Make a Tray from a Cabinet Door | Pretty Handy Girl

Make a Tray from a Cabinet Door | Pretty Handy Girl

One of my favorite places to thrift shop is the Habitat ReStore. I mean, where else can you find cool $2 cabinet doors?

Make a Tray from a Cabinet Door | Pretty Handy Girl

This fine cast off door is just screaming to be upcycled into a beautiful tray. Especially when the same thrifting adventure yielded VERY COOL door hardware! Simply combine the two and you have yourself a unique serving tray to give as a gift (or keep for yourself.)

Make a Tray from a Cabinet Door | Pretty Handy Girl

Materials:

  • Cabinet door
  • Door handle or cabinet handle
  • Wood putty
  • Putty knife
  • Ruler
  • Pencil
  • Drill
  • Drill bits
  • Screwdriver bit
  • Rubber bumpers

Optional: Rub n’ Buff Gold Leaf

The steps are super simple. Read more

Reinforcing You Door is Easy

Reinforce an Entry Door

Burglar proofing your home is easy. Especially f you have a gazillion dollars to hire security guards, attack dogs and a web of lasers. Ahh, to dream a dream. But, for those of us who actually have a budget there’s a quick solution. And it’ll help you sleep a lot easier at night.

Having a home invasion is nerve wracking to say the least (yes, I’ve experienced this), I understand the fear many homeowners face:

A  passionate desire to keep our family safe from all the badness in the world.

Think about this, in many instances the only things stopping a robber from kicking open your front door are 1/2 inch screws, some thin metal (in the form of hinges and  strike plates), and at best a wimpy 1 inch piece of wood called your door jamb. Um, I think my 74 year old dad could kick open most people’s doors.

Today I’ll walk you through the installation of EZ Armor (affiliate link). And How to Reinforce an Entry Door and Make it Burglar Proof!

EZ Armor is a door reinforcement kit you can buy for $69. You need limited tools and 15 minutes.

Here’s a supply list to help you get started:

(I’ve included affiliate links for your convenience. I earn a small percentage from a purchase using these links. There is no additional cost to you. You can read more about affiliate links here.)

I promise you’ll boost your home’s safety by leaps and bounds by using EZ Armor. It only take a few minutes to understand why.

The EZ Armor kit I bought came with the following accessories:

  • Jamb shield (1)
  • Hinge shields (2)
  • Door shields (2)
  • 2 1/2 inch screws (4)
  • 3 1/2 inch screws (17)

Reinforce an Entry Door and Make it Burglar Proof

Okay, if you’re an excitable DIYer like me you might dive right into the installation. You can watch the video or read the photo tutorial below:

Read more

Trim a door with a power planer

Trim a door with a power planerDoors that rub the floor or jamb are flat out annoying. This problem is typically fixed by tightening or shimming hinges. But sometimes the door just needs to be shaved down a tiny bit and this can be accomplished by using a power planer. The Ryobi planer used in this tutorial is cheaper than pair of Nikes. You can find a factory reconditioned one on Amazon for $35 (buying factory reconditioned tools is a great way to save a ton of money :-)).

Today you’ll learn how to trim the bottom or top of your door. It’s simple, straight forward, and will save you at least $50-$75 (the cost a carpenter or handyman would probably charge).

Here are the supplies you’ll need to trim any wood door (hollow or solid core): Read more

How to Install Window Trim

Hi everyone, I’m Cristina from Remodelando la Casa, and I’m beyond excited to join the team of Pretty Handy gals and guys!  I’m still pinching myself at such a wonderful opportunity.

Today I’m going to show you a fairly easy way to transform your builder grade windows from plain and boring to beautiful with loads of character and with a more finished appearance.

trimmed left window lg

Right now I’m working on updating my bedroom, where I have a couple of these windows.

small window sills lg

 They look  like they are wearing skirts, but forgot to put on the tops! 🙂  Yeap, naked!

plain builder's windows lg

Let’s change that by dressing up those windows! Read more


A few months ago when I got the call that Woman’s Day wanted to send a photographer to photograph me and my garage, I kind of freaked a little. I mean, it was my garage, the least attractive room in our house! Part of the unattractiveness stemmed from my workbench with a huge gaping hole in it.

It was suggested that I could just cover the hole with some fabric (which, yes, I could have done.) But, being that it is my workshop and a sawdust producing place, I felt I could do a little a little better than just some fabric. I decided to build custom doors for the opening. Luckily they turned out to be less of an involved project than I originally anticipated. (I love when that happens.)

Come on in the workshop and I’ll show you how I built these open frame cabinet doors. Read more