Introduction: Repurposing an Old Wooden Medicine Cabinet Into Cool Shadow Box

About: I received a BA in the practice of Art at the University of California, Berkeley in 1987. I completed a Master’s degree in Education with an emphasis in counseling at San Diego State in 1990. I love working o…

What you will need :

Something to convert into a shadow box. I used an old medicine cabinet. Consider an old dart board case. Opens from the middle (doesn't have glass to see inside though)

Paint- I used blue glitter paint (blue is one of my daughters favorite colors) bought at Home Depot/Martha Stewart brand

Sand Paper, paint (I bought Navy blue glitter paint/Home Depot)

Carving tool - If you want to carve out the wood grain like I did.

Foam core board - to replace back of cabinet with/allows pictures and other "stuff" to be pinned or glued.

decorative jewels and other detailing items for inside of box/Michaels or crasft store.

screwdriver - To remove door and back of cabinet

Flat black spray - For back of project (if needed or desired)

Frame hanging kit - So you can hang your shadow box once completed.

Light source - Bought cool battery powered 3 LED light/Home Depot

Step 1: Find a Suitable Shadow Box

I found a 1930's medicine cabinet for a song on Craiglist.

Step 2:

Being wood, I decided to sand it down to its' original wood color.

Step 3:

I decided to highlight the natural wood grains by carving out the lines, filling the grooves with blue glitter paint (blue is one of my daughters favorite colors) bought at Home Depot/Martha Stewart brand. I then re-sanded the wood to leave only the glitter paint in the grooves. I lightly stained the whole piece to maintain the natural wood color.

Step 4:

I then proceeded to replace the back (old, rotting plywood) with foam core to allow for pushpins and other ways to add pictures to the inside. I also painted the inside of the box in blue glitter paint (blue is one of my daughters favorite colors) bought at Home Depot/Martha Stewart brand.

Step 5:

I kept to the natural wood idea by utilizing small, medium and regular clothespins (small and medium clothespins purchased at Michaels; regular pins found at 99 cent store). These were attached using small nuts and bolts for the medium pins and hot glue gun for the small pins. The large pins were paired down (too long) with the help of a Dremel tool and attached to looped screws to hold my daughter's jean jacket.

Step 6:

I added various stickers bought at Michaels. I left some small pins without pictures for my daughter to add from the batch of pictures of her I will present with the shadow box. I added a battery operated light source on the inside of the cabinet for nice effect. Lastly, I added a scroll with a personal message from me that hangs on the inside of the door to the shadow box. As you can see by the pictures the project came out well.