Repurposed Cabinet Doors

Hello Tuesday!  First off I need to say a great big thank you for all of your sweet comments yesterday on my potting bench and summer list post!  Really, you know how to make a girl feel all kinds of special!  🙂   Second – Ahhhhh- I can’t wait for The Voice tonight!!!!   Who’s with me?!  Who’s your favorite?  I’m on Team Blake!!!!!

Ok, so before I talk your ear off about my love for The Voice let me give you the deets on the ol’ repurposing of the kitchen cabinet doors from yesterday’s post.  I think it’s sort of self-explanatory, but sometimes it’s nice to break-it-down ya know?!

We took the cabinet doors off here to make room for a made-to-look-like-it’s-built-in-microwave.

More on that later.  Once the doors were off I knew I wanted to use them in some way.  These doors have a raised panel on the front side.  They are a honey oak wood that the previous owners painted white.

When you turn them over to the other side there are recessed panels.  The wheels started turning.  I thought the recessed panels would be perfect to use as a chalkboards, and so an idea was born.  These kinds of doors are easy to find at your local ReStore in case you want to make some of your own but don’t want to tear up your kitchen.  🙂

I filled the holes where the hinges were with this stuff.

Then when it was dry I sanded the doors and dry brushed them with Valspar’s Basin Blue color matched to an exterior latex paint by Coronado.  It’s the same color as my front door.  Then I sanded again using a fine grit sandpaper and painted a little of this color in spots.

Then in the recessed panels I used a foam brush and chalkboard paint.  I painted 2 coats.  Then I let them dry overnight.

I think your supposed to wait like three days before you prep your chalkboard surface to allow the paint to cure or blah blah blah.  Clearly patience is not my middle name.  Whatevs.  I used the side of a piece of chalk and rubbed all over the surface and then erased.  Then I used a chalkboard pen emphasis on pen, they are the bomb – yeah I just went there with it, to write down our summer list.

Easy breezy.  I love this project!  These cabinet doors would have been destined for my local ReStore or Goodwill but I gave them new life!

You want to know why I’m so crazy about the chalkboard pens?!  Apart from the fact that they write so smoothly, the chalk pen ink doesn’t smear when it gets wet.

It will erase if you wet a paper towel and wipe them down.  However, if they just get sprinkled with water your list won’t smear off!  I told you – the bomb!

Have you done any great projects with old cabinet doors?  Anyone else head over heels in love with chalkboard pens?  Oh my gosh are you as excited as I am for The Voice?  My DVR is set!

Take a look here at all the lists we’ve made on these chalkboard shutters!