Skirting The Issue: A $4 Sink Skirt Makeover

Hey remember when you were a kid, and sitting on top of cabinet doors was a thing?  What?  You never did that?  Yeah, I never did either.  Its bad enough when the little ones do it, but when your tween takes a spin at door sitting...

Lets just say that I was not pleased with the results, but it gave me an interesting challenge to overcome because...

all of a sudden we were experiencing a door gap.  Out of all the gap-iness one could be experiencing this is by far the most depressing.  Ok not depressing so much a annoying.

Our house is a modest 39 years old, which is a good vintage according to Señor Hotness, and the cabinets were custom built.  They were actually constructed very similarly to how we built our custom cabinets in our old kitchen. However, we have discovered that they didn't secure the joints properly.  They probably held up initially great, but 39 years of wear and tear and they aren't holding up the best.  So a new kitchen is probably in our future (the distance future).  Which means that when something breaks in our current kitchen we are looking for simple easy fixes that don't require a lot effort.  I like to call them duct tape and bubble gum fixes.  As in I fixed this with bubble gum, and that with duct tape.  The true challenge is finding a way to make duct tape and bubble gum fixes still look pretty, and not all janked out.

So since we aren't anywhere near ready to do a full kitchen overhaul right now I was looking at a duct tape and bubble gum fix for sure.  One that would look great, be practical, and be super low on cost.

One option would have been simply moving the hinge slightly, and then screwing it back in and hope that no one else sat on it. 

 

Then you have to worry about the old unsightly holes left behind, and while I'm not opposed to puttying the holes and painting over it, I wasn't wanting to be forced into that decision because of a stupid hinge that got pulled loose because a big kid decided to sit her tush upon it.

So I wasn't really on board with the 'lets just adjust the hinge' camp.  Since this was actually the sink cabinet I thought wouldn't it be cute if I just put a sink skirt on there.  It'll hide the unsightly holes, and look soft and whimsical at the same time.

After that decision was made it was time to absolutely agonize over ever other aspect of the project.

There was also a drawer to consider close to the problem area.  One that I use.  So any curtain rod I got could have a projection no more than 2 inches, or the drawer wouldn't be able to open and close anymore.  I thought about using velcro, but decided that wasn't the look I was wanting to go with.  I must have looked at half a dozen different types of rods.  In the end I went with a super cheapy "sash" rod.  It had a super low profile, and was a very petite rod.  The best of all was the cost.  It was less than $4 for one.  The only downside is its cream and brass color combo was less than desirable, but that is something a little spray paint can fix.

Then there was deciding what to use for the curtain.  I was going to use some drop cloth, and make a faux grain sack look.  I actually really love that look, but have I mention my intense laziness.  I have LONG periods of procrastination interspersed with intense bouts of productiveness.  Unfortunately there was a few weeks of procrastination period to go through before I was willing to do the grain sack curtains.  Then there was also the issue of it needing to be a water friendly curtain since it was going to be a skirt for the sink area.  Then I had a total light bulb moment.  What about a shower curtain?  Those are literally made for a wet area, AND we just so happened to have one we weren't using.  It was a really nice one that was up in the house when we bought it, but I put up mine that I was in love with and this poor thing had been just languishing in my closet.

Did I mention it was also a swanky Pottery Barn shower curtain.

So I measured 1 inch above the seam in the cabinet on both sides.  Then I held the bracket up there, and marked the holes with a pencil.  Then using Señor Hotness's power drill I predrilled the holes for the screws.

As you can see I chose not to fix the brassy issue right now.  Mostly because I really wanted to get it up, and see if I even liked the look.  So many things make sense in your head, but don't always pan out in reality.  That and the humidity was pretty high so I didn't bother.  Its a pretty easy thing to remedy at a later date so I went a head and got it going now instead of dealing with the janky hanging door.

And miracle of miracles...it was level.  Like I knew what I was doing or something.

Before I cut anything I put it on to see if I liked the way it was going to look.  Please forgive the wrinkles.  I don't iron unless under extreme duress.

Then it was time for the drawer test, and we passed with flying colors.  Again it was like I had measured, and researched and thought through the problem!  So I totally scored one for successful problem solving.

My old foe.  As much as I hate ironing I really needed to get all those crazy wrinkles out, and I love the raw edginess of an unhemmed edge as much as the next girl but I wasn't going for that kind of edginess for my curtain.  I am needing this to last a while, and I am always so leary of the true longevity of raw edged curtains.  Then there was also that this was going to be in a high traffic area.  So I decided ironing, and using heat and bond tape would be in order to hem up the raw edge.

As you can see this stuff only runs about $3 at Hobby Lobby.  I've actually had this one for a while, and have used it for several little projects since I'm a non-sewer (is that the right word for someone that doesn't sew?  It seems like that is more descriptive of an area that isn't a sewer). 

Anyway I really like the way this one turned out.  I love the look.  It fun, whimsical, and is a total duct tape and bubble gum fix without looking like one.

This entire project only cost me a little less than $4 for the rod.  I didn't have to worry about how to hang the skirt since I reused a shower curtain which meant it came with its own hanging holes.  The sash rod was the perfect diameter to fit nicely into hanging holes.

So don't let a unsightly problem kill your design.  Use the weakness as an opportunity to add more style to what can be a blah area.  Now get out there, and make something pretty.

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