Before and After Reveal: Laundry Cabinet

As we were in desperate need of extra storage in the bathroom, we bought an over the washing machine cabinet. Even though I appreciated the convenience of saving space, I didn’t like the look. I mean, I don’t blame the cabinet though, it only cost 35 euro. And it sure did look its price tag! I then decided to give this rather plain cabinet a much-needed facelift makeover.

This was my first ever DIY and I was determined to get it right. I started by doing a ton of research.

Step 1: Off to Pinterest to get inspiration

I knew I wanted to change the way it looked but for that I needed help. Pinterest is my go-to place for inspiration (by the way are you already following me there?) I found beautiful different cabinets that other people had upgraded. I then chose the one that made the most sense with my cabinet.

Step 2: Gathering materials

The materials I needed for this cabinet DIY makeover are as follows:

Wooden dowels

Glue

Sanding Paper (240 granularity)

Measuring tape

Caulking piper

Caulk

Saw

Sawing template

Shellac Primer

Paint

Dense Foam Roller

Door handles

Wallpaper

Step 3: Sticking the wooden dowels

After deciding the design I wanted, I bought the wooden dowels which I wanted to stick on the furniture. I had no special cutting equipment for this and I simply used a saw and a template. It was important for me to measure correctly beforehand to prevent mistakes. After measuring I then cut all materials to avoid having to remeasure. Then I went ahead and lighting sanded the edges I had cut so that there were no splints on the end.

I then went on to insert the glue tube into the syringe. I applied a generous amount of glue on the backside of the wooden dowel and then stuck it to the door. I repeated this process until I was done with all of the dowels I wanted to stick. After sticking, I found that there was some excess glue left on the edges and I cleaned it with a wet wipe immediately before waiting for it to dry.

Step 4: Caulking

I found that after glueing the wooden dowels down, there were gaps left along the edges and also at the corners where 2 pieces were joining. The solution to that is caulk! I used a silicone-based caulk, and it worked just right. I had to run over the application with my forefinger to really push it inside and smooth out the edge. I have to admit, it felt really good. Of course, there are proper tools for that but I didn’t mind using my finger. Again a wet wipe close by will be useful to clean your finger as well as any smudges that might occur.

Step 5: Primer

So according to my research, in order to apply paint to a previously painted surface, you have to sand the surface to remove the old paint, Sanding also helps with preparing the surface and making it a bit rough so that the new paint can stick to the surface and stay. However, I was certain I had no energy to manually sand the entire cabinet. Besides I knew that the cabinet being cheap was not made of solid wood but laminate which would likely spoil with sanding. A shellac-based primer was recommended to help make the paint stick to the surface.

Unfortunately, after I applied the primer, I noticed that I could see the brush strokes on the cabinets. I didn’t want these strokes to show so I had to sand down the primer and reapply a second coat of primer using a dense foam roller.

Step 6: Painting

I waited until the primer was completely dry. Then using a dense foam roller, I slightly dipped into the paint and went over the cabinets. The key here was to do more repetitions using less paint. The paint was on the thicker side and had it been water-based, I would have added water.

Step 7: Hardware

Finally, I added the hardware to the drawers, I went for some subtle under the door handles. I didn’t have a drill to secure the handles onto the door. Instead, I used the same glue that I used to glue down the wooden dowels.

Step 8: Wallpapering the backsplash

I wanted the cabinet to really look sweet so I added wallpaper to the backsplash. The cost of the makeover was getting high so I didn’t want to spend extra money buying wallpaper glue. Again I used the same glue that I bought for the wood and spread it around the edges, it worked great.

Here’s the final look, what do you think? Should I add DIYer to my CV?

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