Last Spring I helped to refinish some furniture and kitchen cabinets for a church renovation due to storm damage. Another friend and I spent weeks stripping the old yellowish stains off the doors and shelves of a 12 foot bookcase and some kitchen cabinet doors. Unfortunately when the actual cabinets were removed they found too much water damage to the boxes so they purchased a new set of cabinets – but I had already stained the old doors! Instead of throwing them in a dumpster I decided to keep them for another project some day. This month I made two repurposed painted cabinet door signs from the smaller ones.
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This post is part of the Monthly Crafty DeStash Challenge.
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Back in January when I participated in a Creative Space Reorganization Challenge and finally Organized My Craft Room, these four cabinet doors were part of the old stash I pulled out of the back of my craft room. I didn’t want to throw them away so I decided to try my hand at making them in to updated signs like I have seen on Pinterest. Why not? They were free and no one else needed them for a cabinet.
Repurposed Paint Cabinet Door Signs
The new stain on the doors were a Dark Roast by MinWax. I still think this stain is gorgeous! To make the new signs I decided to use what I already had in paint supplies and used a combination of chalk paint, acrylic paint, clear wax and dark wax to complete the projects. I also used my stash of stencils to create the words.
For this project you will need:
- Chalk Paint in different colors of your choice
- Chalk Paint Brushes
- Clear Wax
- Dark Brown Creme Wax
- Acrylic Craft Paints
- Craft Brushes
- Stencils of your choice
- Sandpaper
I started out with a layer of chalk paint on each door. This would be the color that you want to peak through the top layer. For my two signs I used a light blue and a deep orange as the first layer. Next came of layer of dry brushed on chalk paint in a different color of chalk paint over the original color. I used a light grey over the orange color and ivory over the blue color.
After the first two layers of chalk paint, I positioned the stencil of my choice and painted in the letters with the acrylic paint. I also added any decorative details I thought would add more character to the sign. After that dried I applied a very thin layer of clear wax to seal the whole thing.
I added more dry brushing details if I felt it was needed. The last layer was the dark brown creme wax for a antiqued look. Once that layer had dried, I lightly sanded down areas of the two signs to allow all of the colors to show through.
Here is a list of each step taken in order:
- Clean the door and apply a thick coat of chalk paint in your first choice of color.
- Apply a second coat of chalk paint using a dry brush method to allow the first layer to show through a little.
- Using acrylic paints add the wording from the stencil or free hand paintings.
- Apply a layer of creme wax to the entire piece.
- Optional: Add more dry brushing in the top layer of chalk paint in desired.
- Add a layer of dark brown creme wax for antique details.
- Sand down areas of the sign to allow all of colors to show through.
My daughter actually thought I had purchased these two signs instead of making them. As for the two larger cabinet doors, I plan to use the same painting techniques but make them in to trays with handles instead.
Be sure to visit all of the other creative bloggers who are participating in this month’s Craft Room DeStash Challenge.
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This is a cool way to upcycle cabinet doors. They are the perfect shape for wood signs that are so popular in home decor! #HomeMattersParty
Such a great repurpose, Donna. Looks perfect. #HomeMattersParty
What a great idea to repurpose cabinet doors into awesome signs. Thanks for sharing at the #HomeMattersParty 🙂
~Lorelai
Life With Lorelai
These turned out great! It’s nice you were able to salvage the door panels. I can think of several ways to add them to my home decor.
Thanks Lydia. I’m glad I finally tried out this project because it was such fun.
That turned out so well! Great job
Thanks Deborah.
I love making things from cabinet doors. Your signs came out beautiful with all the layers and distressing. Pinned.
Thanks Erlene. They were fun to make.
I love this! Working in construction I can get my hands on cabinet doors at least twice a month… now if I only can get my husband to overlook a stack of them in the garage…
I understand that problem so well. But he already has the garage filled with car parts so I have to stash my stuff all around the house.
I love how these turned out! Very pretty!
I can see why your daughter thought they were purchased, I’ve seen ones like this in shops here. Your signs turned out fantastic!
Thanks so much!
Love the signs. Cabinet doors make such great canvases.The decorative details are a very nice touch.
Thanks Debra.
Donna, you make this sound so easy, I’m ready to give it a try. I think I have some unused cabinet doors around here too. Using the dry brush technique sounds like an easier process than sanding the top coat to show the other color. I like your stencils and the freehand drawings, but I can barely draw a decent stick person, LOL.
Florence visiting from the Challenge
Thanks for visiting Florence. Good luck with your own project.
Cute project! Did you hand paint the yellow flowers? They are my favorite part of your project. I have a couple of drawer fronts that I have painted in preparation for signs. I just can’t settle on a saying yet.
Thanks Audra. Yes I hand painted them because I felt like the sign just needed something extra. Picking a saying is probably the hardest part and I can’t figure out what to put on the larger doors yet either. Good luck with your project.
Donna, I love that you gave those cabinet doors a chce for a second life in your home. I do that often, too. Finding treasures in the trash, giving them a good clean, some TLC and voila, a new interior decor made it into my home for litterally no money.
I try to do this as much as possible too. I like saving the money but I also like have something creative to do at all times.
I love finding them at the ReStore and doing this. Yours turned out great.
Thanks Deborah.