How to Cover a Medicine Cabinet With a Picture Frame (Budget DIY)

My medicine cabinet in the guest bathroom was dated: rusty inside, not pretty outside. But I didn’t want to pull it out, because the concept of a medicine cabinet is actually good. The shelves move to any height you want, which matters more than it sounds when one half of your shelf is a tall bottle, and the other half is a box of floss. So when I started refreshing our guest bathroom, I wanted the cabinet to stay. It just needed to stop looking the way it looked.

The first attempt, which didn’t work

Like every lazy person, I wanted to save the day with minimal effort. Minimal effort meant just painting the cabinet frame.

My bathroom was going dark: wood tones and green walls. The cabinet had a synthetic metal frame, and I decided gold would fit the room, the old vintage kind of gold. Rub’n’Buff fitted the budget and the absence of skill. I primed the frame first so the Rub ‘n Buff would actually grip the metal, and then rubbed the Antique Gold on.

Since I Rub’n’Buffed the electric plates with the same gold, the mirror and plates created a coherent picture, but it still looked very plain. So I started looking for something more drastic.

[Photo: the gold frame and matching electric plates]

Framing a medicine cabinet

The idea was to cover the entire cabinet door with a single large framed picture. So I measured the door and went looking for a frame I could attach to it.

This is where it got annoying. The door is an odd size – 16’ x 26’ (40.5 x 66 cm), and no standard frame came close. That left two options: 1. Custom framing, 2. Secondhand. 

Custom framing wasn’t in the budget. So secondhand it was.

I drove to San Diego’s Largest Vintage Mall and spent two hours there with a tape measure, checking every frame that looked about right. I found one. The size worked, it was one inch wider and just a couple of inches taller than my cabinet. I kept the frame and backboard and removed the painting inside it.

The picture (about $50)

Since the bathroom is wood and green, I wanted something with a tree or a floral pattern. I found a print I liked on Etsy and had it printed at a local art print shop. That part cost me around $50.

Glass out, plexiglass in (about $40)

The frame came with glass, but glass is heavy, and this was going onto a cabinet door that swings open and shut all day. I didn’t want that weight pulling on the door and decided that plexiglass would do the job – it’s light.

Amazon had it, but it was pricey for what I needed and never in the exact size. So I went to Facebook Marketplace and found a guy selling two large plexiglass sheets, and bought them for about $40. I also got an acrylic scoring knife from Amazon and cut one sheet down to size myself. It took 15 to 20 minutes. Easier than I expected.

The frame, the print, and the plexiglass went together cleanly. To get the whole thing onto the door, I ran Scotch Extreme Fasteners along the back of the frame and stuck it straight onto the cabinet mirror. It’s holding well. I also touched up the frame itself with Rub’n’Buff to create cohesion with the electric plates located below the cabinet.

The inside was a different story

The outside was sorted. The inside was rough — rusty in patches. I coated the whole interior with Rusty Metal Primer, sanded it down with 220-grit, and painted it a Sherwin-Williams green called Muddled Basil.

The shelves I knew I’d be wiping down constantly, so on those I added a coat of Protective Enamel over the green paint. I’d rather do one extra step now than watch the paint come off every time I clean a shelf.

The back wall I left alone. The plan was peel-and-stick paper, and I might still do it if I end up with a leftover piece that matches the rest of the room. For now, it’s fine without it. 

Final result

The cabinet I almost replaced is now the thing I actually like in that bathroom. Most of what I spent went to the print and the plexiglass; the frame came cheap from the market, and I already had the primer and paint. 

See the final result:

The cost:

• Vintage frame: $45
• Plexiglass/acrylic: $20 (one sheet)
• Acrylic scoring knife: $11
• Fasteners: $20
• Print: $50

Total: $146