Days 12 to 14: Kitchen Cabinet Makeover Challenge
Just a little update to let you know where I am with our cabinet project...
I spent yesterday degreasing and sanding all the drawers and one door that I forgot to do when I primed the others. Man, what an icky job! You really can't see the grime on your cabinetry until you use a good degreaser on them. I put one coat of primer on the doors and tomorrow I'll start priming the six drawers. I would like to get two coats of primer on everything by the end of the day tomorrow.
Yesterday I also installed the shelving with the exception of the upper corner cabinet. They look really nice! (Ben, my youngest daughter was lamenting over the fact that she couldn't see the shelf paper, lol!) I've been throwing around an idea...let me know what you think: *What if* I didn't install the door to the corner cabinet, added two thick glass shelves, and placed lighting inside at the top so that it would shine down through both shelves? I could use this corner cabinet to display a couple of decorative pieces, perhaps some greenery, and tastefully arranged cookbooks. I dunno...what would you do?
I have two weeks to go and here is what I have left to do:
-Put two coats of primer on 11 doors and 6 drawers
-Put basecoat on 11 doors and 6 drawers.
-Put four coats of red paint on 11 doors and 6 drawers
-Put final coat of red on 4 doors
-Remove lazy susan from bottom corner cabinet and prime and add four coats of off-white paint
-Add antiquing, distressing, and light drybrush technique to bottom cabinet base and all doors and drawers
-Apply protective wax to top and bottom cabinets and all doors and drawers
-Add shelf paper to bottom cabinets and drawers (possibly will have to order more paper)
-Spray hinges with anododized bronze spray paint
-Install doors, drawers, lazy susan, and the two corner cabinet shelves
-Install new handles
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6 comments:
The red is looking great. I think the idea for the corner cabinet is excellent... go for it! (plus it saves you the work on one door, right?)
Thank you, Angela! Well, I'll probably go ahead and paint the door anyway just in case we sell the house *way* down the road. The new owners might prefer to use the space for storage.
Good seeing you!
We only have doors on a few of our cabinets and in general, I like the way it looks. Things do get a lot dustier and greasier when they are in an open cabinet though, so be prepared for that.
You are making great progress!
Ah, that's true, Jordana. We have all of our dishes and lots of food items temporarily stored in an open armoire and I can't believe the dust it collects. Good point!
Thanks for the encouragement!
I really enjoyed visiting your site. I love the red! I've used that on a buffet and kitchen table I sold for a profit :) They started out an ugly blonde. I'm interested in your distressing technique and what kind of protective wax you used. Thanks for your help on the HGTV decorating site.
Hi Jacque!
What I've done with the cabinets after priming this was to paint a light colored basecoat on. The color I chose was an off-white color. Then I added four or five coats of my red paint. Red is so hard to cover over white...ugh! After that, I lightly sanded the edges of the cabinets and doors down to the off-white paint. My next step was adding a brown glaze to the cabinets and doors. You just quickly brush it on all over and then quickly wipe it off. Some of the glaze settles down into the cracks and leaves an overall slightly warmer color on the cabinets. Next, I ever so gently dry brush a couple of colors on here and there. This is a *very* subtle step. I pat my brush on the lid of some paint (I chose a lighter blue and lighter green) and after dabbing most of it off on a paper towel, I start dry brushing here and there. This step can be left out, but I wanted the cabinets to have the appearance of two or three layers of different paint colors.
Waxing is the last step. You'd do this after the paint on your cabinets and doors have sufficiently cured. I'd give them at least a week. I started out using Johnsons past wax like you buy at Lowes or Wal-mart, but I just ordered some clear BriWax because I've heard a lot of nice things about it. It's a higher quality natural wax that's been around for over 100 years. You just wipe a thin coat on, let it dry, and then buff it out with a soft cloth until you have a nice sheen. You can do two or three coats and reapply every year or whenever you want to clean or shine your cabinets.
I hope this answers your question...let me know if you have any more!
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