I have had several people email me and ask me about my painted cabinets. So today I thought I would share with your how we painted ours so that YOU can paint your cabinets. But, I must first start off with a disclaimer. We are by NO means professionals. We asked our local Lowe’s stores and their helpful employees several questions and did some research before deciding to paint them.
The cabinets in our home were 30+ years old and had a bit of wear and tear to them. A lot of the finish had been worn off and some had some big knicks and dents in them. So for us this was a good choice to give them new life and to update our home to our own personal style. Not to mention a lot cheaper alternative than buying new cabinets.
Here are the steps we took:
1. Tape off any areas that might get paint on them that you don’t want paint on. For example a wall right next to the cabinets or the floor along the bottom and even inside the cabinet doors if you are not painting the insides. We LOVE frog tape at our house. It has worked a lot better at getting crisp lines as opposed to the blue painters tape.
2. Remove cupboard doors. This is probably not necessary. But since we wanted them to come out nice and smooth without any drips, we removed them.
2. Lightly sand the doors to remove any rough spots. If there are any nicks or dents you can fill them with wood filler or plastic wood. Just something that is paintable.
Then wipe them down with a damp cloth and some denatured alcohol and be sure you have removed all of the excess dust.
3. Paint all areas you want covered with paint first with a primer/sealer. Painting with a primer will make it so that the paint will stick to the cupboards and will cover up any areas that you may have needed to add some putty or wood filler. We like Glidden’s Gripper Grey. But there are a lot of different options available.
We paint in the creases and the smaller areas and around the edges with a paint brush. My personal favorite paint brushes are the Purdy XL Glide. I usually use a 2 inch brush for cabinets. I really believe having a good brush is the key to having a smooth paint finish.
For the flat, larger areas of the cabinets I like to use a small foam roller. This leaves a nice and smooth finish as well. This is KEY too!! We like Quali-Tech Ultra Smooth High Density Foam.
4. Paint your cabinets with your favorite semi gloss enamel paint like Valspar’s. Some people like to use a high gloss paint and that is fine too. We just prefer the finished look of the semi gloss. I feel it to be a bit richer.
You will need at least two coats. Be sure to allow proper drying time between each coat. I wait at least 4 hours between coats. Check on your paint can for specific drying times. I always check and double check for any drips as I am painting. Nothing worse than having to go back and sand a drip off. Sometimes in the creases of your cabinet door you will have to go back and do a touch up third coat.
I like to paint on top of paint cans. {Please disregard the lack of painting tarp…Ha. Always a good idea to use one}. I paint one side first and let it dry completely before turning it over to paint the other side. After paint is still wet you will also want to check the other side of the cabinet door so there are not drips on the other side as well.
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