Totally Tute-ular Tuesday-Cabinets

It's Totally Tute-ular Tuesday!

Today's tute is about our cabinet

re-do on a budget!

These are the BEFORE photos.

The cabinets were okay. They are solid

wood, but run-of-the-mill and umpteen

years old.

They were still in good shape and in

need of a good cleaning for sure.

I had painted the cabinets in our

previous house white.

I loved them! 

White was perfect for that small space.

I thought about painting these cabinets

white as well, but decided I might be able

to do a step in-between and paint

them later on when I tire of this look.

I took the cabinet doors down, labeled their position,

and removed the hardware. I then gave

them and the frames a very thorough

cleaning with TSP.

TSP is available at your local

hardware store and will remove grease,

grime and the glossy finish.

I didn't want to sand off the medium oak finish

so TSP was perfect for this application.

Once they were cleaned and de-glossed

I had the canvas I needed.

I had already planned to put in a

large, cream-colored island so I decided

on a dark finish for the existing

cabinets. I used a quart of black

semi-gloss paint. I dipped the brush and

removed as much excess paint as possible to

do a dry brush technique. In some areas 

I wiped off the black paint to create a "worn" effect.

In other areas I painted a deeper black,

especially recessed areas, that

wouldn't normally show wear.

I used a lighter stroke of black around

the hardware to imitate lots of use all while

letting the oak finish show through.

Here are the AFTER photos.

I used the same technique on the trim.

  The project took a few days

so I painted the cabinets in sections.

I did notice that the sections looked slightly

different from one another when all

was said and done. If I were to do this again,

I would plan a time that the entire black

paint process could be completed in one

session to insure continuity.

We also added beadboard to the cabinet end-caps.

I stained the unfinished board with an oak

stain and then used the black dry-brush

paint technique there also.

Once the black paint had been added

and removed to my liking I

used a clear satin polyurethane to

seal the finish and give the

cabinets a fresh, new lustre.

I love the way the black paint highlights the

wood grain, shown in the photo above.

I'm still loving them for now but

I know one day they will shout at me

that "it is tooo dark in here" and I'll

come around with the white paint.

Until then, I like their uniqueness and

the fun I had creating it.

Thank you so much for visiting!

Wishing you a happy Tuesday (in May)

I'm so glad it's May...

May through October is my favorite

outdoor weather,

then we have holidays to look forward to.

Don't you just love being alive?!

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