New Doors For An Old Cabinet

Before we made the decision to sell our house, I was working on a project with my Dad for our guest bathroom. Then, when we decided to sell, I quickly finished up the project and it looks so nice I wish I would have done it ages ago!

In our guest bathroom, we had an ugly vanity. I mean, nasty. See, the previous owners had taken the old cabinet doors and filled the groves sloppily in with putty and then painted them with glossy paint. It has always bugged me. I always just thought we would need to replace the whole cabinet but then I got to thinking that maybe just the doors would need to be replaced. That’s where my Dad comes in. He was a cabinet maker for 30+ years so he knows what he’s doing and I knew I needed his help :)

Want to see the before? Ya, I bet you do:

Can’t tell so much from a distance but up close is where the fun starts. And the missing knob? Not so great :)

Can you see those lines? They were all groves filled in. Not a very good idea. Plus there are paint drips like you wouldn’t believe!

And even closer… Gross! Plus the glossy paint made everything show up even more. Time to do away with these little guys and on to something better.

First, my Dad measured it for me and we made a plan and figured out what sizes we needed.

Next, I ran the boards that we were going to use through the planer. It helps cut down on sanding later and I am all about that! I hate sanding. Always have. Anyone with me on this?!

After my Dad cut the pieces to the desired lengths, he ran them through the table saw with two blades to make a groove.

See the groove? This is what will hold the middle panel in place.

Next, he ran the sides through to create grooves so the side pieces would fit together. I’m not able to get real technical here since I had no idea what we were doing, I was just following the master, documenting it all :)

Once everything was cut, we started assembling using some wood glue.

And then we clamped them and let the glue dry. After they were dry, I sanded them all and painted them. Then I had to call my Dad back over to hang them for me. My Dad is the best :)

Instead of going with the original white, I decided to go black and I love it! I was never super crazy about the white with the counter top so a color change was in order. And now it looks super sharp.

A head on view, with me in the mirror after we had just finished and I’m still in my grubby clothes.

Much better! Now when I walk in the room I smile instead of grimace! And you know the best part? I only had to pay for hinges which my Dad found at Habitat For Humanity and the new wooden knobs because for everything else we used scraps my Dad had lying around. The whole project cost less than $20! Pretty good upgrade for cheap! My favorite kind :)

And this isn’t the only bathroom that got a facelift. Wait until you see the master bath!