Trying to achieve a not overly finished looking finish on a bathroom vanity

[FredGMeyer]

I'm building an open bathroom vanity out of some 4/4 maple that I've been needing to use for several years. I guess I'm not entirely sure on the look I'm going for, but it's somewhere between a meticulous, multiple sanded and stained, followed by topcoat with a hand-rubbed super smooth finish on one end of the spectrum and the fake-distressed look attained by molesting wood with grinders, claw hammers, and bicycle chains on the other end. Something that says, Hey - I look like real wood but I don't need to worry about getting splinters if I happen to touch it.

For the legs, I plan to laminate pieces of the 4/4 lumber to form 4x4's...so the process will include some planer and table saw work and will obviously expose the inner grain of the wood which will contrast sharply with the more aged, rough-cut exterior. That's a bit more contrast than I would want if I were to use the rough-cut lumber as is for the aprons. I'm thinking I may just sand the legs, aprons, and stretchers with a coarse grit like 40 and leave it at that and then finish with a honey-type sheen of Watco danish oil. It is a bathroom after all, so I'd like at least a small measure of water protection and also something that would be easy to touch up as needed.

Recognizing that some may find this to be an odd request, any thoughts/suggestions?

[Kory Cassel]

A two tone oil finish/milkpaint looks pretty good for a sort of rough and ready look. You could use the milkpaint to hide the more obvious grain mismatches and oil the rest.

[Jim Becker]

I'll add that using a matte sheen finish can also help reduce the "evidence" of a finish while allowing you to do what you need to protect the piece in the intended environment. I honestly have a growing affection for matte sheen these days!

[FredGMeyer]

Kory and Jim - thanks for your suggestions and I'll do a deeper dive on both. I've been curious about Daly's Ben Matte finish which is supposed to be pretty low luster, so might give them a shot. Will probably look at a few different options on some scrap pieces. On pretty much anything I've ever finished, I've always gone up the chain on sanding, starting pretty coarse and going up the chain...220 is probably the coarsest I've ever stopped at before finishing...usually I go to 600 or so. Any thoughts about what a Danish oil or Ben Matte-type finish would look like if I only sand to 40 grit everywhere just to even out the color and texture between the rough cut outside and the areas that have been planed or table sawed?

[Steve Jenkins]

If you’re only going to sand to 40 or so don’t he an orbital. Belt sander or by hand with the grain to avoid swirl marks