Archives for March 2024

How to Update Your Cabinets for Less by Building New Doors

March 31, 2024 by kelsey.mackall

I love the shaker style cabinet doors. My house is a 1970’s house with original cabinetry, and it was time to make a change. People think that original all wood cabinets are amazing and timeless. But the truth is, after fifty something years they can be falling apart. I took out our wet bar to create a butlers pantry/wine bar area. There were cabinets in the wet bar and it was important for me to have cabinets that matched the kitchen because I can see both spaces at the same time. This is how easy it is to update your cabinets with new doors!

How to Build New Cabinet Doors

Demo is the easy part. I used the old doors to measure and figure out my cuts for the new doors. For the rails (top part of the frame) and stiles (side part of the frame) I prefer to use primed 1×3 pine. I cut them to length and I like to make a groove along the inside edge of the stiles. The groove serves the purpose of having a place for the inside panel to sit in. To make the groove I drop the table saw down super low and run it along the edge a few times.

Now it’s time to assemble the door. I put the door together by drilling pocket holes with my Kreg Jig and screwing the rails and stiles together. After those are put together, I use wood glue to glue the front panel (quarter inch plywood) into the grooves on the stiles. I use a concealed hinge jig to drill the spaces for the European (hidden) hinges.

Woman glues front panel into cabinet door frame

Woman drills hinge holes for concealed hinges

Next up, sand the whole thing smooth, caulk the seams, and paint the door. Then add the hinges and get the door hung to add one last coat of paint. I add fun hardware and then we’re all set!

Game Changer

Being able to make my own cabinet doors is a game changer. I was able to use this skill to update the cabinets in the wet bar, but I also built the doors for the storage lockers that I built. The shaker style is so easy to make and I am so happy that I can use them to update the look of my house. Click here to see a video tutorial of cabinet door building!

Easily Access Both Sides of the Dollhouse with This Useful Stand

March 28, 2024 by kelsey.mackall

I got an adorable dollhouse from Melissa and Doug for my middle daughters birthday. She desperately wanted one, and plays with it a lot. When I redid her room I wanted to make the dollhouse accessible with a way to contain all of the pieces that go with it. It was hard to find exactly what I was looking for, so I built a stand that would accomplish what I needed.

How I Built a Dollhouse Stand

I started with an idea and a sheet of plywood. Since I needed to build a space for a storage drawer I started by building, well, a box. I cut the plywood to size and used wood glue and my nail gun to build the outside of the box.

I made sure to add a face and a back to the box, and then added these adorable feet. After the glue was dry I sanded the entire piece to ensure that it would be a smooth finish when I painted. I built a drawer box to fit in the face of the box and then added soft close drawer hardware.

Woman attaches furniture feet to drawer box

I built a drawer front using plywood and 1x4s, and then painted the entire thing white. A word of warning, keep the paint out of reach of your toddlers! When the paint was dry, I used construction adhesive to attach a lazy Susan to the top of the drawer. The dollhouse sits on top of the lazy Susan and viola! The dollhouse spins and is easily accessible from both sides.

Rotating Dollhouse Stand Success

This project kind of started as a whim, but I think it was super successful. My girls can easily play with both sides of the dollhouse and when it’s not being used we can have the cuter front side on display. I love the drawer because it is a place to keep all of the little pieces. This is such a cute addition to my girls’ room and it gets used A LOT. Click here to see it in action!

How to Make a Half Bath Remodel Take the Look From Gloomy to Glam

March 26, 2024 by kelsey.mackall

The downstairs half bathroom felt like a dungeon of doom. I switched out the hinged door to a pocket door a while ago but was waiting for the right time to address the rest of the dungeon. After I finished the girls’ bathroom upstairs and my teenager’s closet, it was finally time to address the downstairs half bathroom. I am so excited about this half bath remodel, it has been a long time coming!

Easy Updates to Take it to the Next Level

There is so much I wanted to do in this bathroom. Like I said, dungeon of doom. It needed: new floors, updated counters, better paint, and stylish decor. I really had my work cut out for me and I also really wanted to keep this remodel affordable. I started the remodel by painting the ugly, outdated granite countertop. The Dwil Paint kit was so helpful, it included everything I needed to update those counters. It was a very inexpensive, easy way to update the look of the dark countertops.

Once that was done, I painted the walls a beautiful, clean white. I wanted to add some natural feeling touches to the bathroom and decided on a natural wood slat wall on the back wall. For the slat wall I stained 1x2s and cut them to length. I used a spare piece of wood as a spacer and hung the boards on the wall using my nail gun. To add a little more pizazz I built a floating shelf to hang on the slat wall. For the shelf I built a simple frame using 1x2s. Then I used plywood to stain and cover the frame.

Woman builds frame for floating shelf using 1x2s

The final touch in this bathroom is another gorgeous accent wall. I used peel and stick tiles by Smart Tile to get this amazing wall. It was simple and inexpensive and so so beautiful.

Woman peels backing of peel and stick tiles

Woman applies peel and stick tile to wall

Budget Half Bath Remodel Success!

Half bathroom success! The moody green tile and asymmetrical mirror add a fun accent to this bathroom and the slat wall gives it some texture. The room got new floors, clean counters, beautiful accents, and stylish decor. I spent a total of $600 to update this bathroom and it was well worth it! Click here to see the whole project.