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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