Red Toile Sink Skirt DIY

May 19, 2021

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I've came up with a way to mount a sink skirt onto my cabinet doors and I love the way it adds vintage charm to my modern kitchen.

My latest skirt is red toile with ball fringe and you can make one of your very own in minutes with this quick and easy DIY.

Believe it or not, I wasn't always a cottage style decor lover.

Shocking. I know.

As a child in the 70's, I was drawn to modern furniture, full of sparkle and light.

When I decorated our first apartment, I went for a more transitional look. I basically bought entire rooms right off the showroom floor.

It wasn't until we moved into our first home, a tiny two bedroom beach bungalow, that I fell in love with floral fabrics, decorative nooks and cozy spaces.

And I've been a devotee ever since.

When we moved to this house, literally across the street from the old one, I had big dreams for my less tiny cottage.

Especially for my kitchen.

Unfortunately it took me years to get the one thing I always really wanted in that room...a full and flouncy sink skirt that would coordinate with the new checked ring clip curtain panels in the nook.

You see, sink skirts are lovely, they look great and soften the hard edges in a kitchen, but truth be told, they're not very functional with a busy family.

First, you have to remove your cabinet doors.

Then you have to slide fabric to one side on a tight tension rod - without it popping out of place - to access the space under the sink and then put it back to make it look pretty.

Our garbage pail is under the sink.

So are the dishwashing tabs, the hand soap, the sponges.

Do you know how many times a day that cabinet gets opened?

And by kids, their friends and my husband?

Yeah. So some precarious rod was never going to cut it.

Then a few years ago, not one to give up, I came up with an idea and engineered a way to make it work with my existing cabinet doors.

And my kitchen has been this cottage style, fabric lover's dream room ever since.

Of course, just like every other space in this house, change is always happening. So new season, new sink skirt.

This one is red toile with a white ball fringe. You know, for fun.

And I whipped it up in one night, while Rita Hayworth kept me company on tv.

Making The Sink Skirt

To make the sink skirt, I used my original pattern and swapped out that modern fabric for the red Waverly toile.

You can peek back for the full instructions, I have a lot of fabric DIYs.

And remember you don't need to sew anything. Just use fabric tape wherever I used thread.

It's basically a rod pocket curtain, made to size, to cover the area under the sink. Then I added white ball fringe. I have a slight pom pom fringe addiction.

Here's How To Hang A Sink Skirt Over Cabinet Doors

You can go the traditional route or use my way. It will depend on the look you want and how sturdy you need the skirt to be.

1. Use A Tension Rod

You can use a tension rod and slide the pocket on it.

If you go this route, make your rod pocket a little larger to make sliding it open and closed easier.

2. Use Velcro

To do this mount sticky velcro tape behind the fabric. Then add the other side of the velcro to the cabinet base. I've used a similar technique to add fabric behind glass cabinet doors.

I didn't do this, because I wanted the space between the top of the door and the trim piece under the sink to be filled. The dowel will take up that space.

It also truly looks like it's mounted on a curtain rod.

3. Use Wooden Dowels

However, if you want the cabinet doors to open and close here's my method.

I mounted it on wooden dowels and attached them to the cabinet doors.

When I first came up with the idea, years ago, I explained that to attach the skirt to the doors, we flipped them upside down, so we didn't damage them in case we ever wanted to ditch this look.

Never gonna happen, but....also, in case we ever decide to sell and the new owners wanted the old boring doors back.

We also replaced the stock cabinet panel over the doors with a custom moulding to make the sink base look more like furniture.

To mount the dowels, we drilled a few pilot holes in both the cabinet doors and dowel rods.

I slipped the skirt panel onto the dowel and we gently pushed the nail through the predrilled holes.

Finally, the rod was hammered into the cabinet.

I just shirred the fabric in between the first nail and the second to get that pleated effect.

Now before you ask, this is my third skirt in three years and the fabric never rips or tears from the nails and when I want to replace the skirts.

I'm a big fan of decorating with fabric:

10 Ways To Decorate With Fabric
Easy Curtain Ideas
Skirted Coffee Table

We just gently pry the dowel away from the cabinet.

Then we pop on a new skirt and hammer the nails back in the holes. Simple.

When we were all done, I had a brand new look in my kitchen for the warmer months.

One that opens and closes easily, so we can get to everything I have hidden under the sink.

There's no tension rod to mess with, no sliding or fluffing every time I want to toss an apple core.

And no family frustration.

Plus, since the door is there and sturdy, we usually open it with our foot.

The fabric barely gets touched.

Sink Skirt that opens like a cabinet door

It's no different than anything we did with wet, gloppy hands before the skirt was there.

Only now the view is much prettier.

And definitely cottage style.

Don't you agree?

Happy Sewing!

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Red Toile Sink Skirt DIY

May 19, 2021

Making The Sink Skirt