Revamping horrible fitted cupboards

[miss direct]

Stuck at home with covid, thought I might use the little energy I have to finally do something with the cupboards in my bedroom. They have loads of space in them but I don't use them because they're all dusty and don't have proper rails to hang clothes on. As a result, I have piles of clothes and unpacked suitcases everywhere (to my shame, I haven't even unpacked properly from Bangladesh yet...) and I really want to sort this out.

Don't know where to begin. In an ideal world I'd have a proper carpenter refit them, but that's not going to happen right now. Just not sure where to begin. I hate the handles especially. Can I change them to knob style ones?

The rest of the bedroom has a blue and white theme, by the way.

 

[WouldBe]

If you change those for knob type handles you'll be left with holes in the doors that will need filling.

Hope you're feeling better soon.

 

[Looby]

You could add trim to tart then up a bit and paint them. You can buy molding kits or make your own. There will be endless videos and photos on YouTube and Pinterest.
Like this How to Add Trim to Plain Doors | The Painted Hive

As WouldBe said, you need to think about filling the holes if you change the handle type.
I bought some cheap handles from eBay for our kitchen. Amazon are good too, much cheaper than DIY shops.
Inside, I’d put a mix of shelves and rails. I’ve got two rails and then a massive ikea unit full of basket drawers and shelves.

 

[quimcunx]

Assuming the budget is as close to zero as possible? What are the doors made from? What's inside the cupboards? What do you need storage wise? Do you need to keep all of the doors? Do you intend on spending money replacing it with something else in a year or three's time?

 

[quimcunx]

you could replace the doors with curtains. you could leave them open. you could strip the paint off the doors or sand them down, clean off/ buy new hinges and repaint and rehang the doors. fill in holes and put on new handles. (sand down the frames too).

see here for ideas.

Improving bedroom cupboards

I'm about to move house and my new bedroom has these cupboards: I don't want to get rid of them but do want to make them look a bit nicer. What's the best thing to do - paint them? Just change the handles? Better to change the whole door? I'm probably going to paint the bedroom walls...

www.urban75.net

 

[Duncan2]

Big mirrors on the front sometimes help to disguise inexpensive wardrobes .

 

[miss direct]

Lots of ideas, thank you. It all seems very tiring. Definitely don't want mirrors - don't want to look at myself in bed! Disappointing to know that it won't be easy to replace the handles without having holes left. I do have a budget, I just don't have the energy or time to chase about trying to find someone.

 

[bimble]

You’re not well! Don’t discard the idea just because you have no energy just now.
New knobs will be easy, you can fill the holes with decorators caulk or filler in seconds, and painting the whole thing a colour very doable as well.
Just don’t start DIYing whilst you’re not well.
Those cupboards look ok, nice fitted thing needs something good in the middle space though.
ETA what if just shelves in the middle gap, painted to match.
That chest of drawers doesn’t go there.

 

[Epona]

Lots of ideas, thank you. It all seems very tiring. Definitely don't want mirrors - don't want to look at myself in bed! Disappointing to know that it won't be easy to replace the handles without having holes left. I do have a budget, I just don't have the energy or time to chase about trying to find someone.

Filling those holes will be super-easy, trust me on this. I (and probably many other Urbanites) will be happy to talk you through it when you feel well enough to do some light DIY

 

[Aladdin]

Personally...on a budget....I would wallpaper them in something lovely..
And replace the handles with knobs something like these...

 

[miss direct]

Thank you!
I have been doing one little house thing per day - I can't spend the whole day lying about. But up till now that's just been painting wooden things and making them look nicer.

Good to hear that filling in holes isn't that complicated.
I quite like the idea of wallpapering them but not sure if a whole wall would be too much.

I know the chest of drawers doesn't go there, they're just there because they fit (old owners left them behind). What could I put in that gap?

 

[miss direct]

I already have loads of knobs in my Amazon basket and was leaning towards these:
Do I need power tools to change handles?

 

[clicker]

I already have loads of knobs in my Amazon basket and was leaning towards these:
Do I need power tools to change handles?
View attachment 331775

No, there'll be 2 screws on the inside of the doors hopefully, holding handles on, a screwdriver should be fine.
You'll need to make a new hole for the new knobs.

 

[WouldBe]

I quite like the idea of wallpapering them but not sure if a whole wall would be too much.

Paper the rest of the room to match and they will disappear.

 

[miss direct]

Paper the rest of the room to match and they will disappear.

Ha, good point. I like the rest of the room. It has new carpets and was freshly painted in duck egg blue before I moved in.

 

[WouldBe]

Ha, good point. I like the rest of the room. It has new carpets and was freshly painted in duck egg blue before I moved in.

There you go. Paint the wardrobes the same duck egg blue.

 

[quimcunx]

Thank you!
I have been doing one little house thing per day - I can't spend the whole day lying about. But up till now that's just been painting wooden things and making them look nicer.

Good to hear that filling in holes isn't that complicated.
I quite like the idea of wallpapering them but not sure if a whole wall would be too much.

I know the chest of drawers doesn't go there, they're just there because they fit (old owners left them behind). What could I put in that gap?

You could cover most of them in plain but some fancy.

 

[miss direct]

Ooh yes. I just used some of the remaining duck egg to paint a radiator cover, but there's some left. I could maybe do one door tomorrow. I like the idea of painting some and papering others. Maybe even mirrors on some (as long as I don't have to see myself in bed.) Is there a sort of sticker thing I can use instead of normal wallpaper? I did stickers for tiles in the bathroom and also the bathroom window and it looks good (but I think that only sticks to glass/tile.)

 

[Aladdin]

Ha, good point. I like the rest of the room. It has new carpets and was freshly painted in duck egg blue before I moved in.

What about this kind of self adhesive paper? Maybe not the giant floral type but something in a duck egg blue background?

Women's & Men's Clothing, Shop Online Fashion | SHEIN

From shoes to clothing, from sports equipment to accessories. All fashion inspiration & the latest trends can be found online at SHEIN

eur.shein.com

Maybe centred on each door with a blue painted border...

 

[Elpenor]

Some good advice and I’m not an expert in DIY so won’t add to it but my initial thought was that a dressing table / mirror might go where the chest of drawers are?

 

[miss direct]

I ordered two types of self adhesive (one plain blue, one blue and flowery) and the handles, and some caulk. Won't have energy to do much for a while, but at least I'll have some supplies to play with.

 

[quimcunx]

plain coloured glossy sticker will probably show up the lumps and bumps on the door surface. you might need to order some sandpaper.

 

[A380]

Thank you!
I have been doing one little house thing per day - I can't spend the whole day lying about. But up till now that's just been painting wooden things and making them look nicer.

Good to hear that filling in holes isn't that complicated.
I quite like the idea of wallpapering them but not sure if a whole wall would be too much.

I know the chest of drawers doesn't go there, they're just there because they fit (old owners left them behind). What could I put in that gap?

I wouldn’t start while you are feeling unwell. But planning will be mildly fun.

As to the middle I’d take the doors off the middle top cupboards and put in mdf shelves so it goes ceiling to floor wardrobe shelves wardrobe.

You can buy rails, internal shelf units and free standing box things online as wardrobe tidies.

As bimble says a tiny bit of caulk or you coukd use poly filler would sort out the holes in the doors if you replace the handles. Then paint the whole lot.

 

[miss direct]

That's a good idea. The inside of the cupboards needs sorting too as there's no proper rail or organisation in there.

I don't know how to put up shelves though - I want some put up in the living room too. How do normal people get all of these things done? Without a car or tools, basic DIY seems a struggle. Will have to find a handyman from somewhere.

 

[klang]

fwiw, yes, they could do with a bit of a make-over, but I do like them. Bit 5ts.

 

[klang]

That's a good idea. The inside of the cupboards needs sorting too as there's no proper rail or organisation in there.

I don't know how to put up shelves though - I want some put up in the living room too. How do normal people get all of these things done? Without a car or tools, basic DIY seems a struggle. Will have to find a handyman from somewhere.

you need proper tools for DIY. And practice.

 

[A380]

That's a good idea. The inside of the cupboards needs sorting too as there's no proper rail or organisation in there.

I don't know how to put up shelves though - I want some put up in the living room too. How do normal people get all of these things done? Without a car or tools, basic DIY seems a struggle. Will have to find a handyman from somewhere.

Not here (unless you are really lucky with the measurements) but if you want free standing shelves in another room and you don’t have tools I’d go for Ikea Billy Bookcases. They normally cost less than the materials would cost you. You would need to buy an hammer and screwdriver. They are really easy though. A kind of entry level DIY… You can order them online from Ikea for delivery or hire a van at their store.

For the shelves here. Should take someone who knows what they are doing about four hours. So not that expensive if you got a handy person / builder / decorator.

The easy way to do it yourself would be to measure the internal dimensions ( about three times…) then order pre cut MDF shelves from an online mdf place. Then buy right angled brackets and wood screws online. You would need an electric screwdriver and spirit level. I think you’d probably get away without a drill.

 

[RubyToogood]

You may be lying there seeing horrible fitted cupboards, to me they look like a great blank canvas for you to get crafty.

Decoupage, stencilling, whatever you fancy really.

You might want to think about treating each pair of doors as one visual unit, rather than each door separately, if you see what I mean. The individual doors create a lot of tall skinny shapes, whereas as a pair they might have a more balanced shape that would suit the room better, ie 2 here rather than 1. Although looking at my phone scribblings it might make them dominate the room more actually.

 

[miss direct]

YES Ruby, you're brilliant! I'm actually taking a printmaking course at the moment so have been experimenting with different kinds of prints. Giving me lots of ideas now. The rest of the walls are plain and the curtains are plain too (wanted a calm bedroom) so can afford a little bit of pattern/detail. Now browsing hobbycraft.

 

[nogojones]

I'd rip them out completely if they were mine. Make good any damage to the walls with filler and paint them up to match the rest of the room.

If you're in dire need of the storage, have a look down the local auctions and you'll get nice cupboards/wardrobes cheep as.