3rd Stage: Cupboards
I honestly dont know what stage of this whole project was the hardest. I think this one may have been. I had so many steps. You dont realize how many cupboard doors you have until you take them all off and refinish one at a time!
My biggest piece of advice: If you can wait and do this during the summer instead of winter, DO IT! As we were stuck inside doing the wood filling, gluing, and painting(sanding I did outside with a thick jacket on) I was imagining doing this all laid out in the garage using a paint sprayer instead of brushes and rollers. Seriously. Think about the weather before you take all your doors off and start goin at it!
Step one: filling the routed design
I am sure back in the day, this was so cool lookin. I am not from back in the day. So we changed that right off! We used basic wood filler and filled the design. After the first round, there were still little bubbles so we did it a second time. I am so glad we did because you cant see it at all now that everything is painted!
This is after the first round of wood filler and sanding:
This is after the second round:
It was practically flat!
Then you do it over and over.
Then you do it over and over.
Step Two: frame out cupboard doors
DISCLAIMER: For those of you who dont know, most wood at your home improvement store are not exact measurements. The length is usually correct but the other dimensions are not. I have been told its because the measurements are the raw cuts then its finished down. So when it says its 2 inches wide, its actually 1.5 inches. Just be aware. I didnt know this and I felt like an idiot when i came home with an armload of the wrong sized wood.
Alright. Back to the project. We lightly sanded the whole front of the door so the glue would have better adhesion.
DISCLAIMER: For those of you who dont know, most wood at your home improvement store are not exact measurements. The length is usually correct but the other dimensions are not. I have been told its because the measurements are the raw cuts then its finished down. So when it says its 2 inches wide, its actually 1.5 inches. Just be aware. I didnt know this and I felt like an idiot when i came home with an armload of the wrong sized wood.
Alright. Back to the project. We lightly sanded the whole front of the door so the glue would have better adhesion.
So we wouldn't have circle dents in the wood, we used little buffer pieces.
After gluing all the wood, we filled the cracks and sanded. Again.
With a orbital sander, we sanded the edges of the wood pieces so they would have a rounded edge. We used 220 grit and went slowly. Some of the pieces were a little more dense so I went down to 120 for a few passes.
The directions on the glue says for best results, let dry over night. On a handful of them, I let dry for a few hours, did the wood filler then went right out and sanded. Then I left them outside for a day. MISTAKE. The wood fluctuated with the 20 degree weather and all the wood popped off. I was about ready to burn everything and spend a fortune hiring someone to redo our kitchen with new everything. But I decided instead to take a few days off then come back. That did wonders. I was not going to be bested by skinny pieces of wood and some measly cold weather.
Step three: Tac Cloth
After sanding, we used tac cloth to get off all the wood dust. This step was really important. You need all those particles gone so you can paint on a smooth clean surface. Tac cloth is really sticky so use gloves or be ready to wash your hands for 20 minutes.
Step four: PAINT!!!
Now we were ready to paint!! I always feel anxious choosing the right paint- Its a little overwhelming. I would suggest this- I took a small cupboard door with me and said 'this is what I have, and I want my finished product to have (this) function. What should I use?' They were so helpful. Granted, the paint is more expensive than at a regular home improvement store but the quality is SO much better and it looks amazing. ONE GALLON of PRIMER and ONE GALLON of TOPCOAT did my WHOLE KITCHEN. My kitchen is small to medium sized so one expensive can of paint wasn't too painful. Plus the guy at SW thought I was cute so he gave me a coupon discount and saved me a few bucks. That never hurts!
I probably should have taken this picture before we started....
We did one coat of primer and two coats of topcoat. Then we went back and couched up a few spots that needed a little more once they were hanging up. We used a paintbrush in the inner corners then a small skinny roller for the rest. This whole process took a few weeks because we would do a coat of primer after the kids went to bed, pick them all up the next morning, then put them out after the kids went to bed and repeat. Again- DO THIS IN THE SUMMER IF YOU CAN! You can leave it all outside.
Step five: Hareware
We figured out it would be about $150 to replace all the hardware. And that was getting the cheapest of everything! Ugh. That was a little more than I was willing to spend. Solution- spray paint the old ones!
My husband went out and chose this spray paint and it looked good to me!
I put everything in a bucket of vinegar and water for a day and scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed them. They were so old and nasty. I didn't want the hinges to rust so I put them in a bag of rice to suck out the moisture. The ones I didn't put in the bag rusted so I would say it worked!
Because they rusted, I did have to buy a few replacement hinges.
I got a small box and put thumb tacs through the bottom to hold the handles up and then sprayed them! We also did the hinges- front and backs. I was afraid it would make them not be able to open but I was just careful not to cake the spray paint on too much.
This really made me smile because we were able to keep something from the old ugly kitchen and it actually looked good! It kept character in our new kitchen.
Since the cupboard doors were thicker where the handles go, we drilled new holes with a hardware template. Seriously. Go get one. They are cheap and SO worth it. We also had to get longer screws. We got them in bulk so we wouldn't have tons extra- just as many as we needed. It took some trial and error to get the size and length right but we finally got it.
Last Stage: Put everything back together!!
Then we stood back and looked at all of our hard work. Oh my. The transformation is still blowing me away.
BEFORE:
The directions on the glue says for best results, let dry over night. On a handful of them, I let dry for a few hours, did the wood filler then went right out and sanded. Then I left them outside for a day. MISTAKE. The wood fluctuated with the 20 degree weather and all the wood popped off. I was about ready to burn everything and spend a fortune hiring someone to redo our kitchen with new everything. But I decided instead to take a few days off then come back. That did wonders. I was not going to be bested by skinny pieces of wood and some measly cold weather.
Step three: Tac Cloth
After sanding, we used tac cloth to get off all the wood dust. This step was really important. You need all those particles gone so you can paint on a smooth clean surface. Tac cloth is really sticky so use gloves or be ready to wash your hands for 20 minutes.
Step four: PAINT!!!
Now we were ready to paint!! I always feel anxious choosing the right paint- Its a little overwhelming. I would suggest this- I took a small cupboard door with me and said 'this is what I have, and I want my finished product to have (this) function. What should I use?' They were so helpful. Granted, the paint is more expensive than at a regular home improvement store but the quality is SO much better and it looks amazing. ONE GALLON of PRIMER and ONE GALLON of TOPCOAT did my WHOLE KITCHEN. My kitchen is small to medium sized so one expensive can of paint wasn't too painful. Plus the guy at SW thought I was cute so he gave me a coupon discount and saved me a few bucks. That never hurts!
We did one coat of primer and two coats of topcoat. Then we went back and couched up a few spots that needed a little more once they were hanging up. We used a paintbrush in the inner corners then a small skinny roller for the rest. This whole process took a few weeks because we would do a coat of primer after the kids went to bed, pick them all up the next morning, then put them out after the kids went to bed and repeat. Again- DO THIS IN THE SUMMER IF YOU CAN! You can leave it all outside.
Step five: Hareware
We figured out it would be about $150 to replace all the hardware. And that was getting the cheapest of everything! Ugh. That was a little more than I was willing to spend. Solution- spray paint the old ones!
My husband went out and chose this spray paint and it looked good to me!
I put everything in a bucket of vinegar and water for a day and scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed them. They were so old and nasty. I didn't want the hinges to rust so I put them in a bag of rice to suck out the moisture. The ones I didn't put in the bag rusted so I would say it worked!
Because they rusted, I did have to buy a few replacement hinges.
I got a small box and put thumb tacs through the bottom to hold the handles up and then sprayed them! We also did the hinges- front and backs. I was afraid it would make them not be able to open but I was just careful not to cake the spray paint on too much.
This really made me smile because we were able to keep something from the old ugly kitchen and it actually looked good! It kept character in our new kitchen.
Since the cupboard doors were thicker where the handles go, we drilled new holes with a hardware template. Seriously. Go get one. They are cheap and SO worth it. We also had to get longer screws. We got them in bulk so we wouldn't have tons extra- just as many as we needed. It took some trial and error to get the size and length right but we finally got it.
Last Stage: Put everything back together!!
Then we stood back and looked at all of our hard work. Oh my. The transformation is still blowing me away.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
(that little spot isnt done because it was behind the fridge. Just another one of the many touch ups)
I have to say that one thing you dont think about when you see reveals like this is that it took me over an hour to clean everything up and get it ready for these pictures. Well for the last few at least. The kitchen hasnt looked as clean since.
I have to say that one thing you dont think about when you see reveals like this is that it took me over an hour to clean everything up and get it ready for these pictures. Well for the last few at least. The kitchen hasnt looked as clean since.
All that's left is to do the floor!! (And that hideous stove hood) We wanted this done right and it was a massive project. So we decided to hire it out. Should be done in a few weeks!
More to come!
More to come!
1 comment:
This is amazing, Naomi and Colin. I love the picture of Colin sitting in the little chair! I am so anxious to see how it all looks after the floor is done. I love it!
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