Pantry Door Glow Up
I started the project off by washing down my door, then taping out different designs to see what I liked. Ultimately landed on this simple design of a smaller rectangle on top of a larger longer (vertical) rectangle. I got to work cutting 1/4 in plywood to fit the space inside the tape line. I wanted to add a little texture to the plywood so I opted to use some paintable wallpaper. This is where I went wrong. I applied some wood glue to the front of the plywood pieces, attempting to smooth it all over the wood before applying the wallpaper. I didn’t do a very good job of this an ended up with so many bubbles! I didn’t realize how bad it was so I just kept going.
I glued my plywood on to the door with wood glue as well as used some brad nails to hold it in place while the glued dried. This door is a hollow door so I knew the nails alone wouldn’t be enough. Then I moved onto framing out the plywood by using 1x’s. I ripped them down on my table saw to be about 1/2 in thick. I didn’t want them sticking too far out from the door.
After trimming everything out It was time to wood fill, caulk and paint. As soon as I got the paint (Tricorn Black by Sherwin Williams) on the bottom section of wallpaper I saw my mistake and all the bubbles. It was BAD! I was frustrated and I know myself well enough to know that I don’t make good choices when I’m frustrated. It was time to walk away for the day.
The next day I had come up with a solution. I would attach wooden pieces over the wallpaper that was bubbled up. I got to work ripping down more 1x’s to the correct depth and then into small 4″ strips. I began laying out my pattern. Gluing and nailing the pieces to the door. There were a few pieces that I had to use tape on to keep them in place until they dried. Then it was back to wood filling all at the holes, sanding and painting again.
Once everything was dry I attached the new black hinges and knob. I was originally going to keep the silver hinges (which is why they are tapped off in the photos.) But when I saw them against the black of the door and knob, I knew I needed to swap them out too. The final step was getting my basket wall up. I used this, this and this set of baskets to get the look I wanted.
