Project 2016 -- Florida or Bust: Kitchen Makeover Day Six

As the week passes, I am more and more convinced that I really underestimated the amount of time that I would need to accomplish this. While I have done a lot of work, the painting is really slow. Not because I am a slow painter, but that each door needs two coats of the base paint which has to dry completely between coats. You can only paint one side at a time and I only have room for 2 doors at a time on my painting station.

[Tip Alert!] Following a suggestion by the folks at Rust-Oleum, I took a shelf out of an old wall unit and drilled holes in it. I then put screws through each hole. This allows me to set the doors on the screws holding the door up off the surface of the table. This allows me to paint the sides and allow them to dry without the paint "gluing" the doors to the table.

before painting bottom

after painting bottom

I have painted two coats of the base paint on both of the top units of cabinets. They look really good and I am happy with the way they look except for the color but that will change (see yesterday's post). However, I did have to make a discovery when I was sitting in the middle of the kitchen. I didn't think that I would have to paint the bottom of the cabinets, but alas, you can see the bottoms when you sit in a chair. It became really obvious when I painted the fronts and you could see the difference in color. So I had to take the extra time to paint them. But they will look really good when they are completely done.

All together I have 21 cabinet doors of varying sizes and 8 drawer front to paint. I have completed 2 coats on one side of the eight drawer fronts and 13 cabinet doors. And that is only the first step. When I am done with this, there is the glaze coat and then a protective gloss coat. Hmmm.

Happy painting.

Project 2016 -- Florida or Bust: Kitchen Makeover Day Five

What do nails, plastic wrap, and toothpicks have in common? Give up? They are all things that can make your painting easier.

As you can see, I have started painting the cabinets. When I first opened the can of paint, my first thought was, "Oh, this is way too light and way to grey." But I had to remind myself that it is a two step color process which includes a brown glaze which will warm up and darken the look. So for now I choose to not panic. But what I would like to talk about is some things that can make painting easier that were not necessarily made for painting.

Before you start sloshing paint around, one trick is to take a hammer and nail and punch at least 4 holes around the rim of the paint can. These holes will be under the lid when the lid is on. When you pour paint from the paint can, there is always paint that ends up in this crevice. The holes allow the paint to drain from this crevice and back into the paint can when you push the lid back on. Without these holes, you often end up with paint being squeezed out and over the edge making an even bigger mess than when you poured the paint.

Kitchen plastic wrap that you use to keep food from drying out in the refrigerator also keeps your brush and paint tray (paper plate) from drying out during a lunch break. In dry areas, latex based paint can start drying pretty quickly. A long lunch is enough to end up with a thickened layer on your paint and hard to clean paint brush. In the past, plastic wrap has even kept paint and paint brush wet enough for me overnight.

Sometimes when painting over small holes where hardware needs to be replaced, the hole gets covered with paint. Using a toothpick, you can easily
clear the hole of the paint. You can use other things too, like pencil tips, nails etc. But I have always found toothpicks to be plentiful and always available in a kitchen.




Happy painting!!