Disguising Unsightly Bathroom Wall Cabinets

Bathroom wall cabinets are one of the central features in most bathrooms. However, if your cabinets are unattractive, you may be looking for a way to create a more attractive appearance in your bathroom.

Refinishing Surfaces

Probably the most involved but effective way to change the appearance of unsightly bathroom wall cabinets is to completely refinish them. You can usually refinish cabinets over the course of a weekend of devoted and concentrated work. However, when you are finished, you will be happy with the new appearance of your cabinets.

Wood Cabinets: Refinishing wood bathroom cabinets involves removing all of the old paint and varnish. Remove any doors and drawers and use a sander to remove all of the existing paint and varnish. Once you have removed all of this material, wipe the cabinet and door surfaces clean with a damp lint-free cloth. Then paint or spray a thin layer of sealer and let this dry. You can then either apply a new stain or paint the cabinets for an entirely new look.

Metal Cabinets: Although metal bathroom cabinets are not extremely popular today, they are often an inexpensive type of cabinet that requires regular maintenance, including refinishing. In many cases, this simply involves removing the old paint with paint remover, repairing any breaks or damage to the metal and then repainting the cabinets.

Hiding Cabinets

Another way to disguise bathroom wall cabinets is to hide them. Depending on the décor and setting of your home, some bathrooms particularly lend themselves to this kind of redecorating method. For example, you can actually create the illusion that lower wall cabinets or vanities are stand alone tables or cabinets and install a pleated or ruffled skirt around the edge of the cabinet.

Select a fabric that compliments your bathroom décor and staple it to the upper edge of the cabinet. If you are creating a pleated appearance, you can make a pleat and then staple each pleat one-by-one along the upper edge of the cabinet. Then take a finishing ribbon or fabric edging and carefully glue it to the upper edge, covering the staples to finish the look.

Distressing Cabinets

Another interesting and unusual way to disguise problematic bathroom cabinets is to distress them. This involves taking the cabinet doors down and using nails, chains and other items to gouge and mar the surface of the cabinets. This is a particularly effective method for wood cabinets. Once you have finished with the marring process, you can rub additional stain or wood oil into the wood. This will create additional texture on the surface of the cabinets.

Another form of distressing is to repaint the cabinets and before the paint is dry take a lint-free cloth and wipe some of the paint away. This type of distressing often camouflages wood damage or flaws in the surface of your bathroom cabinets.

Bathroom wall cabinets are usually one of the primary features in a bathroom and serve as a functional form of storage. However, if your cabinets have flaws or are marred, you can disguise those imperfections by distressing or refinishing your cabinets, or covering the cabinets with a fabric cabinet skirt.