craft paintbrush. Boopadaboo, thanks! I have no vision at all, haha. But I do love that wallpaper and it looked so good with her. Turns out it's the colors of the paper that really do it for me, so I picked the background color. This color is strange as I can see it as pink, or terra cotta, or even brown at times. It's quite bold and the white makes it pop. Glad you gave another vote for white towels as I just bought some and was thinking I'd have to take them back. I'll try them. White towels also can be bleached for sanitizing, which is good. Good idea about the versatility of them. Hadn't thought of that. Still looking around the house for more artwork. Angel, thanks. I agree, I need to find a better rug. You can use any color of craft marbles you like. I was afraid at first that the glue might show through these clear marbles, but I used a glue that dries clear and there was no problem. Two tips: 1) The marbles are not all the same or perfectly round, so line up the INSIDE edge of them with a ruler. The outside is ok to be a little "raggedy" as long as the inside line is straight. 2) Try to keep the hot glue gun "spider webs" off the mirror as you work. Don't smear them while they're wet. Worst case scenario, you can scrape them off with a flat bladed scraper. 3) If you want to remove a marble, you can pop it off by sticking a regular table knife under the edge and wiggling the knife. You could remove the whole job that way then scrape off the glue with a bladed scraper. It's a very simple project. Every few months one or two of the marbles falls off -- especially the ones I glued on right over the mirror clips. I just pop them back on with my hot glue gun. No biggie. Yes, Michaels has the marbles in all sorts of colors. Seriously, the entire project cost me about $4 worth of marbles. I just counted for you and there are 40 marbles on each side of my mirror, and 68 across each the top and the bottom. The coolest thing is when people see it in person, they say "Oooo!" NEW QUESTION Okay, anyone got any tips about how to get a rug for it? The current rug is 2x3. How big should the new one be? What colors in the rug? I'm thinking red is a must \-\- but I'm a bit scared of the wrong red. The paint above looks pink sometimes, and sometimes looks terracotta, and sometimes looks almost brown when in shadow. If I had to describe it, it's a dusty rose that leans slightly toward terracotta. So how much problem does that cause in picking a rug do you think? I was looking at eBay.

Love it! What a good idea to recess the toilet a bit for a clear path through. Is that a window or a niche in the back wall of the shower? I can't quite see what's going on there.