I have a dozen cabinet doors leftover from the old kitchen before our remodel, and I couldn’t bring myself to take them to the salvage yard just yet.  I’m glad I waited, because after I gave it some thought, I came up with a few ideas for repurposing them.  The first idea was to transform two of them into memo boards for my office.

Here’s the Before and After:

I think great fabric makes stylish wall art.  These two memo boards also add practicality, and a place for displaying inspirational images or mementos.  Here they are (unadorned) on my office wall. 

How to Make a Memo Board from a Recycled Cabinet Door:

Supplies:

1.  
   1.  
      1. Cabinet door
      2. Fabric of choice
      3. Quilter’s batting
      4. Ribbon of choice
      5. Staple gun
      6. Nail head upholsterer tacks
      7. Rubber head mallet
      8. Pliers
      9. Picture hanging hardware

Step One:  Remove any hinges or remaining knobs.

Step Two:  Press your fabric to remove any creases.

Step Three:  Align your cabinet door on top of your quilter’s batting and fabric.  I used two layers of batting to give it a hint more tufting. 

Step Four:  Attach your fabric to your cabinet door with a staple gun.  Secure corners last. 

Step Five:  Lay out your ribbon on the top of your fabric covered door in a grid pattern.  Allow extra ribbon to overlap over the sides so you can later secure it to the back. 

Step Six:  Use pliers to stabilize your nail head, then pound into wood with a rubber head mallet. 

Step Seven:  Secure ribbon to back of board with a staple gun.

Step Eight:  After securing all of the nail heads, lay your memo board face down on your work surface.  It’s best to use a towel or cloth between the nail heads and your table to avoid scratching the delicate nail head.   Secure picture hangers to memo board. 

And that’s how these:

Get turned into these:

Here’s a look at the tufting up close.

I’ve just started adding some momentos: 

Oh, and ahem, yes, in the bottom left, that is the dream crooner himself Michael Bublé with yours truly.  It’s a long, funny, serendipitous story about how I ended up meeting Mr. Bublé.  Let’s just say it was one of my favorite life moments EVER !  I think I’m his biggest fan.  Like, bordering on obsession.  Love him.  LOVE.

Stay tuned for more projects recycling my old cabinet doors…

Tags: cabinet door, memo board

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 28th, 2009 at and is filed under Before & After, Crafty, DIY, On The Wall, Rescued & Revamped, Salvage. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.