Painting Kitchen Cabinets: DURING/AFTER

Have I mentioned how unpleasant it is to paint kitchen cabinets? Having done it twice now (for reasons I will never fully understand-- I'm going to plead temporary insanity!), I will swear it on a stack of Holy Bibles: painting kitchen cabinets is pure misery!

That being said... Misery loves company, right? Here's how I did it (Don't forget to check out the "before" blog post!).

STEP 1: Make a drawing of your cabinets and label each one with a number, a letter, a nickname, WHATEVER. It doesn't need to be pretty-- just look at mine! Keep this paper handy. You will thank me for this later.

STEP 2: Figure out where the heck you're going to do this. I had a few requirements: It needed to have a door I could close, to keep both my kids and the cat out. It couldn't be windy or dusty. I decided on our upstairs guest room, which also had the advantage of having really good natural light. Plus, I could paint at all hours of the day or night, and I could wear my jammies. Bonus! I laid down a plastic drop cloth, then set up sawhorses with long 2x4 boards between them. I stuck push-pins into the boards every foot or so, so that the cabinets wouldn't rest directly on the wood. When all was said and done, I had a nifty little work area that could accommodate four of the big cabinet doors at a time. So... I knew it would take a while, but that was okay!

STEP 3: Time to take the cabinet doors and drawer fronts off. Electric screwdrivers are awesome for this! Here's where my experience came into play: I labeled every single hinge "top" or "bottom" with a piece of blue painter's tape, and put all the hardware for each door (or drawer) into a plastic baggie labeled with that cabinet's number. I also labeled each cabinet with a little piece of painter's tape. Really, it's useful stuff to have around. Buy in bulk! :)

STEP 4: Cleaning time. I squirted the deglosser onto the scrubber and went to work, removing years of grease and grime from all around the cabinets. I had no idea how filthy they were until this point. It was completely disgusting!! Anyway, I scrubbed and scrubbed and then wiped everything down multiple times with a wet rag. Then let it all dry. This step took me a long time, because I wanted to make sure the paint would adhere properly to my cabinets! No taking chance or cutting corners!

STEP 5: Finally, I started painting. Again, I was glad to have my previous experience! I started with the backs of the doors, just in case I messed up. I painted around the inner ledge, then filled in the middle panel, taking great care to follow the grain of the wood. Then I painted the two short sides, followed by the two longer ones, followed by the edges. The video below, made by the good folks at Rust-oleum, explains the technique very well! I think I did three coats of paint on the front, and only two on the back (I figured I could get away with it). Once the paint was dry, I did one layer of the top coat. And then it was on to the next set, over and over again until everything was finished! The procedure was the same for the cabinet boxes. It took forever, it was a huge pain in the butt, and it was ninety-something degrees inside the house! Yep. I'm still sticking with temporary insanity.

However... when it was all said and done, my cabinets were lovely. I can sorta-kinda-MAYBE understand why I wanted to do it all over again.

SIIIIIGH.... So pretty... And for a grand total of about $150, it really transformed the kitchen!

Unfortunately, it also made the counters look even worse. Yet another project to add to the list! It never ends!