Welcome back to Craftsman Drive, I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and the New Year is going well. LMB and myself finally had a chance to fully enjoy the Christmas time without the rush of coming into town on vacation and squeezing four families in a week before heading back. We got to take our time and it was really nice not worrying about the trip back to NC. Now that we are rooted in MI and slowly getting settled in, I finally had an opportunity to build a DIY window cabinet, and here it is.
How To.
1. Measure the dimensions for your window. You will be building a box around the perimeter of this window with an 1/16th gap all the way around. The size of the boards I used for the bottom, sides, and top were 1×8. I left a half of an inch overhang on the top board just for esthetic appeal.
2. Fit in the shelves. All I did was place the shelf at the level where the horizontal muntin, or strip of wood that separates the window panes met. The shelves are 1×8 as well but cut to be slightly recessed back from the frontside ignored to achieve for a flush window to the box. For added strength to the shelves, I placed support 3/4 x 2 boards underneath the sides and the back of each shelf. I clamped the support in place using Kreg Jig clamps.
3. Place a 1/4 inch thick plywood for the backing, install hinges on the window and box frame, drill a hole for the knob and your are done with the build. I used countersinks for exterior framework, so after the build was done I used wood filler to fill in the countersink holes.
4. Stain your piece first, allow for darker and lighter spots for more realistic look once your start painting.
Tools Needed.
Clamps
Drill
Level
Hammer
Countersink drill bit (optional)
Miter Saw
Table Saw
Tape measure
Pneumatic nail gun
Stain Brush
Paint Brush
Materials.
2-1×8@6ft pine boards
48in x 48in x 1/4in plywood
3/4 x 2 pine
Pneumatic Nails
Screws
Stain (Minwax Espresso)
Paint
Knob
A Window
That is it. This DIY window cabinet is a super easy build and it creates additional storage for your bathroom, something that you can never have enough of. Let me know what you think find me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Thanks
Here you will follow Mr. and Mrs. LMB on their journey with redoing their 1800's farmhouse, taking on new hobbies, and sharing their day to day adventures.
beautiful, thanks for the excellent tutorial.
What color was the paint you did over the stain and what finish was it? What a beautiful job matching the cabinet to the door!
Lisa,
The paint color is Swiss Coffee by Behr. Yeah it is a lot of playing with paint and stain in order to match the window. Thank you for the complement
LOVE this! What a great job you did….hoping my husband can do the same. Thanks for sharing!
It looks great, I may have to try making one but it will definitely have to wait until it warms up, my garage isn’t heated and it’s COLD outside!
Tania
How did you make the cabinet look the way it does with the stain and paint? How was it painted. Did you Stain the whole thing then paint over? Thanks! Love this diy cabinet idea
Yes stain the piece and really let it sit for a few days to make sure all of the stain is soaked in. Follow it up with brushing a little paint at a time. While you paint keep referring to the window for reference of thickness and patterns in the paint. Remember play around with a side and if you don’t like it, sand the paint off and try again. Best of luck.
Did you water down the paint at all?
Nice work
Hi, great job and great tutorial! Thanks for the paint colour and the explanation on how you matched the new wood to the old window. You make it sound so easy! I’m your newest fan! Am about to take a wander through your blog posts.
Great project and tutorial. I’m thinking if I can’t find a window frame with glass I can add chicken wire also.
Thanks for the idea.
Love your cabinet, have to make myself one!
Well done, I really love the outcome. It’s rustic and well made. Bravo!
How did you hang it?
Hey Kirsten,
I located the studs on the wall I would be hanging it on with a studfinder. Using a 3 inch wood screw, I screwed the cabinet at the support boards, located underneath the top and bottom shelf, to the stud. I used two screws on the top support board, and two on the bottom. This is a two person job, and I would recommend prescrewing while hanging it so the screws are already in the wood and just need to be fully installed once in place. Hope this helps, thank you for reading.
What a lovely cabinet you made! It looks beautiful as a rustic medicine cabinet…absolutely perfect! Thank you for easy to follow directions too.
ps. – I enjoy both of your blogs tremendously. I too am a Western Michigander although I’ve been in No CA since 1985. I’ve always said, Western Michigan is this country’s best kept secret! I lived on Lake Michigan and a part of my soul will always be there. I do travel back…but in the summer when Pronto Pups taste best (to me :-} ).
Thank you so much Jan, we dream of one day living on Lake Michigan, and especially in Grand Haven so we are walking distance to Pronto Pups. They just opened back up a few days ago!!!! We are very strict-Gluten Free, however we 100% cheat for Pronto Pups and Fricano’s Pizza! Thank you for reading.
Did you use any clear coat over it
Yes, Masion Blanche clear wax. Thank you for reading.
Hi! Do you have any for sale?
Not at the moment, but I make them occasionally and they will be for sale in Hudsonville, Michigan at The Found Cottage, Liz Marie’s store.
I am just really getting into projects like this and I got 2 old wooden windows just yesterday. I think I would like to make this for our guest bathroom. I have a question, these windows, do you do anything special to them to sanitize them in any way?
I will take my shop vac and vacuum any cobwebs or dirt if it was outside. If it really bad, I’ll blow it out with my air compressor at about 20 – 40 psi. Windex the windows and its ready to go in my book. I don’t spray or apply any sealer to it, sometimes doing such can change the color, and take a chippy white to a dingy white-yellow. Good luck.
Question: How did you find the window that is so thin, heavy thing I am finding is thick and heavy. Did you take the window apart?
Julie,
Great question! Old chippy antique or weathered windows are going to be the best for this project, simply because they have been completely dried out, and have lost a lot of their weight due to this. If you have a very special window you would like to use, you may just have to upgrade your hinges to support the weight. This is not an official method, but, if you have a normal scale at home, stand on the scale without the window, and then with the window, get the difference and then you have a fairly accurate measurement of weight for the window. Take that to the local home improvement store and find a hinge that will handle that weight. Hope this helps and thanks for reading.
Great cabinet! I am sharing this on Pinterest.
Thank you So much Roberta, that means a lot.
💕I love everything about it💕
Hi, I found a 28 by 28 window and getting ready for doing this project. I’m a bit confused why your plywood was 48 by 48 is it because the window was? Thank you!
Hi Wendy,
I am so excited for you please send me a picture of how it turns out. The 48×48 sheet of plywood was just the piece I bought as a whole, I cut it down to fit the backside of the cabinet, with the idea of using the remainder for other projects later on. When you go to the store they typically will sell them in a variety of sizes, 24×24, 24×48, 48×48.. That was just the one I bought. So sorry for the confusion. If you don’t want to haul the big piece of 48×48 have store cut it for you, make sure you account for the thickness of the wood used for the side and tops.
Thank you for responding. I figured it out and I kept the rest for future projects. However, my window appears to be heavier than the one you may have used because it dips lower at the top right hand opening side of the cabinet (I switched my open/close side opposite of yours) I’m not sure if that’s even a clear statement! I’m trying to figure out if I need to move up the hinge or get a stronger magnet for the closing. I have 2 magnets in place at the top and bottom of the window when I close it. I also have, what appear to be, small hinges (2 or 2 1/2 inches) on the side, but about 8 inches in from the the top/ bottom. What do you suggest??
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