Kitchen Cabinet Makeover: Part I

Update: You can see Part II of the Cabinet Makeover here.

In April 2013, Spencer and I purchased our first house. It's a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom home with a small fenced in yard. The first viewing, we both felt very strongly that it was meant to be our home. One thing I just couldn't get past (which of course didn't keep us from buying, as it was changeable), were the kitchen cabinets. They were your average, builder grade "oak" cabinets. They also had no hardware, which I thought was strange (and after living with them, I would get irritated when I'd open a drawer and it would catch my fingernails). 

Because it didn't make financial sense to invest in new cabinets for this house, I decided to paint them instead. If you read my dresser makeover posts and my rocking horse post, you know I have used Annie Sloan chalk paint a handful of times. I love the fact that you don't have to sand, so that's what I chose to do this project. 

My plan was to prime the cabinet frame, since it is a little slicker than the doors and drawer fronts, and then to paint one coat of chalk paint over it. This would save me from the mess of sanding in the kitchen, as well as having to remove everything from the cabinets. SCORE. 

The doors and drawer fronts did not need priming, so I planned from the start to do 2 coats of paint on those. With this plan, I anticipated using 2 quarts of the chalk paint. This would have worked except I ended up needing to do 2 coats of paint over the primer on the frame, so I had to order another coat which delayed me from finishing by a week (nobody locally sells Annie Sloan, unfortunately). A week and a half with no cabinet doors drove me nuts!

The chalk paint color I selected is "Old White," and I purchased Zinsser primer which worked great. 

Image from Live Laugh Rowe post

My wonderful in-laws spent their Thursday and Friday nights helping me while Spencer was out of town. Three people on a project makes it go much faster! 

Danger: Work Zone

My mother-in-law, Kay, hard at work.

Trying to look like I'm hard at work.

My father-in-law, Wayne, braving the cold garage to paint the doors.

Half way there!

To avoid giving you a picture overload, I'll stop here and leave you dying for more. Is it working?  ;)


Until next time - -