Vintage Door Front Turned into a Cabinet.



Build a Cabinet out of a Door, How to Build a Window Cabinet

I finished my cabinet!  This type of re-purpose where you design as you go is my absolute favorite kind of project. I took my time on this one, I wanted to enjoy the process.  In case you missed it here's what I started with. 

Build a Cabinet out of a Door, How to Build a Window Cabinet

A built in corner cabinet front that had been salvaged from some old farmhouse.  (I don't know if it was a farmhouse but that sounds nice doesn't it?)  I found it in the back of an Antique store.  It was in great shape and I knew I wanted to turn it back into a cabinet.  Just not a corner one.  This isn't a detailed tutorial since I doubt there are many of these laying around for anyone to remake but I thought I'd show you my process.  

Build a Cabinet out of a Door, How to Build a Window Cabinet

I started by heading to the lumber yard and having them rip down a 4 x 8 sheet of birch plywood lengthwise to 11 3/4" panels.  I always try to have them make the major cuts for me because it saves so much hassle when I get home.  I mean I can barely lift a 4x8 3/4" sheet of plywood.  Then once back at home I cut the pieces to the lengths I needed with my miter saw.  To attach everything together I used my pocket hole jig to make the holes for the screws.  I built just a very basic cabinet the challenge was designing it to fit and compliment my door front. 


I ended up cutting a small notch in the bottom piece so that it would fit inside my cabinet and rest on the bottom shelf.  Once I made sure everything was square and lined up I glued and screwed the door front to my new cabinet. 

Build a Cabinet out of a Door, How to Build a Window Cabinet

You can see above that I put the pocket holes on the outside of the cabinet.  This was because I thought I was going to cover them with some sort of big trim or beadboard.  Once I attached the front I decided that would be too much.  I wanted to keep it simple and let the front really stand out.  So then I had to fill the holes with putty. 


I decided to cut my own trim to mimic the edge of the front piece and create a paneled effect.  Because it had been a corner cabinet the sides were cut at 45 degree angles.  I used my table saw set at a 45 to cut down a 1x4 to make my trim.

Build a Cabinet out of a Door, How to Build a Window Cabinet

I like it.     


At the bottom I added a 1 x board and a small piece of trim to coordinate with the top. 

Build a Cabinet out of a Door, How to Build a Window Cabinet

I lined the top shelves up with the panes of glass on the door and attached with screws through pocket holes from underneath. To finish it off I inset a piece of 3/4" plywood to the back of the bottom half to give it some weight in the back.  The doors on the front make it front heavy.  On the top back I used a 1/4" plywood panel and covered it with vintage sheet music.  To adhere it I used wallpaper paste because I didn't want it to look shiny or sealed like mod podge makes it look.  Plus I happened to find a tub of wallpaper paste when I cleaned out the garage that was still good. 

I stained all the new wood to match the old because I planned to use milk paint and hoped to get some chipping.  I did ;)

Build a Cabinet out of a Door, How to Build a Window Cabinet

I wasn't sure how much chipping I would get because with Milk Paint you just never know so at first I only painted the front. I applied three coats of Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint in the color Linen.  After it was dry I scraped and sanded and then made my plan for the sides.  


If the paint hadn't chipped off the front I would have just painted over the stained new wood so that it matched.  Since it did chip and I wanted it to chip off the new wood I used Hemp Oil as a resist technique.  I rubbed the Hemp Oil on in various places with a cloth.  I didn't wait for it to dry I just painted right over the hemp oil. It works great.  The places I put the hemp oil had chipping.  Also it did some cool crackled thing in some places where I didn't put hemp oil but had recently stained. So there's another trick to getting some fun looks with the paint. 

Build a Cabinet out of a Door, How to Build a Window Cabinet

Whoa that was a lot so if you are still here thank you ;)  I really am pleased with how it turned out. It was a fun project.