DIY July: decorate your wardrobe doors
DIY expert Geneva Vanderzeil, joins us as a guest contributor this DIY July to share how she refreshed her existing kaboodle raw board wardrobes.
We previously joined force with DIY expert, Geneva Vanderzeil, to create these stunning mid-century feel wardrobes using our 900mm pantry cabinet. To give them new life, she’s refreshed them with a fresh coat of paint and new handles to use in her kids’ bedroom.
Watch the transformation below and read on for a how-to from Geneva!
hear from Geneva
I’ve been thinking about giving the girls room a refresh for a while now and with DIY July here, I’ve been feeling inspired to do a few bigger projects at home. We have these kaboodle kitchen wardrobes which we installed when we renovated our home a few years ago and they’ve been so great for all the girls’ clothes. But sadly, the girls have drawn all over them! I’ve been seeing cute trims and coloured cabinetry around everywhere lately, so I couldn’t help myself but give them a glow up! I used wooden coasters from Bunnings and mdf cut into trim. Plus, a coat of paint and wow, they are transformed and I couldn’t love them more!
materials:
how-to
Begin by taking the doors off the wardrobe and laying them out on a drop cloth.
Place coasters along all sides of the doors, making sure they are spaced evenly across the top. You can leave a gap at the bottom to allow for a wider piece of trim. My row of bottom coasters sat about 15cm off the bottom of the door. The wider trim along the bottom is a nice detail aesthetically but it also means you don't have to worry about the coasters not lining up once you get to the bottom!
Once you are happy with the placement of the coasters, you can begin to glue each one down using liquid nails.
While the glue is drying you can cut your MDF into strips to make the trim. You’ll need two long pieces the height of your door, one short piece to fit across the top and one piece for the bottom. I chose a width 4.5cm for the top and side pieces (which is half the coaster width) and made the bottom piece 15cm. Then repeat for the other door.
Once the glue is dry on the coasters you can begin gluing the trim over the top, being careful to make sure everything lines up on the sides and edges.
Once dry, take your wood filler and fill in any gaps you can see including the edges of all 4 sides of the doors. This will give a really nice finished result.
When the wood filler is dry you can sand it flat and if you feel you need to do another coat in some spots, you can, as wood filler tends to shrink a little as it dries.
Now it’s time to prime the whole thing, including the side panels on the wardrobe. I like to use an oil based or shellac primer for cabinets because it is really hard wearing.
Finally, you can give everything two coats of your chosen paint colour.
Once the paint is completely dry, you can attach the new handles. I simply measured the centre of the trim and then used a drill with a pilot hole bit to drill a hole, then screwed the handles in from the back.
Once both handles have been attached, rehang the doors onto the wardrobe by clicking them on and you’re done!
If you’d like to create your own bespoke wardrobes to suit your style and needs, head to your local Bunnings to get started! You can pick up 900mm pantry cabinets straight off the shelf and head to the Special Orders Desk to order raw board doors to match!