Upcycled Small Cabinet Tutorial

See how I converted this upcycled small cabinet for a new bathroom in our basement. A thrift store purchase is given new life to add some much needed storage.

We recently added a small bathroom in our basement but it needed something to keep cleaning supplies and toilet paper in.

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So I found this small cabinet in our local thrift store. It was the perfect size for the small bathroom but not the best looking.

It has two bin-like deep drawers. A little odd but would work for this purpose. I'm not really sure what they originally were used for. Perhaps garbage and recycling?

How to Upcycle a Small Cabinet

This cabinet had some kind of laminate finish making it very slick. Still, I knew with a good primer it could be painted to look updated and fresh for our bathroom.

Prepping the Cabinet to Paint

1. Remove any dirt or dust with a rag.
2. Remove any knobs or hardware.
3. Use a coarse sandpaper to rough up the entire surface.
4. Remove any dust from sanding with a cloth.

Next, paint the entire cabinet with a good multi-surface primer. This is important with any laminate furniture to make sure the paint will adhere to the wood.

Once the primer has dried you can paint the cabinet with your choice of indoor paint. I chose a Behr white chalk paint.

It may take 2-3 coats of paint to get the coverage you want.

Finish the cabinet with a finishing wax. I used Amy Howard's Mind Your Own Beeswax. However, you could use any decorative wax finish.

Add your hardware back to the piece. I chose to use a couple of oil rubbed bronze pulls I had from our kitchen makeover. I thought the silver ones that came with the cabinet were very small and didn't look good with the creamy white paint.

There's plenty of room inside for lots of toilet paper and cleaning products which is just what we needed.

I think this upcycled small cabinet is the perfect fit for our small bathroom and it looks pretty nice too.