(bringing back one of my early favorite posts from last winter)

Let’s Roll…

Or brush, or sponge, or rag…even spray! No matter how you do it, just paint!

For most of you (not me!) it’s the dead of winter and outdoor projects are pretty much out of the question!

Even if you’re going to hire someone, it’s too cold to go out there and even show them what you want done! So what to do? How can you scratch that remodeling itch when the mercury drops to unmentionable levels?

I asked myself that question and the first two things I thought of were painting and lighting. They go hand-in-hand and I’ll touch on great lighting tomorrow. But for today, let’s talk about paint.

See the Room as Art!

There is an artist in you whether you know it or not! If you already know it, great! If not, just look at some pictures and ask yourself “Does this inspire me?” When you start to feel inspired, that’s when you’re on the right track. Follow that look and you’ll find what you want for your new space! Let’s start with a simple one and work our way up to CRAZY!

Simple, right? But beautiful too! The contrast of the darker wall color against the bright white trim works great in this nook! Great use of similar colors in the art and furnishings brings it together. A small area like this can be tackled in a weekend and make an impression for years!

Make White Sing!

A white wall has many great characteristics. They make spaces seem more open, and of-course, brighter. Sometimes, when there’s a shortage of natural light or to go with a particular design, white is the way to go.

Two thoughts about white walls:

1. Even if your room is already white and you want it to stay white…repaint it anyway! If the paint is more than a couple of years old, it will make a difference. You might also change a shade to “tweak” the look a little bit. There must be 1,000 “white” colors!
2. Add color with furniture and decor, like in the photo above. You might have an old chair laying around that you can repaint in two hours. Try it…it could change your life! (at least a little bit)

Look Past The Walls!

Feeling inspired yet? If not, check your pulse! These cabinets ROCK! I’m not so sure about the ABC’s on the glass, but I do love the use of color in the kitchen cabinets.

It can easily run $40,000.00 or more for new cabinets. Why not look a little closer and ask that artist in you what other options there might be? If you get a good answer, I’d say you should buy the artist a cup of coffee or something! If not, keep reading…

Hit the Door!

Painting the kitchen cabinets a little bit of a reach for you?  You’re not alone.

The impact you can make by painting a door or window is really astounding! I can’t decide which one I like better, the blue or the red?

What do you think?

So, honestly, don’t you feel like painting? You have options:

Walls, Ceilings, Trim, Doors, Floors, Furniture…

Everything including the Kitchen Sink can be painted, though you might want a pro to hit the sink for you.

The bang for your buck is unmatched and the D.I.Y. difficulty factor is  among the best you’ll find. Go for it!

Get Radical!

If the artist in you still has not stirred, I have one more trick up my sleeve. If this doesn’t get you going, there may be no hope…I’m sorry.

Now THAT is color!

Oh, a couple more details…you have to do it right! The web is full of great resources. I found a site here that has good advice on exactly how to paint. You can also email me for my thoughts if you’d like. I would love to see your before and after photos. I’d love to help.

Let me know if I awoke the artist in you in the comments, and use the ShareThis feature to share this new blog with friends. Just click on that little green button and all the options will show up before your very eyes. If nothing else, it’s colorful!

A long time member of the Remodeling Guy Crew (regular readers and commenters), Denise who blogs at Journey to Maggie May, has been building an addition all summer. It’s a beautiful project and she has pictures on her blog. Denise posted a comment today on a post about Bump-Out Style additions that got me to thinking. (See: Bump-Out Additions – Small Spaces, Big Impact)

Should You Do Your Own Painting?

This is a picture from Denise’s blog of her project. They hired a general contractor to do the work, but saw an opportunity to save some money by doing the painting themselves. While that is obviously much less work than trying to build the whole thing, it still can be a ton of work! Here is her comment:

Hey there, we have been busy with our addition…go check out some pics on my blog. I am so ready for it to be done. I have to say that our biggest mistake was signing up to do all of the painting…never thinking of filling nail holes, caulking, etc…we have bitten off WAY more than we can chew!!

When I saw her pictures I could see why! They have an abundance of painted woodwork in this project and the question of “prep” wasn’t discussed ahead of time.

If you want to paint – Decide about “Prep”

You may not know it, but there is an eternal debate in play between carpenters and painters. The gist of it is “who’s job is it to fill the nail holes, to do the caulking, and most importantly…the sanding?” Ask ten painters and ten carpenters and you’re likely to get twenty variations of what is “right, fair, and professional”.

Personally, I think the carpenter needs to leave his work pretty close to ready. A painter might need to do a little prep work, but not much. I’ll readily admit though, that I’m in the minority. Most jobs leave the prep work to the painter and most carpenters are willing to leave the final outcome of their hard work in the hands of someone else. Not me.

The point is this: Sanding, filling, sanding more, caulking, and priming are about 80% of the work of painting. Most homeowners have experience “re-painting” which is a totally different animal than painting for the first time. If you agree to doing the paint work on your project, a choice Denise would advise against, just be sure you’ve agreed on what exactly you’ll be responsible for before you start.

I’ve seen many a row between painter and carpenter because of a 1/4″ gap in the woodwork. Painter feels that the carpenter ought to rip that board out and do it right! Carpenter feels that a little bit of putty or Bond-O will fix it right-up. It’s one thing when that argument is between two people you’re paying. It is another thing altogether when the argument is between you and your contractor…that can keep you up at night!

Food for thought!

Do you want to make an absolutely stunning difference in any room of your home in less than two days, start to finish? I love big differences made quickly! And this project will do it for sure!

Look at this:

Isn’t this room amazing!

Wonderful Moulding Ideas

I could probably write a whole book about this picture! I love this room. But when I saw it today, it reminded me of something I mentioned in a post early this month at the main Remodeling Guy Blog on Chair Rail and Wainscoting. That being the idea of covering more of the wall, going up to eye level or a little higher with the wainscoting.

One of the most commonly asked questions from people looking for chair rail ideas is “what is the proper chair rail height?”. I answered in the previous post that the best height is around 30″ – 34″ above the floor for most rooms, but that there isn’t a widely accepted “correct” height. But what if you put it higher? What if you move way up the wall, say to 60″ – 64″ off the floor?

Here is another picture:

Beautiful isn’t it?

Let’s Do It!

I want to demonstrate just how dramatically the act of changing out some baseboards and door casings and installing simple bead-board wainscoting will change any room of your house. Let’s get started!

Above, we have a standard room. It has a couple of nice features already with some hardwood floors and a pair of French doors, but other than that it’s bare bones. (Don’t you wish you’re room were just as empty! Moving all the stuff is half the job!)

If you want to do a very quick job, you could do only what I’ve done here in this image. Ive replaced the baseboard with a 5.25″ Primed Base, and added a 2.25″ Chair Rail installed at a height of 33″ above the floor (to the top).

This room has 8′ ceilings. If you have higher ceilings you might raise the chair a little bit, but not much. I also replaced the door and window casing with something with a little bit more detail in the profile. These things made a huge difference! Wouldn’t you agree? Let’s kick it up another notch:

Now I’ve gone from a 2.25″ Chair Rail to a custom moulding which combines a standard profile “Howe” casing with a rounded off peice of 1X2 on top of it to create a little shelf (only about 1.5″ deep) at the top of the chair.

But the real difference is the addition of some color! Nothing sets off a design like white painted chair rail moulding against a nice deep wall color. I’ve shown a taupe-ish color, but it looks great with blues, reds, yellows, you name it! (at this point I started thinking the floor needed to be darker, but never got a round tuit) This is getting fun! Let’s add some wainscoting:

Now we’re cooking with fire! The type of bead-board wainscot paneling I’m showing here is so easy to install it’s not even funny! I’ve shown this with 4″ wide planks, but something with the lines a little closer or a little more spread out would still look fantastic!

If you paint everything with at least one coat of good primer and give it a light sanding before you install it, this can be done in a couple of days easily (depending on room size of course!).

To keep things simple, I would install the paneling first and then install the baseboards and chair rail over it. The extra peice of 1X2 at the top of the chair rail will cover the top edge of the paneling. The only thing to really watch out for is the overall thickness. If it gets too thick it can cause issues around your doors and windows.

To avoid this, I would use thin 1/4″ paneling, a relatively thin baseboard (standard stuff is fine), and a casing with a good wide “back band” type detail, such as the aforementioned “Howe” casing. If you don’t want to change your casing completely, you can just add a “back-band”. I’ll have to get into that in another post.

Now for the Grand Finale:

Whooooo Hoooooo! Isn’t she georgeous! I really like the way this looks! Now, you need to invoke your imagination a little and see it with pictures on the top shelf (which I would make deeper, about 4″ or 5″) and with a little furniture in the room…but this is a showstopper now!

I ran the wainscot up to 63″ in this picture and I think it’s just about perfect for the 8′ room. I also added a very simple and relatively small (3″) crown molding which really caps it off. I tried it at first with a larger, more standard shaped crown and it looked funny. The bead board look just didn’t go with the frilly curves of standard crown. The crown shown here is a simple “cove” molding.

There you go! A quick, project that can make you feel like you’re living in a new house in no time flat and for not more than a few hundred dollars. That’s what I’m talkin’ about!

So,what do you think? Ready to add this to the to-do list? Or maybe the same idea with the panels like in the second photo at the top?

This one is a perfect 10 if you ask me. I found the picture at one of my favorite haunts Houzz.com, and the kitchen is by Valerie Pedersen who works in the SF Bay Area.

Wow! I love, love, love it! I was searching for window seats and I came across this shot. I really love the built-in seating (storage inside would be cool). And while we’re talking seating… I love that bench seat too! The whole thing just works for me.

A Closer Look

I see much more than just the seating here though. One great thing about this kitchen is that it’s timeless. not much here is going to be outdated in five years. The white cabinets and black granite look awesome with that white subway tile wall splash.

(trivial info: traditionally, the “backsplash” was only a few inches above the counter. When the whole wall between the upper and lower cabinet was done it was referred to as a “wall splash”… not so much nowadays)

I also love the farm sink in this kitchen. To me, the whole kitchen almost has to be designed around a farm sink for it to look right. This one looks great! Great faucet too.

Great Trimwork Too

One of the other things that make this room look great is the use of “normal” but beautiful trimwork.

• Standard 5.25″ Crown
• Simple window casing
• Upgraded, but simple, baseboards
• Small Crown on upper cabinets

Some Great DIY Ideas Here

When I look at this picture, I see a list of individual projects that most beginners can handle.

• Painting – the biggest thing in this picture almost gets missed. That is a great contrast between wall color and cabinet and trim color. You can do that right now in your house!
• Light Fixture – the next step-up the DIY difficulty ladder is installing a cool light fixture. Installing a fixture is something you can learn to do with a Google Video search. It makes a huge difference (just don’t skip the “turn off the breaker” step)
• Cabinet Hardware – Maybe easier than the light fixture is to change out your pulls, knobs, and hinges. Heck, once all that is off, maybe you want to spray paint your cabinets!
• Run that trim! You can so do this! Start with the easiest thing, probably the window casing; maybe the baseboard. When you want to try crown molding, do that little crown on the cabinets first so you can figure out how to hold it upright in your saw for easy angle cuts.
• Build A Window Seat! – Once you get your skills to the point where you can run that crown, you can tackle the window seat. Then you’ll be in high-style!

Have fun!

Not one to just leave well-enough alone, I’ve been wanting to learn how to bring video to Remodeling Guy for a long time!  As with all great journeys, this one begins with a single step!  I hope you enjoy!  All the pictures in this video were found at www.coastalliving.com

Let me know your thoughts, ideas, and suggestions.  And, please, feel free to come talk with me at Facebook.com/RemodelingGuy

Ever wish you could see what color would look best on your front door? I spent some time yesterday playing with Photoshop to see if I could do just that.

Pretty neat, huh? You can see larger, non-flashy, versions of these over at Blissful Home where I write a weekly column. While you’re there, look around a little…there is a lot to see and read there.

Of course, it’s my mission in life to tie everything back in with the upcoming Remodeling Guy Round-Up and I think this helps. What if you did a post showing pictures of what you WANT to do, even if you haven’t done it yet? That would work.

The idea is to encourage everyone by showing what people are doing, dreaming about, and have done in the past. I hope you join in on May 1st.

Back to the flashy door… which color do you like best?

Are you looking to spruce up your bathroom? Personally, I think it’s one of the best places to start remodeling. Let’s see how many ideas we can get from one picture! Here is the picture:

Nice Huh?

Well, I say you don’t have to do ALL of this to rock your bathroom into a new realm of spa-at-home bliss! Just start small and do one thing at a time.

Try these in no particular order:

1.

Frame the mirror!

You can either buy a framed mirror and hang it up, or you can frame the mirror you already have! Everybody is all into black right now, right? How about this: just make the mirror frame black. It works in this picture, maybe it can work for you!

2.

Get new light fixtures!

This makes a huge, ginormous difference with very little effort. You can watch a hundred videos online on how to do this and then you can totally DO-IT-YOURSELF!

3.

Get some new hardware!

Not only is this easy, but shopping for bath hardware is, like, totally fun.

4.

Paint!

I don’t think a single remodeling project can compete with paint for the proverbial “bang for your buck”. So paint! I really like a marked contrast between the trim and the walls, even if the colors remain soft, like this.

5.

Install Some Bead-Board!

Paint and fixtures not enough? Want to get into some woodwork? Then we think alike, you and I. I’m totally into the woodwork in this bathroom! How about doing some wainscot paneling like this picture shows! or…

6.

Trim the door!

How hot is this door trim? This job has all the bells and whistles. At the base of the casing you can see the “plinth blocks”. And the top of this doorway is done beautifully! I say copy it exactly! and then…

7.

Install some crown!

One of the most common things I’ve heard over the years of construction, even after doing hundreds of thousands of dollars in work, are:

“I can’t belive what a difference the crown molding made.”

8.

Tile the floor!

This picture shows about as simple of a tile project as you can find. But look at it… it looks great! Tile is as much about color and texture as it is about material, feel, and pattern. Sometimes you can get a great look with sale pile, El Cheapo, tile. Go for it!

9.

Get a Rockin’ Vanity!

Many people would be totally shocked at how inexpensively things like this can be found online! I’ve seen vanities just like this one with the stone top and all for $500.00 or so. I often wonder how they do it! One thing is for sure, this looks great. Especially in this particular bath!

But if you can only do one thing…

10.

Get a new faucet!

It’s simple, it’s cheap, it’s effective, it’s REMODELING!!!

And it is certainly a start!

When you do this, make sure you take pictures, write a post, and bring your post back here on May 1st for the Remodeling Guy Round-Up!

If you’re interested in these projects, you should use that internal search box up at the top of the first sidebar, just to the left of the little green guy with the bullhorn! There is much more here about most of these projects.

I sure hope you go for it! The bathroom is the first place most people go in the morning It should be a nice place to go, don’t you think?

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 has Rust-Oleum!

Call me crazy, but this seems like the way to go to me.

Kim’s Spray Paint Tips:

• Better to work in the heat of the day, bright sun, so the paint dries fast!
• Try to work in an area with no wind to keep junk out of your paint and your paint off of your junk!
• Don’t hold the can too close to the work, you can see in the pictures how she does it.
• Spray at an angle, not straight on. And change your direction after each “mini-coat”.
• 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:

• Stuck On Spray Paint – See some of Kim’s other spray paint work at Forever…Wherever!
• Painting Kitchen Cabinets – Part One – the first steps down a bad road.
• Drillbit Designs Cabinet Doors – where all of this started
• 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.

Finally the “Paint Your Cabinets” post you’ve been waiting for! Let’s Jump right in!

A Clear Finished Wood Door

We’re working with a door I had laying around in my shop. It was a beautiful solid maple door already.

But we have other plans for it!

Since this door had a clear coat of lacquer on top of stained wood, it really needs to be “roughed-up” before we can begin the process of painting it.

It’s almost never okay to paint a slick surface without some sort of sanding or other abrasive to roughen the surface.

I’ve found that if you’re going to be doing much woodworking, it makes sense to invest in a power sander! Trust me!

The main workhorse of my sanding fleet is this Random Orbital sander from DeWalt. This thing just won’t quit! I’ll include a link at the end in case you want to buy one!

It wasn’t my goal to get every bit of the original finish off. I just want to scuff the surface to make it more ready to accept primer.

I did get all the way through in some places and that’s a good thing. But you can imagine that this large sander didn’t do the best job with the little cracks and crevices in the door profile. I had to get those by hand, using sandpaper and/or steel wool. When I was done sanding, it looked like this:

When you sand, it’s very important to make sure that you take special care around the edges. The finished paint will rarely have problems in the center of the door. The edges, on the other hand, are very prone to getting whacked with all sorts of damaging objects such as pots and pans. By sanding the edge well, you can be more sure that the primer will get good adhesion where it counts most.

Apply The Primer

When you’ve finished sanding, clean and vacuum the door down to get rid of all dust. I use a rag dampened with a little bit of mineral spirits.

Water works, but the mineral spirits seems to do a better job of collecting the dust. Just don’t use too much. You only need a slightly damp rag and you want the paint thinner to evaporate completely, which it will do if thinly applied.

A bit of side info here: Mineral Spirits and Paint Thinner are the same thing, but not all “Paint Thinner” is 100% Mineral Spirits…I guess for the cheap stuff they use “thinner thinner”…? Always get 100% Mineral Spirits.

Go To A Real Paint Store

The most important part of painting, especially painting something other than just a regular wall, is getting the right paint for the job. That requires a real paint man. As you can see in the picture, I found one of those.

Even though I’ve been a contractor for … awhile…, I still took my door to a real paint store and showed it to a real paint man and asked him…”what should I use?” This is the way you should do this. Take your cabinet door, be it Formica, or wood, or whatever you have and show it to them. get some feedback. You’ll be able to tell if the person doesn’t know diddly squat.

If that happens, just go with what the great folks at Port Charlotte Paints told me to use.

Benjamin Moore paint has always worked well for me and according to the man, this primer here will allow you to paint just about anything, even Formica countertops! The key is to let it cure properly before applying a top-coat.

I would normally use a little bit of a sheen on for the paint, rather than the flat we have here, but the winner of this work of art in the making said that shiny paints caused her to feel ill, so I went with the flat.

In general, the more sheen a paint has, the more durable it will be. Knowing that this was for a cabinet, the paint man sold me a special “Matte Flat” that should be very durable.

Prime Time

I primed the back first so that I could leave the front untouched to dry well.

It didn’t take long at all for the primer to dry enough for me to flip the door over and work on the front.

Both sides require a little bit of patience when dealing with the corners. Paint tends to build-up a little in the corners and that’s especially true with the front.

Small amounts of paint build-up are easily solved by brushing away from the corner with an “empty” brush.

I had to work pretty quickly because it was very hot (mid 80′s) and I was in the bright sun. It would have been better to do this indoors, but you haven’t seen the inside of my shop.

You don’t want to see the inside of my shop. I’m Remodeling Guy, not Mr. Clean.

The Cure

I’m not talking about the band. If I were talking about the band, I would have to show you this video here. And then I would have to ask you to pray along with me every day that my sons’ love of music never causes them to look like that guy. Not even for one day…no matter how much they pay them.

I’m talking about the primer. You have to let it CURE. This is different than DRY. Dry happens pretty fast. Cure doesn’t. The curing process adds hardness to the finish and in the case of cabinets, the harder the better. This will really make a difference in the durability. The time requirement for this primer, used this way, is three days.

So I can’t finish this until next week. I’ll have to find something to do in the meantime…

I hope I find at least a few hours to spend out here… but I digress again.

The Cabinet Boxes

I’ve shown you a door, which you should do just as I showed it, off of the cabinet, with hardware removed. But there are also the cabinet boxes that have to be done in-place.

The process for these is essentially the same, just a little more difficult. You’ll probably need to put some plastic up to seal off the area so you can do the sanding. Don’t cut out that sanding step! You really want the durability that can only be had by sanding.

After that, the process is the same. If you think you might be changing the size or location of your hardware, you want to fill in those holes. For this application, I would use Bondo.

Yes, the car Bondo…you can even buy it at the auto-parts store if you want to. But they have it at the big building material stores as well. Since you’ll be painting over it, the color match that wood putty strives for isn’t important and Bondo is easier to get smooth and not as prone to crack, shrink, or fall out later.

Then you can just drill new holes for your new hardware.

Drawer Fronts

You should take your drawers off before you paint!  Better yet would be just the “drawer fronts”.  Many cabinets have a couple of screws inside the drawer box which, if removed, release the entire drawer front. If you can do this, it’s the way to go because it will make the drawers much easier to work with.

If not, you can still remove the drawer from the cabinet and take the whole box outside and work on it along with the doors. You might even decide you want to paint your drawer boxes too. I would just be careful not to paint the hardware.

Misc. Other Mumbo Jumbo…

• I used a medium-fine grit sandpaper… 150 or 220 grit. If you use a grit that is too coarse, you’ll do more harm than good.
• I had the primer tinted to the same color as the paint. This will allow the paint to cover better and hopefully in one coat.
• In the areas that I couldn’t get to at all with sandpaper, I scuffed it up with a little bit of steel wool to give the primer a better surface.
• If you want one of those awesome sanders I use, you can get one at this link: DEWALT D26451K 3 Amp 5-Inch Random Orbit Sander with Cloth Dust Bag It will cost you $70.00 and I promise you’ll be saying that was money well spent. This is the sander to buy…I’ve tried most of them and this one is great! It uses a velcro-like system to hold the sandpaper on which makes changing sanding disks a breeze.

Want to see the front? You’re going to like it! There is more to this project than just painting. Check back tomorrow so you can see how I did this:

Pretty cool, huh! The bird came out great. For you newcomers, this whole thing was instigated by a cool picture Kim found that inspired me to do an impromptu giveaway. The first post about that is here. If you like the bird, you might also like the coffee cup and the flamingo.

By late Friday I’ll have a post up showing how I made the bird pattern…it is so cool! Early next week, I’ll finish this cabinet door and publish Painting Kitchen Cabinets Part Two – More Sanding and Finish Painting.

If you want to be sure not to miss it, sign-up for my daily email feed right here. Or sign up to get RemodelingGuy.net in an RSS reader right here. And everyone is welcome to sign-up for the free monthly newsletter. You can do that at the top of the far right sidebar, or in this post right here.

So, I’m sure there are some questions on Part One…let me hear them and then check back…I’ll answer right in the comments! Thanks!

NOTES:

Before doing this work on your kitchen!  Make sure you read Part 2 about Plan B. 

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One comment was such an important question that I didn’t address in the post…the question was “did I use oil-based or latex-based paint, and is it okay to use latex (water-based) paint?”

The answer is that I used an acrylic latex primer and paint.  Both are top-of-the-line Benjamin Moore products and if used properly will provide an excellent finish.  It is all water clean-up material. Here are links to the product pages at Ben Moore.

Fresh Start All Purpose Primer

Regal Matte Finish – The Paint

Thanks to Amy for asking this… I think others will want to know that as well.  There are a few other questions and answers in the comments as well.  And you’re welcome to add to the discussion!

Hey Crew! Time to pick a cabinet door winner!

It was really fun hearing everyone’s ideas and it was not easy at all to pick three finalists!

Some of the ideas were great, but beyond either my abilities, or at least my time constraints! I would have enjoyed trying to create the flowing hair of an Afghan Hound, but I just don’t think I can squeeze in the four weeks that would take me!

I appreciate all the ideas and I hope you all vote for your favorite.

Door #1

Coffee Cup w/ Steam!

This was first suggested by Michelle at AuntieThesis!

Door #2

A Tall Pink Flamingo!

At first I thought this would be too hard, but I decided to see what I could do. I lost count, but there are over 100 holes to drill! This was suggested by Victoria at Auction Girl Vintage.

Door #3 is…

For the Birds!

The orginal bird got lots of support already, so it seemed like a sure thing finalist to me! It will be on the same cabinet door as the ones shown above, not on this door here…but doing these little things in Photoshop is a chore! So I was happy to use the picture I already had!

The bird was first suggested by Tammy! (I don’t see a link to a blog)

The actual door is solid maple and is about 13″ wide x 18″ high. I’ll find some cool hardware to put on it or leave it blank. I’ll discuss that and the color with the winner before we do it!

I’m going to combine the hole drilling with a post on painting your cabinets! I’m going to try and refrain from doing something super artsy and out of the ordinary so I can show you a simple “paint your cabinets” process!

We’ll do a solid color and I won’t use a sprayer…we’ll apply the paint by hand and I’ll show you how to get a great finish!

Cast Your Ballot!

Let your voice be heard! You wouldn’t want the lesser design to win just because you did not vote, would you? So vote and rest easy knowing that the American way is alive and well. The future of our great nation (or at least kitchens) depends on it!

We’ll leave this open for votes for a few days and I’ll announce the winner late next week!

Another Giveaway!

I hate to bore you with too many giveaways, but this door one was kind of “spur of the moment”. But I already had an AWESOME giveaway planned and I’m excited to get it out there! So come back on Monday to see what that’s all about and to get your chance to win big! (really, pretty big)

Door #1, Door #2, or Door #3 ???

Vote now just by simply leaving a comment saying which one is your favorite. No secret ballots here! Votes are open to everyone…just tell me which one you like!