We’re doing a kitchen makeover. We started about two months ago. I recommend doing this project in the summer if you live in the north where it gets cold and snows. But I just couldn’t stand the orangy-oak cabinets, blue laminate countertops and linoleum floor any more. My step dad’s jaw would be dropping about painting the oak but I really want to brighten up the kitchen. Lighter cabinets in our old farmhouse just feels more “us” and our floors will be dark. Every dream kitchen we look at has light cabinets and dark floors. So sometimes, you just do what you love. And when it comes to the cabinets, we want to do them right.
It’s taking FOREVER. A kitchen is by far the most time consuming room to transform. But thanks to True Value, we’re up to the challenge. We’re especially excited to use Benjamin Moore’s Impervo paint (available at True Value) on our cabinets. Mr. DIY does the cooking which means I’m doing a lot of scrubbing. Paint needs to be durable.
We chose the color Moonshine. To most people it will look white but it’s actually a shade of light grey.
Here is our process:
1. Remove doors and hardware. We used painter’s tape to mark each door and keep the label with each door throughout the process. It sounds crazy. You’d think we’d know which door belongs where but with it taking so long, I want to make sure we get it right. Sometimes with DIY, we have the best intentions but trust me. We’d put 20 out of 21 doors back on and find out we did it wrong! lol. We also put each door’s hardware in a Ziplock baggy and put inside the matching cabinet. Painting inside the cabinets is not necessary unless your cabinets are in poor conditioning and need cleaned up. Ours are in excellent condition, so we’re skipping that step.
2. Sand cabinet doors and cabinet bases. This takes forever. Sanding was November parts 1 – 20. But if there is a clear coat on each door, like we have, you’ll want to make sure the paint sticks.
3. Clean doors and cabinets. I wiped them all down with a wet rag and let them air dry.
4. Set up work area for cabinet doors and tape around cabinet bases to protect wall and floors. Doing this inside over the holiday months means doors will sit for days or a week before you get back to doing these steps (hence the summer recommendation above).
We had to rotate doors during the process too because of limited indoor space.
5. Apply two coats of primer. We used Zinsser. Allow ample dry time in between coats.
6. Paint the doors and cabinet bases. Dry. I used a brush in the recessed areas and a foam roller on the flat areas. Benjamin Moore’s Impervo paint is self leveling…
Paint tip: Using a screwdriver or something similar, hammer small holes in the recessed lip of the paint can. This will allow paint that collects there to drip back into the can instead of building up/over-flowing or “gluing” the paint can lid to the container.
7. Flip doors and paint other side. Dry.
Please excuse my look without makeup and inside out doxie lounge pants…projects like this leave a lot of time for memories and I was thinking of this little girl:
and the picture above was in the same folder as these painting pictures. She’s paralyzed there. It was taken in her last 24 hours. Fresh tears. I miss her! There was even a little rainbow prism on one of the doors from the light coming in the window (the 2nd in
two days after a reader shared the rainbow bridge poem).
8. Repeat for a second coat and allow to dry.
We’re working on steps 7 and 8 now.
9. Re-attach doors.
10. Re-attach hardware.
We’re also considering distressing our cabinets or applying a glaze technique. I’ll keep you posted. Reveal coming just as soon as we put humpty dumpty back together again. I’ll do a full tutorial with pictures when we have the entire process complete! Stay tuned!
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I was one of the bloggers selected by True Value to work on the DIY Squad. I have been compensated for my time commitment to the program as well as my writing about my experience. I have also been compensated for the materials needed for my DIY project. However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments.
This will be the last DIY Holiday Highlights party this season. Are you sad? Or glad the holidays are nearly over?
New Year’s Centerpiece
I was at our local True Value and came across “hardware cloth”. Intrigued, I brought it home. Then got creative, using it to dress up my candles!
Here is what I did.
1. Measure candle and mark height and width of candle on wire mesh.
2. Using wire cutters, cut the wire to the correct size. I went a few inches bigger.
3. The wire mesh comes wrapped in a long piece of wire. Cut small piece of it to use as a “tie” and make a cylinder, overlapping rows. It’s tricky to get it not to be crooked. I used needle nose pliers to help bend the “tie”.
4. Embellish. Weave twine to create a monogram, add seasonal tags that can be swapped for the change in holidays, add ribbon, etc.
Warning – make sure if you accessorize the wire that you keep embellishments away from the flame! I’m sure you know that but just in case, I don’t want you to start a fire! If you’re a little accident prone, maybe try flameless candles. 😉
Since I love to re-purpose things, especially DIY…I also love them on our glass cannisters which aren’t labeled. Cannister cozies!
More pics…
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I was one of the bloggers selected by True Value to work on the DIY Squad. I have been compensated for my time commitment to the program as well as my writing about my experience. I have also been compensated for the materials needed for my DIY project. However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments.
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Let’s see the last of your DIY Holiday Highlights!
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Don’t forget to enter the NEW year GLUE year Giveaway!
Stock your supplies – get ready for the year year!
We have three built-in corner china cabinets in our dining room. Two are identical.
I made a mistake when we moved in. I was in a rush to get things cleaned up and painted. I was a little inexperienced with painting too. My paint job was semi-gloss over semi-gloss without sanding and the paint started to peel. Before:
The bottom doors were a little boring too. Just plain and we didn’t like the direction of the handles.
I sanded all of the wood using my Dremel Multi-Max.
I had to do some scraping too. Live and learn!
We added some picture frame molding to the doors to give them a little more interest. We mitered the joints. Since the trim was so narrow, we used Locktite to keep them in place rather than finishing nails.
We didn’t know it at the time, but always ask your True Value Hardware Store associate if they sell lumber. We just recently learned that our True Value carries lumber! It’s in the warehouse! Good to know!
We added weights and the let them dry a few days.
Then we brushed on two coats of primer.
I use Purdy and Benjamin Moore paint in Silver Sage. I did use painter’s tape on the edges of the built-in because of the corner angle. Normally, I can get a perfectly straight line with my Purdy paintbrush and a sturdy hand.
I didn’t repaint the diamond glass door trim on the top doors and I used the same paint there on the picture frame molding. I’ll have to update with pictures during the day (soon). Sometimes the Benjamin Moore silver sage looks green, sometimes blue. It’s subtle against my linen colored walls. I love it! We still need to add the handles but we’re trying to decide if we want to go with something completely different before we start drilling holes. 🙂
More pictures of our dining room makeover. It feels like something is missing…I love when Niski walked into the reveal pictures. 🙁
Office door above used to look like this…
We found an original French door in the barn. The above door leads to my office and a part of the house that was added on a couple decades ago. As you can see, there no farmhouse charm. Inspired by Amy of WhisperWood Cottage, we were inspired to bring the French door back into the house . The barn door hardware and track were $30 on CraigsList (a huge difference from $300-500 brand new!).
We removed the old door frame trim. The Dremel Multi-Max was used to cut into the old trim so we could install trim with more character. Removing the entire piece of trim to be able cut it would have been a much larger project (taking pieces of plaster wall with it, etc.) so my Dremel Multi-Max with the cutting attachment was perfect for the job!
Our new trim is similar to what is in the rest of the house. We took extra care to attach the top beam into the studs since it will support the weight of the track and door…
We used carriage bolts to attach the horseshoe brackets to the French door.
Mr. DIY shows me what it will look like when it’s hanging…
When we bought our house, this is what the dining room looked like facing the back yard. There was a single door to go outside, nasty carpets and dirty white walls.
When we moved in, the mocha walls (the ceiling is a few shades lighter – Mr. DIY drywalled that ceiling after taking down stained tiles). It was a big improvement but it felt so dark even after we installed French doors to the back yard.
Our new reclaimed barnwood table just didn’t look good with the mocha shades. We used Mythic Paint in bleached linen to lighten things up.
Now the dining room feels like it belongs in our old farmhouse…
I was one of the bloggers selected by True Value to work on the DIY Squad. I have been compensated for my time commitment to the program as well as my writing about my experience. I have also been compensated for the materials needed for my DIY project. However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments.
