It all started about a month ago when my vision came to light. I was researching different ways of improving my kitchen space and I'm not exactly growing money trees in my back yard so having someone professional come in and knock it out for me was not in the budget. So then came the next best thing...
DO IT MYSELF!
As soon as I stumbled upon this amazing blogger who renovated her Kitchen Cabinets livelovediy.com/2013/04/10-easy-steps-to-paint-kitchen-cabinets.html, I knew it was meant to be!
But it was much much much easier said then done. The planning, though, is always the most fun part for me so I was stoked to pick out a color and figure out the technique to make it look like Chip and JoJo had just blazed through my kitchen. I like to think that I am type C when it comes to personality ,I have a little organization in me, and a little mess in me (My Husband can attest to this). So when it comes to thinking of a new project, my mind will start turning and thinking of the steps it takes to make this thing happen!
STEP 1- PICK A COLOR
Oh my dear LORD...if it wasn't for my hyped-on-coffee-driven urge to complete this project, I would have probably stopped at this step because I attempted 3 times to pick out a color. And let me tell you why it was so difficult....
First of all there should not be 10-billion colors of white to pick from. THAT'S JUST WRONG. While panicking the first time I attempted to choose the paint at Home Depot, I actually came across a extremely frustrated couple trying to pick out a color for a room in their house. I should of taken the clue right then that it would be ridiculously difficult to pick out a color for my cabinets. The second reason this was a difficult step for me was that the whole idea of doing this renovation was based on the livelovediy I saw. I loved the way hers turned out and the color she picked for her cabinets...HOWEVER...there are a lot more factors that go into picking out a color for cabinets.
- The color of your counter-tops
- The color of your wall
- The color of your backplash (if you have any)
- The color of your floors,
- The lighting in the kitchen
- and finally...The color of your appliances
As easy as I thought it would be to pick out a "white" paint...it was by far the most difficult part of this project. My next part to this step was doing a paint test on this little island piece/coffee bar in my kitchen, it gave me a good idea of what the rest of my cabinets would look like without wasting the time of painting EVERYTHING. (Thank you, Hubby, for that suggestion...)
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| Here is the final color I picked. And in a little bit you will see why I chose a little more of a warmer white than the hospital white I had originally picked. |
After I had finally chose a color I went on to my next step
STEP 2- CHOOSE THE HARDWARE
So to save anyone from actually seeing the monstrosity that was the original hinges on these cabinets, I'll just describe it and why I had no choice but to remove them. The original color on these cabinets were white, but once my hubby moved into the house about 3 years ago, he stained the cabinets a brownish color....however he didn't remove the hinges before staining so they were inevitably glopped in stain as well...(I still love him though). He admits to me that he didn't think that he would ever have to renovate the cabinets so it didn't matter. I guess he didn't know an awesome person like me would be coming along to remove the beast-like hinges ;)
I decided on new handles and pull cups for the cabinets as well just to give it a newly renovated look.
So here I am, midway through step 3 which is...
STEP 3- BEGIN THE RENOVATION
Here are my original cabinets with nothing whatsoever done to them.
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| I feel like we have an abnormal amount of cabinets so taking on the task of removing all the doors and drawers for painting felt extremely daunting. |
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| As you can see all of our appliances are white, which is why I made the decision to go more off white with the paint color and am also planning to paint the walls a slightly darker color to break up the all the white. Putting in a backsplash is also something me and the Hubs are wanting to do so I'm hoping that will again give more variation and color. |
So my steps for renovating go as follows:
1) Remove doors and Hardware
This step like I mentioned previously about the hinges was more difficult than I thought it would be. I am going to assume that the screws holding these cabinets are the original screws that were used when this house was built back in 1961....and so there were a few stubborn ones that didn't want to unscrew. if you run into a problem like below....
DO NOT PANIC! (Which is what I did)... either google "how to remove a screw that wont unscrew" or wait until your amazing husband finds you crying and comes to help you.
2) Sand doors and Frame
Originally I planned to sand down every nook and cranny of these cabinets but my husband using his words of wisdom suggested I only do the parts that really needed it, which saved me a lot of time. I do suggest that if your cabinets are in as bad of shape as mine, to really focus on the prep stages of the remodeling, because they tend to be very important, if not more important than the painting itself. What your looking for is a blank canvas.
3) Fill any holes or dents
So I used wood filler to fill any holes I saw. In the blog I read, Virginia filled in the old hardware holes because she was going to put them in different places. I decided to use the same holes. So the only filling I did was with any other dents I saw. I also used this strange new substance I have never heard or seen in my life called CAULK....so yes I caulked any open gaps that I saw to give it a seamless look.
4) Drill new holes for hardware
Like I said, I decided to use the exact same holes for my hinges so the only drilling I will be doing is for the handles.
moving right along...
5) Prime
This is the current step I am on. I have officially primed everything and yes it did take me the amount of time it would take to watch Lord of the Rings The Return of the King TWICE...including credits and special features....so this is my most recent picture with everything primed and ready to be painted.
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| Please ignore the mess...this is why I have doors :) |
UPDATES TO COME!
