Welcome to the ongoing saga of the RemodelingGuy.net “Paint Your Kitchen Cabinets” series of posts! I think that many of you will like where I go with this today, though I know that some will disagree even though I’m on-trend with painting kitchen cabinets black!
Plan A – Part 2 – More Sanding
As you can see in this close-up shot, the primer dried a little thick on some spots and the brush marks were readily visible. I knew I would need to sand the door a little more, but I was disappointed with the rough finish left by the primer and I had to sand it more than I would want to do if I was doing a whole kitchen.
After a good sanding to get all those brush marks in the primer smooth, I’m ready to paint. I set-up in the shade and worked early because I didn’t want it to be too hot out, which causes the paint to dry too fast.
I have a couple of brush options because I want to avoid the dreaded brush marks. A foam roller works well on flat surfaces, but that won’t do for this door. Too many little crevices in the profile. This has to be brushed so I have a couple options…and I have my coffee. Good to go!
What A Disaster
Let me say at this point that a brush isn’t the “professional” way to paint a cabinet. I happen to own a very nice “professional” spray machine perfect for this work. You’ve probably never even heard of an HVLP, but it is one of the preferred tools of a pro for cabinet painting. I’m not using it because I figure that exactly ZERO of my readers has one of these sprayers.
I wanted to show you a way to get professional results with average tools.
Take a look at these pictures:
It may be hard to see, but these pictures don’t show a great job. I’ve titled them “Disaster1“, “Disaster2“, and “Disaster3“, if that tells you how I feel about them.
Cabinet Doors, in general, have a lot of detail. Ups and downs, corners and curves. All of these are exactly why the professional way to finish a cabinet is to use spray equipment. It’s very difficult to get those corners clean with a brush, especially with a relatively normal latex paint.
It works, don’t get me wrong. The primer was well cured and very tough. The paint covered very nicely and applied easily. If I wasn’t such a perfectionist, the results might be fine. But the brush marks are driving me nuts! I wouldn’t want them in my kitchen.
Old Time Wisdom
I learned a lesson many years ago when I was a kid. It was literally “hammered” into my brain through repetition. My parents, grandparents, and even the radio disc-jockey all played a roll. (see if you get the pun…)
Listen to this: You Gotta Know (link will start a short audio clip)
Know When To Fold ‘em
I knew I needed a new plan. I was steering you wrong! I would never paint my cabinets this way! I was trying to show you how to do it right, but not do it professionally. No such thing! The professional way is the only “truly correct” way. But it isn’t the only way that works! There is an easier way that works and is fast and you can do it with no help from anyone!
And no sandpaper.
Disclaimer: What you are about to see is NOT PROFESSIONAL! It has drawbacks. Attempt at your own risk!
All I can tell you is that it will be a cold day in Hell before I ever tried to sand and paint a kitchen the way I was showing you before! If I couldn’t go the professional route (sprayed with pro equipment) then this is what I would do.
Spray Paint Your Cabinets
That’s right, spray paint. Like with a can. I didn’t even go to the store. Kim is a spray paint aficionado so we had a decent selection at the house.
And I just happened to have another cabinet door. Same type thing, lacquer finish on solid wood. What you see in the photo below is the extent of the prep work we did. Wiped it off with a T-Shirt.
Now my door was brand new so it didn’t have grease or grime. You would want a clean surface. One reader suggested using TSP (Tri-Sodium Phosphate) which is a good cleaner that won’t leave behind a problematic residue.
My aim at this point was EASE, SPEED, and LOOKS!
I wanted to see what would happen if I didn’t take this oh so seriously. If I forgot that I’m a pro. If I didn’t try and do this as if I were being paid thousands but with no tools.
What would I do if I were a homeowner who just wanted a fresh look without a ton of time or money invested?
Get It Clean
Apply Primer
Kim is a serious threat with a can of spray paint! She can do amazing things with it and she hit this door like it was nothing. She uses very light coats which dry almost instantly and she alternates direction as she passes over the previous light coats. She covered the door completely with primer in just a couple of minutes.
The primer we used is Rust-Oleum automotive primer. I have no idea if the can said that it was or wasn’t approved for kitchen cabinets. I started reading it, saw that it said not to apply to surfaces that would get hotter than 200 degrees farenheit and figured it would do.
We were painting a slick surface and I wanted a good primed surface for the top-coat, so automotive sounded like the ticket. Plus this is what we had on hand…I have no idea why.
Bottom line…when painting a slick surface you really AT LEAST ought to prime it if you’re willing to live with the sacrilege of not sanding. Sanding wouldn’t have hurt, but I was being an extremist.
It took less than five minutes.
Whew! Time for a Coffee Break
Watching Paint Dry.
Took about ten minutes.
Time For The Finish Coat
Seems like black is popular, so we decided on black. We had some more good quality Rust-Oleum paint. This can was designed for use with outdoor metal furniture. Looked good to me. Ding Ding, Round 2:
I’m telling you what…the girl is scary with a can of Rust-Oleum! If they know what’s good for them, they would make her the national spokes girl! Swish, Woosh, spray, spray, a little mist here, a litte shot there… done!
Three Minutes! I’m in Love!
Just Let it Dry
I’m so amazed by this. It’s just another example of how we tend to make things in life way harder than they need to be. Look at this result:
Is that amazing or what? This result is in minutes, with almost zero prep, and with no real effort all given to controlling dust, etc. We didn’t sand, we didn’t vacuum, we didn’t do squat! Kim wiped it with a T-Shirt and sprayed it with automotive primer and metal furniture paint. In less than 20 minutes, including dry time!
You can buy enough spray paint to do a whole kitchen for less than $100.00 and I bet you could do this in a day. You could do a clear top-coat if you want to add more durability. But I’m looking at the door right now and it’s almost flawless.
I tried to scrape the paint off of a corner with my fingernail and did no damage at all. So then I got out the key to my truck and tried to scratch it off and all I did was create surface scratches, the paint did not come off!
The other door, as of now, has about three hours labor in it and it isn’t close to being finished. Hmmmm….???
Forget The Real Paint Store
We all know that I’m a fan of a real local paint store. That won’t change until the big box stores get serious about having people in the paint department that know paint. That said… this is spray paint! No paint man needed.
Wal-Mart, Target, Home Depot, Ace Hardware, Lowes! Even Amazon.com
Call me crazy, but this seems like the way to go to me.
Kim’s Spray Paint Tips:
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Better to work in the heat of the day, bright sun, so the paint dries fast!
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Try to work in an area with no wind to keep junk out of your paint and your paint off of your junk!
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Don’t hold the can too close to the work, you can see in the pictures how she does it.
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Spray at an angle, not straight on. And change your direction after each “mini-coat”.
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One “coat” is actually a series of “mini-coats” all done at one time. These are very, very thin…you can see right through the first one.
- Make sure you look closely from all angles to be sure you don’t miss grooves and cracks, etc.
- Better paint covers much better. Rust-Oleum is the house favorite!
Some Posts You Should Read:
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Stuck On Spray Paint – See some of Kim’s other spray paint work at Forever…Wherever!
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Painting Kitchen Cabinets – Part One – the first steps down a bad road.
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Drillbit Designs Cabinet Doors – where all of this started
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Drillbit Art How-To – A cool post showing how to do the bird design.
Have fun! I’ll let you know how the Plan A door works out, but what do you think about the Plan B version?
Edie @ Life In grace has a whole linky party on painted wood and you can see her amazing kitchen which she says required NO SANDING! Sounds good to me.
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I love the spray paint finish!
I did my son’s headboard that way and it was so much better than the brush.
I am gearing up to paint my cabinets…but cannot imagine using spray paint in the house for the framing. Is that possible?
Hi Jennifer – I’m so glad you asked that! I think that most folks would be surprised at how little is left inside when you take all the doors and drawer fronts outside to paint them. I would use the exact same process inside on the frames and exposed ends.
These surfaces are flat, so would be much easier to brush or roll, but they also are much easier to spray. Just be sure to use some plastic to seal off the area. And provide yourself some ventilation to outside to keep the fumes from overwhelming you.
EDITED: I would like to add that a comment later on asked about overspray. I’m sorry for not mentioning this: you have to mask off the things you don’t want paint on indoors…there is no other way to get a good coat on the cabinets without getting paint all over your counters or walls. Just masking tape and newspaper works.
Kim (my Kim) pointed out that she likes cabinets to be easily wiped down and for that reason I think a clear topcoat would be a good idea. It’s easy and can only add to the durability.
The door we did this morning is totally dry and has hardened-up pretty well. I’m more impressed now than I was when I wrote the post. The door really came out nice.
Plan B is great! I almost always do things the “easy” way and then wind up regretting it later. But this? This I love! It’s straight up my lazy gal alley, and yet it still looks fantastic! (And thanks for being a professional who refrained from giving your readers any flak about even WANTING to- God forbid – paint real wood cabinets.)
Melissa’s last blog post..For Pete’s Sake…
This is too much! YOU ARE WAAAAAAY too much of a perfectionist {but consider the source!!!} I know of rich women who purposely paid extra to have their cabs hand painted with a brush just so they could get those brush marks!
Love the idea of spray paint and that’s one thing I would not have thought to do but it looks like it turned out great!
For me, I’ve painted with a brush and it’s been sooooo worth it. I’m from the team where we don’t even take off the doors. Usually, my cabs were ugly or something I didn’t like so it was worth it to me to have them look great from 1 foot away and that beauty was worth seeing brush marks.
After about a year of use I got the paint back out and touched up any little parts that had worn. I’ve sold two houses with painted cabs and didn’t regret it for one single day! Painted them completely by myself without my husband.
Ok, I’m done taking over your blog now.
The Nester’s last blog post..Frame It :: Framed Fork
Can I just say how much I love your honesty in this post? I totally respect you as…well, The Remodeling Guy…so I’m so impressed you would let us know that you tried someting and it didn’t quite work.
I have a bookcase that’s been sitting on a drop cloth in my living room for 3 weeks that I just can’t force myself to prime and paint by hand…is there such a thing as painting overload? You’ve just inspired me to move it to the garage this weekend and spray away. I agree…it’s sooo much easier.
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Hey there! So…last summer I bought a metal shelf and painted it with Rustoleum. 1 shelf about 2 feet wide at the most. That stupid thing required so much paint! What am I doing wrong with the whole spray painting thing? If I tried my cabinets I’m concerned the store wouldn’t even stock as much paint as I would need. However, as I said on part 1 I really don’t like my cabinets and would like to do something about them. So your spray painting is tempting.
Sara’s last blog post..Enchanted Rock
LOVE IT! You almost had me convinced that it was too much work to paint my cabinets black like I want to, but my hope is restored. What a refreshing post. A lot of people would have struggled through it the hard way and dragged all of us along, refusing to admit -gasp- a mistake, but you actually SAVED US WORK!
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This is a perfect for me! I had wondered but didn’t want to make a big mistake using a can. Perfect timing for me! Thanks!
Remodeling Guy you rock! I read part 1 and then read part 2. I gotta tell ya I was absolutely floored by what a beautiful finish you got on that door with spray paint. I have been wanting to paint my bathroom vanity black and I haven’t as of yet. What was holding me back was all that priming and painting with a brush and a roller; and then probably not being completely happy with the finish because of brush marks or whatever. But you got me seriously thinking about it now. Thanks for sharing your wisdom with the rest of us.
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Great info!
I have an armoire I’d love to paint. I can see where spraying would benefit the doors for sure. However, is it even possible to get an even finish of spray over a large flat area (the sides) with a little spray can? If you rolled the big flat areas, I’d think the texture would appear different from the doors vs the sides…
Just curious.. why didn’t the sprayed door appear to require sanding? Does the spray paint simply bond differently than the other paint done with a brush?
Thanks!
Donna @
Funky Junk Interiors &
Our Extreme Home Reno Experience
I’ve become a bit of a spray paint addict! I plan on spray painting my kitchen table and chairs to give it more a cottage feel instead of a formal stuffy feel. They are a bit beatin up Queen Anne style. It was FREE so we took it, lol. But now that I have seen others transform their chairs and table with a bit of spray paint and I can’t wait to do it to.
June’s last blog post..A Lil Peek Of The Porch
We just painted our bathroom cabinets a beautiful color called “coffee” by ralph Lauren. I too was a little upset by the brush strokes. I found that if I took a small foam roller and went over it with the dry roller after I brushed it on it looked like a factory finish!!! It turned out beautiful!
Thanks for all the great comments!
Remember, my problem was due to the profile of these doors. If I was working with a flat door or anything mostly flat, it would have been a different story.
Also, I could use an oil based paint and include a material called Penetrol in which makes the oil based paint “lay-out”. But oil-based paint and Penetrol isn’t what I was trying to demonstrate… I was looking to use simple and easy clean-up paint.
The comment about back-rolling is a good tip…and a simple foam roller does a great job on smooth surfaces without back-rolling. The doors I was working with couldn’t be rolled at all… that was the whole problem… these particular shapes HAD to be sprayed to get a clear surface with no brush marks. So I tried spray paint, and it worked in this case.
Thanks for commenting and follow along to see what happens with the Plan A Door!
I’m always painting something around here and have gotten to the point that I MUST have an air compressor with a paint sprayer attachment. This post definitely shows that spraying is the way to go. My husband has been wanting an air compressor for auto tools, so I think it will be worth it for us.
The Tiny Homestead’s last blog post..House for rent- must be tiny
HAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh my goodness, I LOVED this post! I may just get my cabinets painted this summer after all!
Jenelle’s last blog post..Hooked on Black Front Doors
High Volume Low Pressure. Yep, we’ve got one. I just had to say that first. I haven’t even finish reading. But what I do know is this, my husband is a perfectionist also and brush strokes drive him mad too, and that is why he hesitates to paint the cabinets. (we sprayed the ones in our current house we are selling–but what a job that was!) So, now with excitement I go to read the rest of the story!
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Great post! Thanks for the spray can idea.
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RG you are my hero! Man, after Painting Your Cabinets Part 1 I was pretty certain that I wouldn’t be repainting them any time soon. Too much work and prep was involved. I loathe primering (is that a word?)! But spray paint primer might be fun. And I love the smooth paint finish that spray painting added to the completed door.
Thanks for giving us DIYers hope for fabulous kitchen cabinets!
And all in 20 minutes…that means my kitchen will only take 340 minutes to repaint…ummm…I think I will be waiting a little on that one! lol
Mrs. Q’s last blog post..Controlled Chaos & Creative Construction
I’d love to know: Is there anyone out there who has sprayed their cabinets and can speak as to how they hold up? They’re obviously gorgeous initially. As soon as someone tells me they’ll look good a year or two from now – I’m headed to the Rustoleum store!!!!
Thanks, Martha
email: mrsb1980@gmail.com
Oh and RG…I totally got the pun but forgot to mention that in my comment!
Mrs. Q’s last blog post..More Progress…
Oh thank goodness! I want to paint my cabinets black but I foresaw the paintbrush problems and didn’t want that. I’m so glad to hear I can crack out the Rustoleum and get a good result. Is it the same prep and technique for spraying the frames of the cabinets?
Thanks, Guy!
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Dang it, Tim, you’re making me nuts with this quick and easy stuff … and Kim didn’t even smudge her nails! Way to go, you two …
I spent 20+ hours painting my kitchen cabinets black, and we still have 4 doors to finish. It was cold and damp in January, and I let each and every coat cure for several days. Next time (or, perhaps, in the adjacent laundry room), I’ll try the spray paint. I’m a little worried about overspray on the frames, but will take my chances for the short turnaround time.
Gotta say that I *do* like the brushmarks on my doors, and also the way the grain lifted and shows through the paint. Personal preference/style, I suppose, so stop shuddering at the thought. If it’s OK to sand the edges for a fake worn look, surely a few brush marks can’t have me banished …
Victoria
)
30 Days of Junkin’ in April
victoria ~ auction girl vintage’s last blog post..30 Days of Junkin’ & Show & Tell Friday ~ Collecting Pyrex & Corelle
This is absolutely genius. You are simply a genius of handy-manliness :0D
well NOW you tell me!! hee hee I got so excited with the 1st post – I am already knee deep in primer & black latex paint & crying over my brush strokes-
I only have 1 door painted but my cabinets on the wall are almost all done with primer- could I still spray paint the doors and hand brush the cabinets? or would it be two different finishes- *sigh* I now wish I had waited 
The Sherwin Williams guy already hates me b/c I let him talk me into oil base (and I have 3 small ones at home) and hubs made me take it back & get 100% acrylic latex- and now Im thinking spray paint.
Amanda Eck’s last blog post..Going, going, gone….
But you said NOT to paint when it’s too hot because you DON’T want the paint to dry too fast. Then in your tips you said to paint in the heat of the day so it dries quickly! Huh?
Also, HOW do you spray paint the parts of the cabinets that must remain hanging in the kitchen?? It seems the paint would go all over and you’d have your walls and counters and such speckled with spray paint. Easy enough to remove the doors and do them outside, but the rest of the cabinets??
Kate – It sounds like you’re getting the two types of painting mixed together. With the regular paint I was trying to paint when it was cool out because I live in Florida and the days have been 90 degrees, yesterday was over 90. In that kind of bright sun and heat, the regular paint dries before it settles into a smoother surface, thus locking in the brush marks.
Spray paint, on the other hand, you WANT to dry quickly to make your job faster. The thin coats dry very fast anyway, but if you work in the heat of the day they dry almost instantly and you can keep working.
As for the parts that remain in the kitchen, the solution would be masking tape and paper. Just mask off what you don’t want to spray, or cover it with cardboard or something. You have to be free to spray past the edge of your work in order to get a clean finish, so masking is essential inside.
I think that the various options for doing this will appeal to different people in different ways. The hand painted “Plan A” door is coming along very nicely, but it is considerably more work. I’ll post it when it’s done.
Thanks for your comment.
Tim
Those doors look great! You know i’m all about spray painting or painting of any kind and do all sorts of paint projects too. I would have no problem spraying cabinet doors, but the boxes would have me a little concerned. I just don’t think I could make myself spray paint indoors. I’ve seen where that stuff flies off too. But yours look great. I’ve painted kitchen cabinets too & it is totally worth every bit of work.
Here’s to more painting!
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I am breaking my blogging break to come on over and check out to see if you did a post on painting cabinets. Spray paint? I never even pondered the thought…and it is too late now that I have finished. I don’t mind the brush marks on mine so much as the overall look is soooooo much better than what I had before. Now I am spending my time painting the trim white and caulking all of the areas with spaces….ugh…I have a feeling there is no end in site to my painting!
Counter tops should be going in soon. I will send some pics when they are in.
Oh, and one tip I would give others when painting cabinets. When you sand them, do not leave them outside in your garage, because the temperature difference will cause the wood to warp and thus they will not close properly when they go back up…still trying to find a fix for that solution!
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Thanks for the great series of posts – lots of good info. My mom has converted me to a spray painter with furniture, I never considered them for my cabinets!
My only concern is the lack of color options with spray paint. Is there anyway to overcome that? Can you get custom cans??
This is a great post. So great that I went out and bought a couple cans to try it myself. I did and I loved the colors I chose for my cabinets. I can’t wait to finish them up! I can’t decide though if I should paint the back side of the doors. What is your opinion on that? How would I actually go about it. On my test door I already cleaned with the TSP, used primer, and painted. I am worried about messing up the front side when doing the back side. I guess I would have to wait for the front side to dry with primer then flip to the back side.
I am slightly worried about the fumes in the house when painting the frames. If I can get the paint store to match the color from the can, I might just roll it on there. I have two little ones under 3 and the fumes from painting in my garage have been overwhelming enough and coming into the house! I am so super excited for the final product! Its going to rain the next couple of days so I am really bummed about that and not being able to finish up the cabinets. Also, I may be able to do this all on my own with out the help of the Hubs!
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I feel like I should update here. We tried and failed. We did use the TSP, but did not sand. The paint scratches off. I did use RustOleum. I am not sure what happned. So, husband went out and got a hand sander and we are restarting….
A friend of mine sent me photos of her cabinets that had the middle replaced with bead board. I think you should do a tutorial on that next!
Rachael’s last blog post..Menu Plan Monday
What a great post!!!!
My husband has a compressor and sprayer attachment. Not sure if it would work for indoor paint, but he used it to paint his boat trailer….
Anyways, I love this idea! I spray painted my kitchen chairs about 10 years ago, and other than some teethmarks courtesy of my chihuahua, they still look great! And I didn’t prime first!
The unfortunate aspect of this for us, though, is that the previous owner did a crappy job at painting the cabinets, so there are drip marks as well as brush strokes!! We’re going to have to take them down and sand them down, so there is already a little more work involved for us. But you better bet that if my hubby’s sprayer is not the correct one, I’m using spray paint!!! Forget the hand painting!!
Oh, but I was going to add that in the hall, where I had to do a quick touch-up on a single cabinet door that is in there (it’s random), I first used a brush to cover the detailed moulding part of the door, and then finished with a foam roller for the flat part. That way, the brush strokes weren’t that evident!
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Hello RG,
I am curious…suppose I was to invest in a pneumatic spray gun and I only have about a hundred bucks to spend. What would you recommend? And do you have any tips for using one of those guys on cabinets? Thanks!
Melissa’s last blog post..For Pete’s Sake…
I feel so honored at the wonderful timing my friend….only I’m a little like the Nester in my unorthodox ways. The folks should definitely take your advice on the ‘how-to’. I didn’t sand….painted with the doors on, didn’t let the coats dry well enough in between….you know, everything you’re not s’posed to do. One thing I fell in love with was the 4 inch sponge roller—no brush marks!!!
I am so thankful for your link—-it adds some degree of ‘official-ness’ to this party—–like having the boss give you the thumbs up!
And I’ll definitely be back on Friday!
You could very well have been the first one to ‘baptize my imagination’ (to borrow a phrase from CS Lewis) about the bold colors with that picture you posted from Southern Living with the red and yellow cabs!
Thank you, thank you!
Great series, I’m totally inspired! We’ve got awful dark brown laminate cabinets – think 1970…they have to go but I’m determined not to go into debt for a kitchen remodel. What is your opinion on the “paintability” of this surface? Seriously, they are horrid and I’ll deal with brush marks to get some brightness in our kitchen! Love to hear your thoughts….
Hey Tim! Just wanted to check back in with you now that I’ve finished spray painting my son’s bathroom cabinets. You can see the photos and my summary of the process here:
http://www.thepickyapple.com/blog/
I think you’re definitely on to something with this technique…spray paint is so much faster and definitely looks nice and smooth. But the cabinet frame might still need to be done with a brush. The fumes and lingering paint were kind of a doozy…at least in this little bathroom. But I am super happy with how they look! Thanks again for the all the great advice!
Hi, loved the article, I hand paint and spray paint a lot for my store and I am planning a kitchen upgrade that includes painted cabinets. Two question for you –
1 – What about the smell? My experience with spray paint is there is an odor that lingers for a while and I don’t want that in the kitchen.
2 – I like to ’shabby’ stuff, would you still recommend the same type of spray paint if I wanted to ’show’ some of the wood?
Thanks
OK, so I’m gearing up to try this. I was wanting an antique faux finish but we ran out of good weather for the year and I coudn’t imagine trying to big project like this indoors until I came across your article.
Wonder how this would work (I’d do a clear top coat of course)
http://www.valsparspray.com/Product/pcode—4085/pccode—3620
Does the paint really stick with normal use? I’m so afraid it will all scratch off or chip off when doors are shut or bumped or cleaned.
Anyone spray theirs that can report back as to how it all sticks? Mine are a shiny clear coated wood finish. I will sand some but with all those grooves and corners …. no way I’ll have enough ambition to do them correctly.
What do you recommend for a top coat? I would like to keep the flat/matte finish and would like a product I can spray on.