Chalk Painting the Cabinet Doors in my Casita Travel Trailer

This is my first article of a seven-article How-To series on the Glamping makeover of  my Casita Travel Trailer:

(Please see my post, My Casita Camper “Before Glamping” Pictures, to learn why I chose to buy a Casita Travel Trailer, including before pictures as I cleaned her up to get ready for her makeover). 

Chalk Painting Cabinet Doors:

The picture you see here is what the interior of my Casita looked like before the makeover.

If you notice, the interior walls are either white molded fiberglass or carpet, except the cabinet doors.

The cabinet doors are standard MDF door construction made to look like wood.

My Casita is a 2006 model, but the newer models are still made with these MDF doors and similar hardware. It is a nice, clean look but not Glamped enough for me.

Where do I get my inspiration?

I receive my inspiration from many sources, but if you go to my Pinterest board, Glamping Trailer Interiors, you will see a wonderful potpourri of camper designs!

I genuinely believe that ALL of the designs I save to my Pinterest board are beautiful, suiting the taste of the person who created them.

And while I LOVE color, which is all over my home, I wanted a subtle interior in my travel trailer, a little shabby chic mixed with a beach cottage feel.

Preparing to Chalk Paint my Casita

The image below shows what the carpet on the walls looks like.

Outside of all the labor involved in cleaning the carpet in my Casita, painting the cabinet doors was the MOST labor-intensive.

NOTE! You cannot shortcut this section. If you want to paint your cabinet doors, take the time and do it right. You will be delighted that you did.

8 Steps to Chalk Painting Cabinet Doors:

Step 1: Remove all the cabinet doors to be painted.

The obvious first step in this process is to remove all the cabinet doors you want to paint.

However, what is easy to forget is to tag the back of each door with a numbered sticker and place another sticker with the same number at the place where you removed the door.

This step is critical because many of the cabinet door panels are the same size, and you want to make sure each panel goes back on the hardware you removed it from so everything (i.e., screw holes) lines up, or your doors may not fit well.

Also, note I said, “remove all the cabinet doors that you want to paint.”

I decided that any door in my Casita hidden from view would stay in its original condition (i.e., brown).

After all, chalk paint can be expensive, and if you are not going to see the door, why paint it? (The last picture in this post shows you some of the painted doors and walls and those that remained unpainted.)

Step 2: Selecting the chalk paint colors and tools.

I must share with you upfront: this is NOT my first chalk painting project, and I did take a class on several ways to work with chalk paint.

Depending on your personal skill level, taking a class may or may not be necessary. However, I consider myself an artist/designer by trade, and I still find training by someone who has worked with the material very beneficial.

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The paint I was trained on is Annie Sloan. There are many brands out there, and from what I hear others say, this is one of the more expensive, but it hasn’t failed me yet. I love how well it goes on.

Another popular and easy-to-find brand is DecoArt AMERICANA DECORE CHALKY FINISH SHABBY CHIC PAINT. (affiliate link)  This link is for their Serene color. You can start there and search for their other colors.

Again, I have not used this paint, but if this is the only paint available to you, it gets good reviews and seems worth a try (and at that price, I think I will order it to use on some projects).

You can also find recipes on the Internet for making your chalk paint. I may like to try that on a future project, but my camper doors were not the place to experiment.

If you want to make chalk paint, this post on user experience with chalk paint brands is excellent. It includes reviews of paint and how to make your recipe.

So why did I choose chalk paint over other forms of paint?

While I love the look of chalk paint, the number one reason I chose to use it is that you DO NOT have to prep the surface you will paint.

No sanding of any kind! It doesn’t even have to be wood! I’ve seen it used on leather and metal, too!

This photo shows everything I used to paint my cabinet doors and walls:

• A 32-ounce can of Pure White. This is the “whitest” of the Annie Sloan colors.
• Small jar of Coco. Where I buy my paint, I can purchase small containers of colors. This saves me money from buying a 32-ounce can for a color I rarely use. I used the Coco color to add a dry brush technique to my doors, giving a subtle, aged look.
• Anne Sloan’s Soft Wax in clear. (She makes a dark wax, which I have used on other projects, and although I have never tried it, I understand you can add a little chalk paint to the clear wax to tint it to whatever you please.)
• Painter’s Tape and a Cheap Paint Brush. I want to emphasize the “cheap” paintbrush. Annie Sloan does make some very nice brushes to use with her products, but I am tough on brushes, and the brush in the photo does the trick for me. Furthermore, I have no guilt about throwing it away. If you take better care of your brushes than I do, you might want to invest in one of Annie Sloan’s; they are very nice.

The next photo is a color palette I made when I took my class, and it shows all the different colors in the Annie Sloan series. As you can see, there is a beautiful collection of colors!

Step 3:  Lining up my doors to paint and covering hardware with painter’s tape:

I painted the cabinet doors on my kitchen table, covered with an old bedsheet. Even with this preparation, soft specks of paint did get on my tile floors, which I had to clean. So, if you want to avoid that step, cover your floors, too!

I also taped the hardware to protect it from the paint, which you will see in Step 4 below.

If you wish, you can remove all the hardware, but you would want to make sure to number which hardware went to which door so the screws line up again when you are done. I didn’t feel that step was necessary (and too much work!).

Step 4: Initial Coats of Chalk Paint

You will note that the top door has one coat of chalk paint in the image below, and the bottom door has two. I used three coats of Pure White paint on all surfaces.

Note: When working with the paint, and to give the illusion of “grain,” I painted in the same direction as the original grain on the doors. Also, note in the next photo that I chose not to paint the back of my doors.

Again, there is a cost to chalk paint. But I chose to leave them in their natural state so I could scrub them should anything they hide get on the door. Chalk paint does clean well, but why worry if you don’t have to?

Step 5: Dry Brushing with Coco Color

To create a dry brush effect, take your second color, put a small amount on your brush, then dab it on a paper towel to remove most of the paint. Then, in a light sweeping motion, barely touching the door, brush up and down in the “grain” direction to get the look you want.

How much you put on is entirely up to you, and you may wish to practice on a sample board beforehand. But if you mess up, no worries; cover the mistake with more Pure White paint, and give it another try!

Look closely at these doors, and you can see I dry brushed in an upward fashion, making sure to add a little more on the edges of the door.

Step 6: Adding Architectural Detail to a Door

It was important to me that one door had some architectural detail and wasn’t flat. So, I chose the door above the sink in my Casita to add some detail.

In the following four images, you will see how I transformed this plain door by gluing on a piece of wood accent molding I purchased at the local home store.

If you can’t find something similar at your local hardware store, this molding is close to what I used: Ekena Millwork Small Farmingdale Center with Scrolls (affiliate link).

Once the wood glue dried, I painted it with three coats of Pure White (a little more paint was needed to fill in all the molding details) and then dry brushed it with Coco. I love the way this door turned out!

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Step 7: Chalk Painting the Dinette Table

Painting the dinette table was the same as painting the cabinet doors.

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Note the can of Soft Wax on the table. This helped seal the chalk paint, especially for the dinette table, because it creates a waterproof surface, so liquids do not absorb into the paint, making for easy cleanup.

All my chalk-painted cabinet doors and walls got at least one coat of clear wax, which I applied AFTER reinstalling in my camper.

I chose to add the wax after I reinstalled the doors because you must rub the wax in, just like you were waxing a car.

I found it easier to complete this process when I had the door hinged and locked.

Step 8: Chalk Painting Interior Walls and reinstalling doors in the camper.

In this last image, you can see where I added chalk paint to the center panel, dividing the dinette area from the bed.

Also, note all the surfaces I did not paint. The bed will cover those surfaces, so I felt no need to paint them.

My cabinet doors and interior walls are complete, and I already see a significant transformation in my camper!

The white cabinet doors have brightened and opened the space, and I love the look!

In my next article, I will share how I added teal spray paint accents to some of the Casita’s interior and exterior surfaces.

In the meantime, please feel free to ask me any questions you may have, make comments, or share experiences. I’d love to hear from you!

Happy Trails!
Mrs. Padilly

Mrs. Padilly’s 17′ Spirit Deluxe Casita Travel Trailer’s Glamping Makeover Series:

Introduction:

• My Casita Travel Trailer’s “Before Glamping” Pictures.

Casita Glamping Makeover:

• Chalk Painting Cabinet Doors
• Adding Teal Paint to Accent Surfaces
• Installing a Tile Backsplash
• Installing Wood Vinyl Flooring
• Stenciling the Screen Door
• Window Treatments
• Dressed for Glamping

Check out my Shasta Makeover Series. Just click below to go to the first article in the series. 

• Decorating My Shasta’s Screen Door.