Hi again people,


I can't stand the dark wood vaneer on the cabinets! Im thinking of covering the doors with melamine. Am I missing the big picture here? Should I just replace them? Id love to see pics of what you people have come up with!
Click to view attachment

Someone used this product with excellent results. With your black and white floor, all you'd need is a red cushion or two to have the 50's diner look.

Appliance Adhesive

Ryan

I chose to re-finish in my restoration. Since I was going to surface them with oak venere I was able to clean up the 4 worn edges by trimming about 3/16 inch off them with my table saw. Then attached a 3/16th inch wood strip to bring them back to size. Then glued the venere to the inner and outer face surfaces iwth contact cement. Finished the 4 edges with the iron on oak venere trim ( boy is that a neat new invention). Then stained with a oak stain and gave them a coat of satin polyurethane.

The extra damp winter showed me I gave the table top a better coat of polyurethane than the cabinet doors (thought it would get more wear). There were some places on the cabinet doors where my venere expanded and bubbled a little with the grain. After checking with a refinisher he said just get out an old iron and iron them... I tried and it works - seems the heat softens the contact cement and re-bonds the venere and the wood flattens. I will be giving them a good coat of polyurethane when done!

Click to view attachment

I just took the easy route and just painted them along with the table to match.....it`s on my webshots site....Benny

Melamine will work just fine, you can take some medium sandpaper and go over the existing surface to break up the finish then stick the new stuff to it. If you have square edges I'd put the new stuff on there first then do the front and back. That way the reveal of the edging won't be peaking at you all the time, If the edges are a radius then you can try to match it with paint or as Ryan did make them square then glue the edges.

I simply made new doors and replaced. They're not hard to make.

Click to view attachment

The plain doors without decorations were not hard to make. I used 1/2" maple edged glued to get the width. Cut to size, round the edges, finish to your likes. I transfered hardware from the old doors to the new doors.

Ryan,

We are redoing our scamp in oak. The new closet doors are done.
Better pictures tomorrow.

Dave and Diane

I removed the Contac-paper type fake wood by heating it with a hair dryer and peeling it off. Then I just painted the doors white and added a yellow stripe. It was inexpensive and easy and it really brightened up the interior of our Scamp!
Sandra

here is mine..before and after...

I used Birch Plywood and rounded the edges then clear poly as a finish.
I even found a thin enough peice to do the fridge door with.
It just slid into the channel where the old on was.

This really brightened up my interior.

A few more

Here's the new cabinet doors installed
plus the new shortened version of the dinette table.
Happy Scamping Diane & Dave

Boy Diane you and Dave sure do fine work...it is amazing, the trailer of yours that I saw in Two Harbors vs your trailer with modifications...just amazing and beautifly done.

Jim Paskett

Well, the cabinet doors in our old Scamp were just those "imitation" pressed board ones- I felt NO hesitation at all in painting them. They are so small- if I ever got the urge for read wooden ones, it would be easy to just make them.

I am doing my decor in a Space theme... I thought wouldn't it be nice to get cool colored plastic panels to make new doors with? That would be SO nice. Some company, somewhere, makes such an item, I just know it- I'd just have to hunt.

My poor old brain is slipping. There was a science fiction series I read many years ago. In that series stuff made of "genuine plastic" was great demand. Every story had several references to "genuine plastic".

Maybe you're ahead of your time.

Ridout Plastics in San Diego, California Go to this link. You can even order it online.

What inspiration all of you are!

Diane, that's vitually what I'm planning to do with my doors, create a frame so I can change out my oil paintings. You did a nice job. Can you change the photos and if so, would you kindly post a picture of the inside?

Ed Harris, I love your birch doors! They are so pretty!


Byron, great looking project!


Deb, I've seen something of what you described in Europe at some of the design places I'v been...it's like looking at Tupperware! Yes, these could be fun. But, why not use plexiglass? You could get a clear door and etch it with a space theme! It would be veddy cool looking. If mine, I'd likely try to find a stainless edge to finish them off.
Just a thought...


What a group of talented people here!

I hear you all on that dark interior. it's the one reason we hadn't bought a boler or bigfoot before. So now that we have one...the question is how to brighten up that interior!

Since my husband is a carpenter replacing the doors isn't a hard one...

We've wondered about just painting the interior or replacing the panelling - but replacing seems like a ton of work....

I chose to resurface the cabinets in my 17' boler. But Man, there are about 20 cabinets!. I chose to resurface in feaux woodgrain. I used natural looking formica laminate for durability, cleaning and reduce the amount of staining sanding I needed to do. As for the doors, I used Birch flooring strips as the frames, and tore apart the old doors and used them as backing for the new ones. See the before and after pictures. So far, I got 3/4 done. The other 1/4 I am going to paint. They are on the other side of the trailer that do don't see in these pictures.

Click to view attachmentI'd say replace them and do something cool instead! The 2 on the ends of mine were just cupboard doors from a former kitchen renovation that I salvaged, I painted them, decorated them and put an epoxy finish on. Since I only had 2, I made the middle one from a scrap of 1/2 plywood, painted it, decorated it and put in a mirror. All of my other doors and drawers match also. Was an easy and fun project for a change!

Hi. I joined this site yesterday. This is all new to me so I hope I am replying right. I am so happy with all the info I am finding in these forums. We just bought an 82 13 foot Buro a couple days ago and I am going oh where do I start. I need to do the cabinet doors.

The photos here are great. Wow.

I'd like everything to match as far as the wood goes.The guy we bought it from was working on it or rather going to.

Whatever was covering the spot where the furnace went is missing. The floor has linoleum on it and you can see where it was cut off at the edges with space showing all around. Doesnt look good. The fridge is gone and that space needs to be covered. The cushions are just cushions with nothing on em but sheets sewn. The exterior doesnt shine after washing and looks like chalk. Oh dear. Where to start.

Hi Dorie! Start with the safety issues first, then on to the cosmetic issues. But most of all, don't wait until the trailer is absolutely perfect before enjoying it. Camping season has started, if the trailer tows safely...enjoy it! Save some of that decorating/modifying stuff for the winter. After you use the trailer for a while, you'll discover ideas of exactly what you want/need to modify/fix.

Hi Donna. Well you are right. It is safe and towable. Tires in good shape. Am gonna clean the inside today. It will be clean and ready to go. Just have to get the cushions covered with something for now.

Thank you!

Click to view attachmentClick to view attachmentClick to view attachment

These were the cupboards that came with my unit. Originally, they were covered in the same tar-like chestnut brown shellac that we see in most trailers. However, underneath: oak. They were stripped, sanded and bleached (which wasn't smart because the old chestnut stain leached to the surface again), sanded again, and then pickled with a cream-colered latex glaze to match the interior fiberglass. Because the interior panels on the cupboards were only oak veneer, the backs were ugly and the old varnish was tough to eradicate, so they were painted with about 4 coats of the same paint I used to glaze the cupboard facings. In some areas where the chestnut stain was really soaked in, the stain would leach to the surface of the paint - and this happened even with a top quality sealing primer, so now you know the reason for the 4 coats.

I couldn't find hardware anywhere that would fit the original holes so I ended up painting the original hardware with silver paint. Turns out I don't mind the hardware - it has ends that stick up that are perfect for hooking things onto - like dishtowels, garbage bags, etc.

Bravo folks! Those are some beautiful sets of cabinets and drawers! Like many of you, we also wanted to improve the appearance and function of our older trailer, so we discarded the original pressboard / vaneer cabinet doors on out 1984 Casita. As replacements, we built all new cabinet doors and a natural wood countertop that are complementary to the original burnt-orange shag carpet. The new closet, pantry, and cabinet doors were constructed of ¼” oak panels, reinforced by ¼” stiffeners in the back, and trimmed with pine molding. We used adjustable Sun-Dog brass stud catches (attached sideways to oak plates) for the latches.

Click to view attachment Click to view attachment

The new countertop is constructed of laminated 3/4” pine boards that were stained lightly with Minwax natural wood finish, and trimmed by oak. I installed long wood shims between the fiberglass cabinet base and the countertop to level-out the counter surface, and the shims are hidden by oak molding. The countertop was attached by stainless steel wood screws and construction adhesive. I used a jigsaw to remove the cut outs for the propane burner, sink, and pump, and then finished the woodwork with several coats of Minwax Helmsman Spar urethane (semi-gloss). I also added a bead of white latex kitchen caulking around the back and side where the countertop abuts against the fiberglass. I was able to salvage and re-install the original sink, but I added a new LC triple-action low-boy pump, and a new Suburban 2-burner stainless steel drop-in propane cook-top. I also hollowed out a section of bamboo to accept and hide the metal conduit for the electrical wires that run from beneath the sink to the new 120V AC / 12V DC lights located above the sink and propane burners.

Click to view attachment Click to view attachment

Steve

Well. being a lover of NATURAL wood, I started sanding down all of the the doors on our Trillium, only to discover that the dark wood grain was actually fake, and underneath are beautiful fine grain plywood doors. So with Dale's help we are sanding off the old finish and I will be varnishing the unstained natural wood. This will then blend in quite well with the beautiful shelves that Ed added- and lighten up the interior even more! More pictures will are on the website now-

Pat

Edited to correct the link:
http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures...l?id=2106439541