Tutorial: How to paint cupboards…. BY HAND!

To see more of Jo’s House makeover series, click here!

Hey friends! Jo here! I literally cannot believe we are already this far into 2017! That is crazy!! Hopefully you had a good holiday and things are starting to settle down for you! 😉 

Today is a good one and is a topic that I have had a TON of questions about since we posted this amazing back splash a few months ago!! Painting your cabinets is NO joke and I had no clue what I was doing. Plus I was terrified I was going to mess it up I mean hello, these are my kitchen cabinets and we are on a serious budget!! Bah! I wasn’t going to do it but then this happened….

So my husband is an 8th grade teacher and during the summers when he is off from teaching, he is on a painting crew. This particular crew goes around and does major touch-ups and maintenance to all of the schools in the district. Some of these guys have been around for a reeeeally long time and have tons of experience. So when we bought our new home, these amazing guys came over and helped us paint our entire house. It was such a blessing and literally saved us DAYS of painting. While they were here, one of them asked about the kitchen and I expressed how badly I wanted them painted and BOOM! He told me everything he knew and what he had done in the past. He also told me what he knew for sure worked and what for sure didn’t. The paint crew also works directly with Sherwin Williams and so I was able to chat with a few of their associates to see what they recommended as well. We got to be prrrretty good friends by the end of this process! 😉

So friends! I am excited that I get to share this info with you. NOW it has only been 6 months BUT 6 months with 4 kids and white cupboards and still being pleased as punch with how they have held up, is definitely winning in my book! Ha!

{ALSO——I would HIGHLY recommend reading this from START TO FINISH BEFORE YOU EVEN START.}

This is what the kitchen looked like before. This is the actual MLS photo from the listing. 

OK…. HERE WE GO:

Step 1: Remove all cupboard doors and drawers. As you do this, make sure you are very thorough and label them. We used masking tape and numbered the doors and placed it in a location that wouldn’t matter if it was painted over. You will need to number inside hinges also. This is super important. Place all hinges into ziplock bag and keep safe. {If necessary, you will remove the fronts of your drawers at this point as well.}

 {This is how we numbered our cabinets}

Step 2: Clean and DE-GREASE!!  Just imagine allll the stuff and grime and grease that has built up on the surfaces over the years. Especially where fingers have repeatedly touched and the doors around the oven and stove. For this process, I set up A-frames in the backyard and just scrubbed the heck out of them. I did the front and back. {I’m sorry I don’t have a picture of this} but I used this product from Home Depot plus a soft bristle scrub brush and it worked great. 

Step 3: After those have completely dried you will need to DE-GLOSS! This is going to remove that shiny top coat and help your next product adhere. For this step, I used this product. {You will need to wear gloves and make sure to follow the instructions on the back.} I poured mine into a heavy duty squirt bottle and did little sections at a time. It worked perfectly. It will feel sort of tacky to the touch and that’s what you want. It’s a liquid sandpaper and is pretty much amazing. 

Step 4: {Repeat Step 2 + Step 3} on the inside now. Ya know, the bones that hold everything. Those now have to be degreased and deglossed.

PAT YOURSELF ON THE BACK! YOU ARE DOING GREAT! And probably grab a diet coke too! 😉 

Step 5: Next up is your primer. Now this is what I was told to use so I didn’t ask any questions. I went, I bought, I painted. Ha! This is applied like you normally would when painting anything else. I poured it into a paint tray and using a small foam roller, rolled it on in thin layers. It went on super easy and covered extremely well. We did this to every single surface that had the honey oak on it. We only needed the one gallon for everything too which was nice! 

{Let me be bold in saying that you CANNOT skip this step. And make sure that you don’t accidentally miss any surfaces. We did accidently miss a set of bathroom cupboard doors and you can 100% tell the difference in the way they have held up. Whatever is in this stuff is magic and awesome. Go get it and use it. The end.} 😉 

Step 6: Once your primer is completely dry, {like maybe wait 24 hours if possible} using extremely fine sandpaper, gently sand your surfaces. Like with the gentlest touch you can muster. You just put your heart and soul into those babies. Don’t mess it up now. One time over the top is perfect. Then blow or wipe the dust off. 

 DISCLAIMER THAT YOU MUST READ: Now, after interrogating talking with at least 4 different Sherwin Williams employees and getting the same answer, I feel like the paint we went with was a safe choice! 😉 The unanimous opinion was ProClassic, Smooth enamel for trim and doors. They all gave their reasoning for why – which I appreciated and to be honest it made the most sense too! Now this next thing I did is going to blow your mind…. and not in a good way. HAHA! Remember how I told you I wasn’t going to mess this up? Well I was advised to purchase an extremely cheap 3″ whimpy roller from Walmart to use to paint my cupboards. I am here to tell you that they work. I may have used 5 or 6 of them. But friends… they worked. I even used the little trays they came with! {Brooke miiiight have died a little inside when she saw what I was using. Lol.} But I never strayed and everything worked out. And I didn’t feel like it took me forever either. Now. Are there other ways you could do this? I’m sure there are. Would something be better and more efficient? Maybe. But I wasn’t about to risk it. So there you have it. 😉 

{See what I mean?! Lol!}

The color we chose was Bright White. It doesn’t have to be tinted either, just shaken. 

Step 7: Once you are certain all of the dust is off, you are ready to paint. {During this time it was well over 100 degrees outside every day, so to paint them, we set the doors up in the living room on pieces of 2×4’s as pictured below.} We ended up applying 2 coats and then touching up in a couple places that needed a little extra love. 

Step 8: Let completely dry for approx 24 hours before putting the cupboards back on.

YOU ARE DONE!! CONGRATS! You did it! 

Step 9: Make sure you match up all your numbers correctly and that they all go back to exactly as they should! 

{I mean, this looks like a pretty good time right?! Ha! We only pulled out appliances because we were painting walls too. Otherwise that isn’t necessary!}

We wanted to avoid fingers constantly touching our new white cupboards so we added the hardware ourselves. I love how they look! We purchased these pulls and these knobs from Amazon. 

 

So what do you think? Are you ready to tackle this?!! All I am going to say is if I can do it, YOU can do it! 

Here are a few more links you might like:  Information on the Quick-Step flooring or kitchen sources or how we installed that gorgeous backsplash! 

Sidenote: I have kept a tiny jar of leftover paint in my kitchen to have in case I need to dap a little on a corner or edge that might need a little extra touch-up! 

Thanks for hanging out with me today! If you have any other questions, feel free to leave a comment and  I will try my best to answer it or you can always email me at allthingsthriftyassistant at gmail dot com! 

xoxo

Jo

Editor’s Note: {Jo is the editor. HAHA!} Towards the end of this process we DID in fact get brave and attempt to use the HomeRight Sprayer that Brooke owns and it was pretty great. You just have to make sure you follow the thinning directions perfectly that are included with the sprayer! You can read more about the sprayer here too! 

{This post contains affiliate links. I don’t make a lot off of them. Just enough to supply me with a couple diet cokes a week! Just keepin’ real! }