Making plain cabinets fun!

Pin It

One of the biggest things we've had to tackle in our new home is a lack of storage closets. We were spoiled previously by having a huge closet in the bathroom and hallway, along with nice sized ones in each room. We also had a good amount of cabinet space in our kitchen...considering that I have more kitchen stuff than most restaurants. :) We needed a quick and inexpensive fix, so I turned to shelving. Which can quickly get expensive so I decided to utilize Closetmaid pieces from Target and Lowe's. But they're sooooo boring and can look cheap with their cardboard backs. So I decided to freshen them up a little bit and add some color.

If you've used this type of shelving before (or any inexpensive "fake" wood shelving that you purchase and put together at home), you'll be familiar with the backing for it. It is a cardboard type material that you nail to the back of the unit. On one side it has a coating that is the same color as the shelving, the other side is unfinished and looks like cardboard. This is the side we want because the other is shiny and the paint won't stick to it.

I used a small 6" roller to do mine. I used left over paint that we had from painting accent walls, so it would tie in with the other rooms in the house.

  Now comes the easy part. Just paint the backing for the shelf with your roller. Depending on your paint, you may need two layers.

  Once your piece is painted, let it dry completely!

  Once it's dry, follow the instructions for attaching it to your unit. 

Once your back is attached, continue with installing the shelves in the unit

Now you have an inexpensive shelving unit that has a little fun to it! I bought the above piece at Target for $16 and had all the painting supplies and paint already. It's a fun way to bring some color into a room and it's extremely easy!

Pin It

We're Here! Kind of...

  As many of you know, we've been in the process of packing our home in coastal Virginia and moving to Tampa, Florida. Talk about hectic. Home made meals fixed with all fresh ingredients quickly turned into meals delivered in a paper bag. Talk about gross. :) The actual move/drive was pretty uneventful. There were a few melt downs by yours truly and fair amount of stress. We left a day late, as expected, and drove to South Carolina before calling it quits for the day. We left late the next morning and finally arrived in Florida late in the evening. We were able to find our new home (a.k.a. extended stay hotel) easily. It was, ummm, nice. Which is being nice. I can honestly say that I would prefer to never live in a tiny hotel room with a husband and two cats again. Ever. Never.

  But we survived. Which I believe means that we can survive anything. We loved Tampa from the first day, hello Gulf of Mexico! The uncomfortable living arrangements got us motivated to quickly begin the search for a new home. It was frustrating at first when we couldn't find a place that was perfect and encountered issues getting realtors to call us back...but we kept going. And found an amazing place that we love! Just in time for Christmas. :) We quickly took on numerous house projects including painting and staining and got to work. Which was great, but put a hold on actually moving into the house. We've just recently finished our projects and are starting to get onto really unpacking and getting our house in order. Which means many, many more projects and countless trips to Lowe's and Target. They already know me by name.

  I'm ready to get back into projects and cooking! I've been going crazy on pinterest finding new recipes and projects. And attempting to work on some of my own. So stay tuned...I'm full of new ideas and energy! And I'm ready to get going again!