Welcome to another PROJECT CHALLENGE! YaY!
For those of you that are new, let me explain what that means. Each month a few friends of mine and I have challenged each other to come up with a project to share using an assigned material. This months challenge is sheet or corrugated metal.
I can’t wait to share with you what all of these amazing women came up with , so be sure to visit each of theirs at the end of this post!
I’ve been wanting to do a project with metal for quite some time. I actually found a pair of metal snips at the hardware store around 3 years ago on clearance and snatched them up. We were having our roof redone at the time, so we had a lot of metal plates laying around just begging me to do something with them. I collected what the roofers left lying around and saved them for a bit. My son put the snips to the test by making the roofing plates into ninja stars. Glad he didn’t throw them. Yikes!
The purpose of my little story is to say that I was excited to finally get to have a reason to use my handy metal cutters. I will admit that I was a bit intimidated by the thought of this project because of the dangers with working with sharp edges. One wrong move = a lot of blood and pain. So I do want to mention to be extra cautious when working with this stuff. I also want to report that this was A LOT easier than I thought it would be and I will DEFINITELY be working with more metal in the future. I’m actually really anticipating the day!
To explain the background to this project of choice I will have to say that I started working on these cupboards in our play room a little more than a year ago. For those of you that regularly follow my blog, you will remember that I have gradually been framing every origional cabinet door in the house. Our home was built in the 60’s and the cabinets are all flat.
This is really great in the way that it allows me to add our own style and character to each space. I knew immediately that I wanted the lower cabinets to be chalkboard for the children to be able to draw on. So I painted them and then framed them out in 4 foot lath to save money. A bundle of 50 is around $7 at our local hardware store compared to the 58 cents or so a ft. It was really worth saving the money to me or I wouldn’t have been so willing to sand all those boards, but I did and then I stained them in dark walnut. I wasn’t quite sure how I wanted to finish off the top cupboards, so they sat like this ever since… for a year.
This is really great in the way that it allows me to add our own style and character to each space. I knew immediately that I wanted the lower cabinets to be chalkboard for the children to be able to draw on. So I painted them and then framed them out in 4 foot lath to save money. A bundle of 50 is around $7 at our local hardware store compared to the 58 cents or so a ft. It was really worth saving the money to me or I wouldn’t have been so willing to sand all those boards, but I did and then I stained them in dark walnut. I wasn’t quite sure how I wanted to finish off the top cupboards, so they sat like this ever since… for a year.
Then one day while downstairs doing laundry and watching some movie, it came to me. I wanted to be able to hang the children’s art on the upper cabinets. I contemplated cork, it quickly lost.
Then I had an epiphany, why not metal?!
I had bought this roll of metal at a yard sale last year. Perfect, right?
Wrong. It looked awful. All bent up and dented. So I started over and went down to the hardware store to buy a new roll.
After finishing these cupboards off, I was tickled with the results and went to hang my childrens art with magnets.
Ummm, they didn’t stick.
You probably already know why. But me, I didn’t. So upon some google research I learned that magnets do not stick to aluminum.
HUH?!
Needless to say I was discouraged, but knowing I needed to get the project done, I went down to the store and bought two sheets for $16 bucks a piece from the plumbing section at Home Depot (not a sponsor by the way, just a fact)
Each of my sets of cupboards are different sizes so I measured accordingly. When doing this, I highly recommend measuring more than you think you need to. Reassuring that you have measured properly saves so much time and money! Trust me. Lessons learned!
When cutting, I found it easier to cut with one hand and lift the cut pice as you go with the other hand
After they were cut I held them up to the cupboards and made sure there was overhang where the framing would go back on and that they were centered.
I found it easier to start with the top piece, using my brad nailer, and then to attach the sides, and last, the bottom.
It was super simple to do this whole project. The most time consuming part was taking off the slats to attach the metal.
If you haven’t framed out your cupboards yet, this step will not be needed and will be a lot faster.
We keep games, toys, puzzles, blankets and crafts in these cupboards. There is A LOT of storage here.
It so happens that our laundry is in the aluminum covered cabinets. We decided to keep them the way they are because upon researching, I found that it makes a GREAT dry erase surface. Talk about making a win out of an otherwise disasterous situation.
I love it when a mistake turns into a perk!
My 6 year old daughter and I had so much fun making magnets out of a Spanish Scrabble game my mom gave us. We don’t play Scrabble in Spanish. Because although my husband and I speak Spanish, I don’t think I could win a game of it since I can barely play it in English. (thank you very much!)
If you’ve never done a project with Scrabble letters, you have GOT to try it! This is my first experience with it and it was so much fun!
There’s never more gratification in a project than a good side by side before and after, right?!
Yeah. I think it was worth the wait to come up with the perfect idea.
Do you think they look playful?
Oh, and in case you’re wondering about the beautiful artwork on the before….nail polish from when my 5 year old was 3.
Yeah. These cupboards waited a long time for a makeover!
Thank you so much for letting me share with you today
Now go ahead and check out all these other great projects from my incredible friends!
Sew a Fine Seam
NEXT month our material is ‘Reclaimed Wood’, that’s going to be a tough choice. I see a game of eeny meany miney moe in my future! 😉
Do you have a project that includes sheet or corrugated metal? We’d like to see it, link up your project here!
Shelstring 
These are fabulous! What a great idea! Michele! 🙂
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Turned out great Michele! for me working with metal requires gloves! My husband bought me a pair that are leather on the palm side and some stretchy sort of fabric on the back side so they stretch and fit well. I love that the aluminum worked out and you didn't have to replace it!
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I just looooove your cabinets!! They are so cute and it is so wonderful that they are all about family!
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Turned out great Michele! for me working with metal requires gloves! My husband bought me a pair that are leather on the palm side and some stretchy sort of fabric on the back side so they stretch and fit well. I love that the aluminum worked out and you didn't have to replace it!
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How frustrating to have to do this twice, but so worth it. I really love it and am thinking of somewhere in my new house that I can do the same thing!
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A great post on determination, and its always good to learn something new in the process, right? lol Love the functional space you created! Why let all those doors go to waste?
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Michele,This is great. Wow what a wonderful use of the metal in this challenge. So clever.Kris
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