Day 12 - last coat on the back.

Ryan is just about done with the upper cabinets and hopefully by tonight they will be ready to be painted.

Today I painted the 2nd coat on the backs of all of the cabinets. I didn't use a stitch of bondo on the back so there is still grain showing. Who cares, it's the back.

As soon as they were not tacky, I flipped them over. I wss ready to get going on the fronts then I saw big gray clouds coming in, so we quickly brought everything into the garage where I gave the fronts another good sanding and paid extra special attention to every little bump and scratch. I did bondo on a few cabinets.

Then I caulked the seam between the cabinet moulding and the flat part of the cabinet. I used trim caulk and the handy little caulk scraper and a heck of a lot of baby wipes.

I spread the caulk somewhat thinly on the edges.

Then I did the 90° round edge of the scraper and scraped a lot of the caulk goo off. 



Then I took a baby wipe and wiped the rest of the excess caulk.

I did this on all of the cabinets. The reason I did the caulking is because I noticed on a few of the cabinets that there was some separation between the moulding and the back piece. I didn't like that look. Ryan calls it dimension, I call it ugly, old cabinets.

I wanted to get the fronts primed tonight, but the caulking took a lot longer than I expected. So, in the morning I will prime with the undercoat, sand them with the 320 prime them again, probably do that twice. I want 3 coats of primer and likely 3 coats of paint. We will see how patient I am. It's supposed to rain on Saturday so I have to be done by Friday and bring those things in for good.

In the meantime, Ryan got all of the upper cabinets made, and screwed to the walls. He put a piece of trim over the seam of the existing cabinets and the new ones above. I have to go lighting shopping tomorrow, so we can get some lights in these new boxes.



He also did a quick mock-up of the new crown moulding to see if we will like it. I would say L.O.V.E. Ryan is so awesome and takes the extra time to make sure things look perfect. Part of it comes from his profession, but a lot of it is just who he is. He pays close attention to detail and he is meticulous when he builds something. It used to drive me bonkers with how long it took him to make something, but now I appreciate it, because everything he makes, is always stunning.


Tomorrow is primer and the first coat of paint for the front, and the same for the upper cabinets. Will keep you posted.

First coat of paint finished!

This is the paint we got from Sherwin Williams. It's called Pro Classic, and we had them tint it to the color "Alabaster". Which is not bright white, but a very beautiful soft white. Unless it's glaring at you in the afternoon in the sun, then it's bright stinking white!

I mixed the paint and paint thinner in a container and did the "one thousand one..." test. Then I poured it into the sprayer through a filter, and off I went! I sprayed the backs of all my cabinets and only had to fill the paint sprayer cup twice.

I got everything painted and it looks lovely! I just wish the paint can didn't say "wait 24 hours for recoat". So lame. So they baked in the sun all day, I sanded them with 400 grit sandpaper and they are ready to paint the 2nd coat in the morning. Then, hopefully by mid afternoon I can flip them and i can prime the fronts. Eeek, so excited!

Today was the day! The weather is perfect, no rain, no wind. It was time to get those cabinets outside to paint them. We put clear plastic on the driveway and with sawhorses, ladders, buckets and 2x4s, we got everything ready to paint. 

 

But first, we sanded all of the inside of the drawers which are the same crappy contact paper junk. We also used the compressor to bow out any sawdust from the grain in the cabinet fronts. Then we filled in most of the cabinet/drawer fronts with Bondo to get rid of as much of the deep grain as we could. Then we sanded that down with 80 grit, then with 320 grit until it was baby-bum smooth. Then we blew all if the dust off with the air compressor. Just to make sure, we rubbed the tack cloth over it all. 

We used the Kilz primer for the insides and sides of the drawers. As well add the shelves that go inside the cabinets. (Remember, primer is for surfaces that haven't been painted before.) We applied it using our new paint sprayer. We thinned it just slightly with paint thinner. Ryan's uncle taught us a cool trick to know how much thinner to use when using a sprayer. First you stir up the paint or primer. Then you lift the stir stick up and watch the paint stream of the stick. And you count one thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three, one thousand four. Your paint/thinner should "stream" for your 1,2,3 cobra but by one thousand four it should start to drip. This is real technical, you see. But this trick really works! So, that's what we did with our Kilz primer and paint thinner. I poured a couple cups of the primer into a separate container and added the thinner about one tablespoon at a time.  Then once I had the perfect consistency, I poured it through a paint filter into the sprayer cup.

Then it was time to tackle the cabinets. My goal for today was to have the cabinet backs primed and sanded twice and painted. Same with the drawers and shelves. So that in the morning I could flip them over and start on the fronts. EPIC GOAL FAIL! Remember the Sherwood lacquer undercoat? The product that I love so much?! Well I still love it, but for awhile today I loathed it! I put that lacquer into my sprayer. It worked for about 20 seconds. Then I thought maybe I needed to add paint thinner to it. Hey guess what!? Did you know if you use a lacquer, you should use a lacquer thinner not paint thinner. Who knew. Seems logical, but I am an idiot. But see I didn't realize this until after I added the paint thinner, and by this point the lacquer had already dried on the sides of my sprayer cup. So I sent the hubby to Sherwin Williams to pick up lacquer thinner. I pulled apart the sprayer cleaned it all out and then mixed the Sherwood laquer undercoat and lacquer thinner together like I did earlier with the Kilz. But guess what else! This made the lacquer dry even faster in the cup. I was livid. I didn't swear, but I REALLY wanted to. So, round two of pulling apart the sprayer and cleaning it thoroughly. I was losing daylight by this point. Like, within minutes. So, I just resorted to the ol' roller and handle and just rolled the undercoat on the back of the cabinets and drawers. I only got one coat on there and that sunshine was gone about 3 minutes later! My goal was not met, but hopefully tomorrow. 

Here is a picture of them all primed. Bad picture, but you get the idea. 

Glad today is over. 

Oil based paint

Let me tell you something about oil based paint (aka Alkyd). Not the Kilz primer, but the undercoater and paint. You can't buy it in anything bigger than a quart in Salt Lake, Utah and Davis counties. The government decided last year that the chemicals in oil based paint are harmful and dangerous and so they banned stores along the Wasatch Front to sell them in anything larger than a quart. The government also made it so that stores can't sell 4 quarts at the same price as a gallon. Who knew the government could get into your home decorating business. Stupid.

Anyway, so we had to go to Park City to buy paint. But, it was a fun trip up and the leaves were just gorgeous coming down Parley's.

Anyway...

After priming the cabinet bases, it was time to get my Sherwin Williams Pro-Classic OIL-BASED environment-killing, pollution-creating in satin Alabaster paint out and get going. 

In the meantime, I showed Ryan a couple ideas I saw on Pinterest several months back where people built above their cabinets to extend their cabinets to the ceiling. They put baskets or glass doors on them. For now, we will do baskets to hold important things like play-doh, puzzles and grill accessories and lighters. So while I was painting round one on the bases, Ryan was building my cabinet uppers. We will paint those this week and put some trim between the current cabinets and the new uppers. As well as big chunky crown moulding on top. I can't wait! Squeal!

Kilz Primer

I primed the junky contact paper crap with the Kilz primer. Remember, primer is for surfaces that haven't been painted/stained. I did one coat, waited for it to dry (a couple hours so it was really dry). Then I sanded it with 320 grit, and vacuumed and used the tack cloth. Then I primed again.

Stinky stuff, wear a mask, open windows and doors.

I then Bondo'd (new word) any deep grain, or dings. I sanded that down with 120 then with 320 until it was smooth and flush.

Then I primed the front part of them, the part that you actually see with the Sherwood undercoater. Folks, this stuff is SO strong in smell. I about passed out. No lie. After I would do about 5 cabinets I would go outside and just breathe. I didn't have all of my windows open, just my kitchen window. But, man alive, this stuff smells so strong. I don't want to scare you away from this product. It us AMAZING! Just be aware that you need good ventilation.

The instructions say to use it with a sprayer, but there was no way I was going to spray that. So, I used my velour roller and rolled it on. I sanded with my flexible 3M 320 grit sanding paper. It left it so smooth. I couldn't believe how smooth it was. Vacuumed, tack clothed. As I did that, I took painter's tape along with me and marked any dings or deep grain that I previously didn't get. Then I bondo'd again, sanded it. Vacuumed and tack clothed. Then primed again. I did this 3 times total.

Oh, and in the meantime dehydrated two boxes of apples. But, whatever.

Days 3, 4 & 5

I mixed the TSP with water according to the directions on the box, and put that solution in a shallow storage container. We layed plastic on our lawn, just in case the TSP was too harsh for our precious lawn. I got my handy dandy rubber gloves (wish I wrote a long sleeve shirt cause that chemical songs after awhile.

One cabinet/drawer door at a time, I took the taped number off the cabinet, put the cabinet in the container with the solution for about a minute or two and then took a scrub brush to it and just scrubbed and scrubbed. I probably spent about 3-5 minutes scrubbing each cabinet. Then I had my helper rinse the cabinet off with the hose and lay it out to dry on the plastic. She would get the numbered sticker from me and stuck it onto the plastic right next to the cabinet. 

We let those dry in the sun for about an hour, then flipped them to dry on the other side.

The TSP takes off the glass pretty well. I did alk of my cabinets in the same solution. By the end it wasn't working as well. I wish I would have drained and refilled at least once, if not twice. The solution got pretty brown and nasty after only a couple cabinets. See...

After they were dry, you could tell the first probably ten or so were down to the raw wood. Because the solution didn't seem to work as well, the rest still were down to some bare wood, but there was still some gloss on them.

So, for the next couple days, we sanded with our palm sanders with 220 grit sandpaper until they were smooth. Sanding is dumb. But I decided before I even started this project that I would have to tolerate it and not be ornery about it.

I also sanded the cabinet bases inside. I didn't use TSP I just sanded FOREVER! I sanded inside the upper cabinets. We have that junky pressed board that is covered with a faux wood contact paper. I didn't know how well this was going to work. So I sanded enough to make it rough and not smooth all over the insides. Then I vacuumed out every little nook-and-cranny for any speck of dust. Then I gloved up and used the tack cloth to really get every speck. The tack cloth is very sticky and leaves a sticky residue on your hands. Almost like tree sap. No thanks. Then we were ready to prime and paint.

Days 1 & 2

The first couple days were tedious. I first draw my kitchen on a piece of paper. Then I numbered every cabinet and drawer in my drawing. Then I took a piece of painter's tape and stuck it on that cabinet/drawer and numbered it according to my drawing. I took off every hinge, screw, baby-safe latch, drawer glide, knob, handle and put it in that cabinet/drawer number's Ziploc bag. I have a basket full of 38 baggies.

Anytime I wash, sand or paint or do anything to a cabinet that requires taking off that number, it goes back on immediately after. This way there is no confusion. This way I can hate cabinet #20 forever because it is the trickiest cabinet door to work with.

After numbering everything, I took it all into the garage. I bought the big rolls of thick brown paper from HDepot and covered my kitchen floors and taped it down with painter's tape.



We are currently getting our baking dishes from the garage, our plates and bowls from the laundry room and our cooking utensils from the pantry. But, we are surviving.

No cutting corners - shopping list

I told Ryan throughout this process anytime I wanted to cut corners to tell me no. If something takes me an extra day or two, it will be worth it in the long run.

After reading and studying, I decided to go about this project in many, many, many, many, many steps. I know it will take a long time, and I am okay with that. But after day one and realizing I have 38 cabinet doors/drawer fronts, I realized it was going to take a REALLY long time.

Here is the list of things we bought and are using:

Painter's tape - we are currently on roll #3.

Several plastic sheets from Home Depot. Just the cheap $3ish for a 10'x20. Wet bought 4.

Ziplocks - numbered 1-38 so that every hinge, screw, baby lock, drawer glide goes in it's numbered baggie.

80, 220, 320 & 400 grit sandpaper. I bought the regular sheets of 400 (for sanding the final coats). 320 I bought an awesome foldable/rollable sandpaper made by 3M. It's great stuff! 220 in our electric sander sized sheets. Regular sheets of the 80 so that I can sand down the bondo.

TSP powder, the bigger box. You can find this in the paint section, by the paint thinner. This is an awesome chemical that just melts of the varnish.

Rubber gloves - we bought a box of 100 from Amazon for about $8. We use these whenever we were near the TSP. We also use them when we paint.

A scrub brush - to scrub the TSP.

Bondo - to fill in the deep grain, holes, nicks. Very stinky stuff and we learned to only mix a couple tablespoons at a time because this stuff sets up in about one minute.

Purdy cub paint brush - spend the $ and get a great brush.

Tack cloth - paint section, near the drop cloths. This is a sticky, or tacky cloth that snatches up the leftover fine dust after sanding.

I tried the Wooster 4" roller with smooth rollers they have a very small nap. It says, "for smooth surfaces" on the package. I also bought the Home Depot brand foam rollers. Not really a fan of either. So I went to the trusty Sherwin Williams store, and the guy told me that most painters use a "velour" roller. So, I bought two packages and I am impressed! I really like them.

Kilz oil based interior primer (oil means more durable). I used this on the inside of my cabinets. Which happen to be pressed board with a thick faux wood contact paper. How's that for quality!? I didn't use it on the face frames of the cabinet doors themselves.

Sherwin Williams - Sherwood Pro lacquer undercoater. This is a super professional painters product. Even the guy at Sherwin Williams questioned me. He asked if I was hiring someone because this is a very professional product. I wanted to respond with, "listen bub, I am the professional!" This is the product I am using on the face frames and the cabinets themselves. The difference in an undercoater and primer is undercoater is used on a product that has already been stained/painted. It's job is to fill in the grain and cover up the blemishes. Primer is for smooth or "raw" finishes. This stuff had to be stirred really, really, really well. It is like gooey play-doh stuck at the bottom. I stirred for probably ten min. Oh, and it stinks to high heaven. Open the windows and doors for sure!

.

Sherwin Williams Profinish Satin Alkyd paint - color is Alabaster. Alkyd means oil based. We had to travel a bit to get oil based paint. Explanation is in the post titled "oil based paint".

Paint thinner - duh!

Trim caulk & caulk scraper (and baby wipes for the excess caulk) - this is to caulk the seam between the moulding and the back or flat piece of the cabinet, so there isn't a gap. This step isn't necessary, but it's a nice attention to detail step.

A ventilating face mask - no passing out from the fumes.

Paint filters - I bought a package of 100 for a couple bucks from Harbor Freight.

Paint sprayer - I bought an HVLP (High Volume Low Pressure) paint sprayer also from Harbor Freight for $30. It gets stellar reviews online and from my Mother-in-law who has used it several times to paint many things.

I think so far, that's my list.

Now, let's get started.

Kitchen Golden Oak Cabinets

Our first house was built in 1976. We lived that charming house on Rivendell Rd. But the kitchen cabinets were ugly and awful. So I slapped some latex paint on those and called it good. They looked better but just a touch better than awful.

We purchased our current house which was built in 1996, and I was THRILLED to have those beautiful Golden Oak Cabinets. I loved them so much, we had hardwood floors put in to somewhat match. We knew eventually we would change out the cabinets, so our floors have some variety in tone and color. But nonetheless they match.

Here they were when we moved in.

Here we are now, 6 years later and I swear our house is at the end of a rainbow because we have so much gold going on in here, it's nuts. I am so sick of my golden oak cabinets, still love my floors, hate the cabinets.

We had a few painters come in and give us a bid on what it would cost to paint them white. They all said, "I can paint it, but the oak grain will show through loud and clear". See, I have read enough and done enough research (thanks Pinterest) that I felt like that wasn't true. After spending months reading and contemplating and having anxiety over it, I decided I was going to jump in with both feet and tackle this project. Yes, I am doing these bad boys myself. So, here I am sharing with the world how I went from grainy-golden-oak-cabinets to hopefully mostly smooth satin white cabinets. I am in the middle, so we will see. Who knows, I may wish I would have hired those painters to do it.

Here's my 90's-wood-no-more journey, day-by-day.