DIY Beadboard Electrical Panel Cover & Cabinet Faux Double Door

How to make an easy farmhouse-cottage beadboard electrical panel cover for an exposed panel and create a faux double door for an upcycled cabinet.

When we created a mudroom from a garage and then finally finished it with with a laundry-mudroom makeover we found a farmhouse-cottage way to cover an exposed utility area by creating a beadboard electrical panel cover, as well as upcycling a used cabinet with sweet faux double doors. They were easy DIYs that I hope will inspire you to think outside the box when making over areas of your own home! I love, love how these two fixes took care of a couple items that had been keeping us from completely finishing the mudroom.

The first is a simple cover made from beadboard to hide our electrical panel and the second is a clever solution Brian came up with to attach a set of doors on an old cabinet that didn’t have room for all the hinges because it had to be cut smaller to fit the space.

Simple Beadboard Electrical Panel Cover

I had planned for us to create a beadboard cover for the electrical panel from the beginning of our remodel to match the high wainscoting in the mudroom, since we had made a similar cover for a panel in our Portland bungalow. The difference with this panel was the fact that it is huge – there is the original panel, a smaller one for a generator (which we don’t have – it was installed by the previous owners) as well as a septic tank warning alarm with it’s own plug that stuck out some.

It spent quite awhile (a-hem, years…) covered with coats and jackets, which is a classic diy-er “outta sight, outta mind” phenomenon (which we’ve experienced many times). When we finally got to it, it turned out to be fairly simple. (affiliate links included to provide examples – thank you if you use them!)

Steps to Make the Cover

• Frame the entire opening with 1 x 2 pine boards with mitered corners. This allows a 3/4″ clearance from the doors that are attached flush with the top of the frame, perfect for the various things sticking out a bit. We added a short extension cord with a flat plug-in for the alarm plug so that would only need 1/2″ clearance.
• Carefully and precisely measure the door opening, then purchase beadboard and have it cut-to-fit at a home store.
• Fill corners of frame as needed with wood putty, then paint frame and beadboard doors to match.

Finishing

• To attach the doors flush with the frame, use simple 1 in. narrow utility hinges, two on each side.
• In order for the doors to stay completely closed, attach a cabinet magnetic catch set with metal piece on the inside of one of the doors.
• Because this doesn’t get opened much, apply a simple hook-and-eye type of cabinet closure, similar to this one.

Pretty straightforward, right? I LOVE how it turned out and this is definitely a case of “why didn’t we do this earlier?” Oh well, we’re enjoying it now!

Click the arrow to see one of my favorite things about this room- the ‘secret’ double cabinet door!