Inside the Kitchen Cabinet

When we were painting our kitchen cabinets I decided I wanted to do something fun to the inside of my cabinet doors, and came up with an idea to decoupage  inside of the door with wrapping paper.  I went to Hobby Lobby and picked out some wrapping paper that I liked, some Mod Podge and brushes and went to work.

I decoupaged  all of the insides of all of the doors….

and decided I wanted to do the back, bottom and top of this cabinet as well.

It needed something on the inside to help transform the ugly plywood.  The other cabinets are either down low, or have lazy susans in them, so there was no point changing anything inside them.  But this one is the most used and open to public view, so it was going to get a little make over.

1 roll of wrapping paper of choice.

Take measurements of your doors and cabinets and use a yardstick to measure and draw your measurements onto the wrapping paper.

Cut out your pieces.

Put some Mod Podge onto your surface nice and thick.  Apply the paper on top of it and smooth it down nicely.    When you are using wrapping paper, it will tend to wrinkle easily.  You can buy a roller to help smooth it out; which I didn't do… I didn't really mind the minor imperfections, to me they added an antique sort of charm.  You can also use fabric instead of paper, which will be a little easier to manage in terms of straightening out the wrinkling affect. 

Pour and brush the Modpodge over the top over the paper.  Make sure all is completely covered.

When it dries, you will not see all of the lines and brush marks.  

For the inside of the cabinet, I first painted the sides and inside frame work.

 Then I got out a paint roller.  I poured the Mod Podge into a paint pan and rolled the sponge roller  in it.

 Roll it onto the cabinet quickly and as thick as possible.

When putting on the paper on a large area such as the back or top of a cabinet,  roll the Mod Podge on half of the surface first, then apply the paper half at a time. Add the Mod Podge to the rest of the surface and finish applying the paper; this makes the paper a little easier to deal with.  Apply the Mod Podge to the top of the paper. 

If you are going to use the surface to put anything on, it is good to do a second coat of Mod Podge once the first is dry.  I painted Mod Podge on the surface of the paper, and also onto the painted sides,  It was easier than trying to avoid it, and It helped me thoroughly drench the corners and nooks with Modpodge and not feel worried about getting it on the paint coated areas.  At first when you have the Mod Podge on everything, you are thinking "this looks terrible," but in 15 to 20 minutes, it is dry, clear and not showing any of it.  It looks smooth and nice.

 Steve put some calking on the inside of the framework of the cabinet door to tidy up where the paper meets the frame work.

Other ideas for the inside of the cabinet door.

1. Paint in the inside a contrasting color to the outside of the cabinet (Here's how my daughter Marie's cabinets looked when she did this)
2. Decoupage with fabric,
3. Cover with contact paper.
4. Paint with Chalkboard paint:  you can write notes and lists on it.
5. Cover with Corkboard: you can pin notes and pictures to it
6. Cover with Wainscoating.
7. Paint a stenciled design
8. Decorate with Vinyl wall art
9. Decoupage with lace.
10. Use Washi or Decorator duct tape to cover or create a design.
11. Cover with Wallpaper.
12. Remove door to create an open cabinet and paint as number one on this list.