French Country Cabinets

 ***Guest post by my daughter Mel***

You will be able to find more of Mel's DIY and French Country decorating ideas, on her page-  "Mel's French Country Chic"- soon!!!

Here is her tutorial on how she took basic store-bought cabinets and turned them into country chic!  Enjoy!

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We bought a new townhouse 6 years ago, and though the appliances were never used and  the floors had never been lived on, it was bare bones. New homes have their perks of course, fewer problems,but imagine white walls everywhere and little character.  So over the years, my husband and I have made it our own. This year after seeing this amazing picture of a laundry closet on Pinterest, I realized that we had to do something with our own laundry closet!

I loved the teal, which I already had in our living room and I absolutely loved the look of the cabinets and potential storage I could achieve. However, ours looks a bit different.  We do not have the amazing washer dryer set seen here and the DIY table with the old legs wouldn't work.  So I improvised and used this picture as my inspiration.  

I began by buying some cabinets from Menards, plain- untreated cabinets. The cost was just under $150.00 for these three individual cedar cabinets.  

  

Then I took the paint color that I used in my living room ( I am not a huge fan of a massive color pallet-one color for each room etc.  I take 3-4 colors and use them throughout to keep a more simple consistent feel to the flow of the house) and painted each piece. 

I wanted a more distressed look to them so I decided to "antique" the cabinets.  I took chocolate brown paint in a plastic bowl and diluted it with water until it was super runny. I wanted the brown to only come through in the cracks so I made it extra runny so I could add more later in case I wanted it darker.  Then with a paint brush I painted the brown-watered down paint over the teal.  After waiting just a few minutes, I took a rag and wiped the paint off.  Wiping it off makes it look more even.  Don't leave the watered down paint-whatever shade you use- on too long because it can make it look a bit uneven and really dark.  The rag helps to even out the tone.   

Last, after the pieces were all dry I assembled the cabinets and picked some cute knobs from Target and my husband hung them. 

This is how it turned out!  A great thanks to my Mom for the amazing laundry sign!