Update Old Cabinets With Simple DIY Shaker Cabinets

This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.
DIY shaker cabinets where build to update our old cabinets in the laundry room.

If you have been following along on Instagram this past month you would have seen the progress this space has made. I decided to renovate this space at the beginning of this year, but quickly, I’m talking as soon as the cabinets came off, I lost all interest.

We didn’t have the money to renovate the full laundry room so I thought using the old cabinets and making them look new would do the trick!

We also built our own countertop. You can read more about that in our countertop post: Simple Inexpensive DIY Laundry Room Counter Tops

How To Build DIY Shaker Cabinet

Use these steps to update any old cabinets. We used these in the laundry room but will also be building them again in our bathroom update.

Sand and Remove Old Cabinet Detailing

• 

• 

Here you can see the original cabinet door and what the cabinet looks like after we removed the old trim and sanded it back to the wood.

If your cabinet doors are not wood, just give them a light sanding so that the primer will adhere to the old paint.

Add trim to create DIY Shaker Cabinets

To achieve the shaker look we used 1/4 inch mahogany boards ripped down to 2-inch strips.

Cut the 2-inch strips to size on a 45º angle on both ends.

• 

• 

Once your pieces are cut to size you can now start gluing them to the cabinets.

• 

• 

Make sure to clamp the 2-inch trim piece until the glue is dry. We left ours overnight just to be on the cautious side.

Prep DIY Shaker Cabinets for Paint

Using wood filler, fill all seems. Fill your 45º cuts as well as along the outside edges.

Caulk the inside of the shaker, where the 2-inch mahogany meets the cabinet doors. This will give the paint and smooth finish and prevent paint from cracking in the seems.

Prime the cabinets so that there is no pigment discolouration after painting. I did this twice as the raw wood really soaked in a lot of paint the first time around.

Paint cabinets, let cure, then install!

Now you’ve got brand new looking cabinets! We hope you enjoyed these DIY shaker cabinets, and we hope evermore that you will have fun updating your space!

SHOP THIS POST

PIN IT FOR LATER

MORE FROM THE LAUNDRY ROOM

Simple Inexpensive DIY Laundry Room Countertops