My husband has been talking about getting a small bookcase or cabinet lately so when I saw this cabinet advertised on a local facebook group for $10 I didn’t hesitate.  Pinterest project here I come!  I did a full makeover on the cabinet and the end result was something that not only looked pretty in my house but it was more stable as well.  Here’s what I did-

The main problem with cheap bookcases or cabinets is the flimsy and super thing back board that’s nothing more than glorified card stock.  The purpose of back board is the stabilize the cabinet because with cheap cabinets if they move much they WILL fall apart.  So the last thing you want to do is move them and skew them at all.

To fix this problem I took of the thin backboard and replaced it with some paneling.  I purchased a large sheet of paneling at Home Depot for about $20 and they cut it to fit the back of the cabinet for me. (I went straight there after picking the cabinet up so I had it in the expedition with me for them to measure)  Home Depot is great and wont even charge you for up to 2 cuts.  I saved the extra from the sheet and have enough to do one more cabinet the same size and then some for other projects.  The worker that cut my sheet told me if I bring the scraps back they’ll cut them for me again in the future….. nice!

Once the paneling was nailed to the back the cabinet was much more stable.

Now time for paint!!
I had some leftover no sanding primer from when I painted the girls bunkbeds so I started with that.  Since the paneling is made to be painted it didn’t need the primer, but the rest of the cabinet got 1 good coat of primer. (my primer was tinted grey)

After the primer I did a coat of white paint that I had.  It was clear after that coat that it was going to take 2-3 coats in order to cover the grey primer and I didn’t have enough paint- so off to Walmart I went to buy more paint.

Luckily there was a clearance on paint for some basic pre-colored paint called “grab & go” the color selection was limited but they just happen to have a gallon of paint in a oatmeal/cream color that I wanted for $13 so it was perfect!!  Much better then the quart for $10 I was going to buy.

After a couple of coats of the new paint it was good to go!  This time I painted the paneling too.  I purchased some new knobs because the ones that came with the cabinet were horrific, and ended up with this adorable cabinet that actually looked good in my house!  It was perfect for my husband’s needs and even matches the computer desk.

Next project- bookcases for our DVD’s!! Stay tuned!