Do It Yourself Up-Cycle a Cupboard Door into a Family Sign

So, for the past couple weeks I’ve been telling you about the Block Party which our local Habitat for Humanity is hosting. Well, it’s next weekend, so I’m trying to finish up on some projects. Some I’m going to be taking up and donating for the raffle, while other things I’ll be working on and showing people how to do some up-cycling. A couple of weeks ago I posted a blog post and a YouTube video on some of my Thrift Store Shopping, one of the ways I get inspired to create. I showed you some cupboard doors and a mantel that I picked up. So, let’s learn how I turn a cupboard door into a family sign. I love to use cupboard doors to create signs. These types of doors come in some many different sizes. The possibilities are endless with what you can put on them to create fun signs.

The link below is a video on the step-by-step process on how I actually made this sign.

Up-Cycle a Cupboard Door into a Family Sign

In the picture above, you can also see another example of a board that I picked up. I turned this one into a coat hanger sign. You can see the adorable saying, “It’s so good to be home” and next to the hooks I place tags for “His,” “Hers” and paw prints for a dog.

The process to make this coat rack sign was the same as the family sign, with the only difference being that I added coat hooks purchased from Walmart. The other thing I did on this one was drill in three holes, because the board is a little heavier than the cupboard door. That way, the person who receives this will have no problem putting it up on their wall. I placed the holes 16 inches apart because that’s your standard stud separation in your walls.

So, let’s getting makin’! Below is the step-by-step on the Family Sign!

Supplies

• Cupboard Door
• Chalk Paint
• Acrylic Paint
• Paint Brush
• Vinyl Decal
• Transfer Tape
• Varathane

Step One ~ Prepping the Cupboard Door:

For my family sign, I started out with a cupboard door. I wanted to paint this cupboard door a two-toned color so I used gray chalk paint for the outside edge and a white acrylic for the center of the door. You’ll want to put a complete coat of the white acrylic on first. This is called a primer coat or layer.

This door is a shaker-like cupboard door, so it has that raised panel on the outside. The middle of the cupboard door is sunken, so it’s essential to get into all of the little crevices as you’re putting on that first coat of white paint. This cupboard door happens to be 35 1/2 inches by 14 1/2 inches, so I thought it was a really nice size door for a sign. I had a lot of fun coming up with a design to put on this, but before being able to put the text on you have to prep the boards. I always like to give it a couple of coats.

Step 2 ~ Second Coat of Paint:

Once the cupboard door is dry, it’s time to add a second coat of white to the center of the door to just give it that excellent finish.

Step 3 ~ Paint the Border:

The next step is to add our border or edge paint. I used chalk paint for the edge in a beautiful gray color. I applied that to the outside of the cupboard door. The outer edge of the door is raised and, as I’ve said in other videos when I paint this type of door, I just work very carefully through it without applying tape to the board.

This gray is very subtle which just gives it a beautiful highlight for the sign. That’s why I chose it – you’ll see, in future steps, that the lettering I’m using is also gray. That’s one of the reasons why I decided on this color border around the door.

Step 4 ~ Polyurethane Coating

So, once you’ve fully painted the border, the next step I like to take is to take some polyurethane and put a finish on the cupboard door. The reason I do this is it helps with applying the vinyl in our next step. So, I protected the paint with a coating of a water-based polyurethane with a white color to it. It’s a crystal-clear matte, but when it dries, it dries completely clear. I used a Varathane brand which is ultra-polyurethane and water-based. You want to put a good coat of it on the cupboard door. Again, this just helps with applying the vinyl in our next step.

Step 5 ~ Applying Vinyl Transfer

Okay, so we’re finally ready to add the vinyl transfer! I did this vinyl transfer earlier on my Cricut and I thought it was really cute: “Family; a little bit of crazy, a little bit of loud, and a whole lot of love.” So, since I’d already done it on my Cricut, actually cut it out, and even weeded it, the next step was to apply the vinyl transfer.

This blue transfer tape that I use I get from 651Vinyl.com, it’s my favorite transfer tape. You cut a piece a little large than the decal. I find that, if you just roll it out rather than taking off the transfer tape at once, it actually works out much better. It works really well if I turn over my transfer at this point. Next, I used my little tool, which I call my burnishing tool, to really press my image onto the transfer tape. So, here we are – what I like to do at this point is to fold my image in half, especially when it’s this large of an image. I crease it and find where the center of the image is.

Then I put a mark on the center of the vinyl decal. I do the same thing and find the middle of the door. Next, you want to be really careful when you’re laying this down. Because you don’t want it to stick to your board too soon. I like to align my center up first. I usually do one side, using my hand to flatten it out, and let that fall first before I do the second side.

Step 6 ~ Removing Transfer Tape

The next part takes a little bit of patience, to be perfectly honest with you. You need to make sure that all of your lettering is coming off of that transfer tape. It does take a little bit of time to get that part done. I just very carefully pull up on the transfer tape and make sure that the letters are adhering to the board. It took me a little while to get this laid down, but it looks absolutely beautiful once it is down. You have a sense of accomplishment when letters lay off of the transfer tape like they’re supposed to!

Since I’ve got such a large phrase, some people would do this with two pieces of transfer tape. I wanted to make sure I kept my wording spaced precisely, like I had designed and cut it out with my Cricut Maker. That’s why I have it all on one piece of transfer tape. Once the letters are all adhered to the cupboard door, I like to check to make sure everything has stuck smoothly and nicely. In some cases, you may have some little air bubbles. I very carefully look for those on each one of the letters. If you find a bubble, I take my finger and smooth over it to remove the air bubble. That’s the way I take care of that little air bubble.

Last step ~ Top Coat of Polyurethane

The last step is optional, but I like to put a top coat of the same polyurethane that we used before we put down the vinyl decal. I do this simply to protect the vinyl and I used 651 permanent vinyl on this project. When something’s hanging up, it adds a beautiful finish to it, I think, and it protects that vinyl. It also makes it easy to dust, so that’s why I like to use that same transparent, water-based polyurethane finish. The polyurethane used is an indoor matte finish. I want to give the entire project a top protective coat.

I hope you like this project and tutorial on turning a cupboard door into a sign. I’ve made a couple of different ones over the past couple weeks. Since I’ve been getting ready for the upcoming block party at our local Habitat for Humanity. This will be one of the items that I have there.

I hope this inspires you to try it out! I would love to hear what you think about this project, or if you have ideas for future projects. Please let me know. So, until next time remember, INSPIRATION is a feeling of enthusiasm you get from someone or something, which gives you new and creative ideas!