A Change in the Boy’s Bathroom… (and Kentucky Bottle Cap Art)
Happy Tuesday, friends!
Last week, I showed you the DIY Sawhorse Desk that we made for Jonathan and Luke’s room.
I have had so many readers ask me where I bought or how I made the Kentucky Bottle Cap Art that was hanging on the pegboard.
That was a project that I did last year, and you can read how I did it HERE.
(It’s super easy.) 
I also wanted to tell you about a little change we have decided to make in the boys’ bathroom.
We had originally planned on making concrete vanity tops, but decided to go with butcher block instead.
I drove to IKEA the week before last to buy some butcher block countertop like we did for our kitchen makeover, but they don’t have it anymore! UGH!
So we found out that our local Lumber Liquidators in Lexington now carry butcher block countertops! Yay! So we bought an 8 foot piece of maple for the boys’ bathroom.
Cy cut a hole out for the sink and hooked up the plumbing, and now the wood is ready to be stained.
But I kind of like the natural look.
What do you think?
I was going to stain it “Provincial” which isn’t a very dark stain.
It would be similar to our guest bathroom, but not quite as dark. The bathroom vanity is made of oak butcher block.
I’m trying to decide whether to stain or leave it natural.
I would LOVE to hear your opinion!
Thanks!
Have a wonderful day!!!
I like it without any stain.
In this case, I love the natural color rather than the stain!
If it were me and I have raised two boys, I would stain it and poly if … I love’em but boys are just not as caring as we girls are. I love the look however as I do all the things you do. I am going to use buttons and make me a NC wall art…
In the past I would of said stain it, but I real love the natural look of the maple. I vote to seal it against the water. No stain.
leave it natural.. looks great with the red vanity.
Natural looks grrrreat….. But I would DEFINITELY poly…!
LOVE the natural wood color. I vote to seal it – no stain.
I love the natural look—-seal it
and enjoy=:)
I like the stained. :)
Can you just use a clear stain to prevent water damage? I Like the natural
I like the lighter color of the natural too.
I love the natural look of the wood with the red…I would leave it!
Deb
@Seeking Lavender Lane
Seal it with NO stain. Maple will naturally darken over time and develop a beautiful colour. although I think I prefer the maple, I’m curious why you didn’t go with the concrete. (I guess your next task is to finish this br? :) )
Stenciled with by KY or big circles or geometrics or music notes or something big and funky, but the stencil would be a colored stain, like a faint green/brown or faint red/brown. Then leave the rest natural and poly the heck out of it so it doesn’t get water mark/stains around the sink.
I saw a cool stencil stain on wood on pinterest. It is a view from the top of the stairs looking down into a room. That is the general idea I’m thinking of…
A clear stain rather than tinted to compliment the red base. You are very talented.
I really like the natural look. Can you leave it like that without any stain had have it handle water okay? I am still learning about this stuff :-).
I like the stained top in your guest bath…so I vote STAIN IT! Actually, I’m sure whatever you choose will be wonderful, as always!
I love the stain in your guest bath, but the natural looks perfect for the boys bathroom! Huh. It’s great you got to preview the counter/sink in it’s natural state before making a decision.
Natural definitely! But use tons of sealer…I have seen discussions about butcher block in kitchens and some people use marine sealer like Waterlox. I don’t have to tell you what a mess boys make in a bathroom :).
I like it natural!
Wow, I LOVE that guest bathroom vanity. Even though I’m partial to the dark stain, I’d have to say that the natural wood goes better with the red in the boys’ sink.
I love the look of natural wood, but having raised three boys myself, i can vouch that they are messy and not concerned about the wood. If you can put a lot of polyurethane on it to protect it, I would go with that look. It something happens to it later, you could always go with the darker look.
I love it natural! I haven’t worked with butcher block but can’t you oil it or put a finish on it to protect it but leave it the natural color? I would do that! I usually love darker wood but the colors in that room are really working with the natural wood.
Can’t wait to see the finished bathroom, Traci!
I say leave it natural! It looks great!
I love the look of a grey stain with the red base. Grey stain would be a lot better looking with the red than the natural or brown in my opinion and you can still see some of the wood tones through it. Im sure whatever you decide will be great though!
I think you should stain it. There is no contrast with the wall.
I like the stain in your guest bath, but with the red of these vanities I think I prefer the natural finish. You might want to try just the poly on a scrap piece of the maple, though, just to make sure the poly alone doesn’t change the look of the wood too much. We left our white oak floors unstained for years, but the finish the builder put on them didn’t work well and they darkened to a golden oak color, which was definitely not what I was after. Good luck! Love you!
Natural (sealed, of course) is the way to go, IMO. They’ll keep the room lighter. And the red bases are so stunning, I wouldn’t want to detract from them. Cy did an awesome job (as usual) installing. Yay…it’s coming along nicely!!
Don’t you just hate these kind of decisions? I’m always afraid I’ll like the first look best but then can’t go back. Do you have a scrap you could stain to put next to the red to see how it would look? I do love the natural color and when you seal it it will just get even prettier.
If the vanity was white, I’d say stained; but since it’s red, leave it natural and use lots of poly. I think the natural color will also hide some of the damage the boys will inflict. I have dark floors and I regret it. A lighter color would have been so much easier to keep looking good.
Can I ask a dumb question? Why didn’t you put the poly on before you installed the sink basin? This would make the seal better around the sink I would think, so the water wouldn’t creep and mess up your poly. Just a thought.
God Bless
Au natural.
I thought you were supposed to seal the underside of butcher block counters as well as the top side. I like the natural color but unprotected wood will get damaged. I agree that sealing would have been easier before the installation.
I love the stain color provincial (we just used it for a pine ceiling, have used it on reclaimed floors, furniture… it’s a great shade!) however, I think that the natural gives a great “modern farmhouse” feel. We have 2 little boys, and butcher block in our bathroom (inspired by your powder room vanity actually) and it has suffered some water damage. It has an undermount sink, and while I did seal it with poly, I wish I hadn’t. the poly sort of peels off… my boys aren’t careful with where they splash. So, perhaps a marine grade sealer, OR, in the case of our previous kitchen, simply an oil seal would be a better idea. Sorry for the long winded comment! happy planning and doing :-)