Monday, May 21, 2012

DIY Upcycled Cabinet Door

I'm always looking for random pieces of furniture, home goods that I can remake into something else, or just odds and ends that I think I can do something with. This weekend there were ohh, about 650 community garage sales in just a 5 mile radius of me. Okay, so that may be a slight exaggeration ;) Anyway, this house had these cabinet doors they were selling. There were your typical kitchen cabinet size doors for $2, and some really large ones for $3. I decided I could do something with one of the standard size ones, so I bought one. Now--if you know me AT ALL, you know that I'm very inpatient, so I had to get on this project ASAP. This is what I decided to do with it--this is what it looked like when I bought it:

First, I wiped it off, and spray painted it black. Why did I choose black? Honestly, because it was the only color I had on hand, and I wanted to do it right then. I told you--I'm inpatient. :D

After that, I distressed the paint job. You don't have to do this, but I like the look of it--so I did. 

You don't have to do inside the trim, because you'll cover that up later. 
This is what I used to distress the wood with. There are many ways you can do that, and people use many different things. Sometimes I sand it, other times I use this. I wanted a lot of paint off of it today, so this was the best. 


Here is what you'll need for the next step: fabric, scissors, a measuring tape, mod podge (I make my own: 1 part Elmer's glue to 1 part water), and a brush. 

Measure and cut the fabric to fit inside the trim.

Next, I brushed mod podge all over the inside of the trim, straight on the wood. While it is still wet, lay the fabric evenly. Make sure you smooth out all the bubbles. You don't have to, but I brushed mod podge on top of the fabric as well. 


After that, you'll want to wait until the mod podge is completely dry. I waited overnight. The next day, I took it out to spray a clear coat over all of it. I hot glued 2 clothespins to the fabric to hold pictures. I attached some lace ribbon to the back, and backed it with felt. If you don't like the ribbon look--I saw a cool thing on Pinterest where you can nail a pop tab on the back of it, so that you can hang it by a nail like a regular frame.  Wah-lah--here is the end result. 

I really love it, and I haven't really seen anything like it. This project was super cheap too. I had all of the supplies on hand except for the fabric (I was dying for this chevron fabric.) But if you had nothing, and you had to buy it all, it would cost roughly...$10. And it took me no time at all! 
I ended up going back to the same garage sale the next day and bought 1 more this size, and one of the huge doors. I have something already planned for those as well--but that will be for later ;)