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.