Tag Archives: economical

Paint Your Kitchen Cabinets in 6 Steps!

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bigstock-Cabinet-detail-13573895_webDid you know that the average cost of remodeling your kitchen is right around $20,000? Yes, $20,000. That’s a significant amount of money. So significant, in fact, that it means I won’t be doing any kitchen remodeling anytime soon. Sure, I’d like new cabinets or a new backsplash or a new floor, but we’re just too attached to having things like groceries and running water. And I don’t think we’re alone. A lot of people like groceries and running water. And yet, many of those same people also wish they had a better kitchen.

And that brings me to the good news: there are many things you can do that will help you update your kitchen without forcing you to give up those little luxuries we all like to have. Like food in the refrigerator. And one of those projects is painting your kitchen cupboards. If the doors and drawers are structurally sound, why rip them out and replace them? With a little elbow grease, some time, and the right products (I’m looking at you RepcoLite and Benjamin Moore), you can brighten them up and, in so doing, completely change the look and feel of your kitchen. And all for very little money!

If you think this project could be perfect for your kitchen, here’s what you need to do:

STEP ONE: Remove the hardware and hinges and label the doors with their location. Removing the hardware and taking the doors down requires no explanation. However, let me stress the importance of labeling the pieces. You definitely want to make sure you do this!  Find a system that will work for you and make sure to mark each door and drawer as well as the place they go in the cabinet. Safe-release (Delicate Surface) painter’s tape works well. Just make 2 tags with a “1” and put one on the back of the door, and the other on the frame of the cabinet where the door goes. It’s a simple step, but will help you when it comes time to put things back together!

STEP TWO:  Closely examine the surface of the cabinets and drawers and be sure to remove any peeling paint by sanding and scraping. Whatever paint remains on the surface of your cabinets must be sound! New paint brushed over a peeling surface won’t make that old layer stick. The old layer will continue to fail and will take the new one with it. So make sure that whatever paint you leave on the doors is adhering well. Also, if you have to scrape or sand off some of the paint, make sure that you spend some time feathering the bare spots into the spots where the paint remains.

STEP THREE: Clean the surfaces thoroughly. After taking care of loose, flaking, or peeling paint, you need to clean the surfaces with a mixture of 1 part TSP to 4 parts water. Kitchens are sources of many different surface contaminants and you need to make sure that the surface you’re painting is clean and free of grease, dirt, and so on. Use a Scotchbrite (“scrubby”) pad with the TSP to thoroughly clean the surfaces. And if you have some really stubborn dirt or grease, use the degreaser Spray Nine.

STEP FOUR:  Scuff-sand the surfaces you’re going to paint. You can use an orbital sander for this, or you can do the sanding by hand. Either way, use either 180 – 220 grit sandpaper. The goal isn’t to sand through the current finish, it’s just to lightly scuff it. And when you’re done, remove all the dust from the cabinets. You can blow them off with an air compressor, vacuum the dust off, or wipe it off with a solvent like Denatured Alcohol or Xylene. However you remove the dust make sure that it’s all removed before moving on to the priming step!

STEP FIVE:  Prime the cabinets with a good bonding primer. We recommend STIX Waterborne Primer. It will bond to the previous coating on your cabinets and will provide an excellent base for your topcoat! Let the primer completely dry and then assess the cabinets for any bleed-through of stain or tannins. This can happen if you’ve cut through the original coating while scuff sanding. If you do see some bleed through, spot prime those areas with an oil based primer or a white pigmented shellac like BIN.

STEP SIX:  Topcoat with a good finish paint in either a satin sheen or a semi-gloss (for washability). If you’re brushing, we recommend giving Benjamin Moore’s Advance a try. It’s a waterborne alkyd which means you’ll get the performance of an oil-based product without the drawbacks. It will flow out remarkably well, providing you with a smooth finish even when you brush or roll the paint on. And, best of all, it cleans up with soap and water and doesn’t have the smell of an oil. Another great option is RepcoLite’s own Hallmark Ceramic. It rolls and brushes well and or can be sprayed. There are also a few other options we may recommend in the store, depending on your situation.

And that’s basically what you need to know. Yes, there is some work involved. Yes, it will take some time. You’ll have to do the sanding and the cleaning, the priming and the painting. But, when you’re done, you’ll be amazed at the difference in your home. And all for as little as $200 – $300 (or less!)

If you’re interested in this project, please email us with your questions or type your questions in the comment boxes on this post!

Color Me Home Episode 10: Inexpensive Kitchen Updates

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On today’s episode, Betsy and Dan discuss some inexpensive projects you can tackle to update your kitchen! They discuss a quick way to make your old cabinets look new again, a way to cover up those old, dated tile backsplashes, and much more!

View our Pinterest Board for Episode 10!

Episode Outline

  • The Gel Stain Fix! (0:52)
  • Can I Lighten My Stained Cabinets With Stain? (5:49)
  • Painting Your Cabinets  (7:10)
  • Get Creative! (20:42)
  • How Do I Apply the Paint? Do I Spray It? Brush It? Roll It? (24:08)
  • Replace the Hardware! (27:01)
  • Update That Dated Tile Backsplash! (28:50)
  • What Finish Should I Use on the Cabinets or the Backsplash? (33:16)

The Gel Stain Fix

Betsy started the episode talking about an easy way to update old and scratched cabinets. Yes, it takes some work.  And yes, you need to do the right prep work . . . but if you do, this can be a great way to update your cabinets very quickly and for very little money. Here’s a blog post that explains the process in detail. And below are some of the photos sent to us by our customer who had such great results!

 Painting Your Cabinets

A second solution we discussed for updating your kitchen is a pretty basic one:  painting the cabinets. It’s not a complicated process, but it does take some time and it definitely requires that you do the proper amounts of prep work to make sure the finished product holds up well. Here are the steps we discussed in the podcast and a brief description. For more information, listen to the podcast and/or check out our blog post on painting kitchen cabinets!

STEP ONE:  Remove the hardware and hinges and label the doors with their location.

STEP TWO:  Clean the surfaces thoroughly using TSP.

STEP THREE:  Scuff-sand the surfaces you’re going to paint.

STEP FOUR:  Prime the cabinets with STIX Waterborne Primer.

STEP FIVE:  Topcoat with a Benjamin Moore’s Advance or RepcoLite’s Hallmark Ceramic.

Those are the basic steps we cover in the podcast. Again, listen to the episode for more details or check out our blog post on painting your cabinets! (Or, better yet, stop out at any RepcoLite, Port City Paints, or Snyder Paints location and we’ll walk you through the whole process!)

Painting An Old Tiled Backsplash

Another topic we discussed on the episode was painting an old, tiled backsplash. The backsplash in a kitchen can often look dated. And usually, people have no idea how to easily fix it. After all, ripping out the tile involves a lot of demolition, sweat, and (in my case) blood. But, there is a quick fix if you’re looking for an easy solution that will buy you some time. And of course, we’re talking about paint! Here are the basic steps. Again, if you’re looking for more detailed info, please check out our blog post on the topic!

STEP ONE:  Clean the surfaces thoroughly using TSP.

STEP TWO:  Prime the cabinets with STIX Waterborne Primer.

STEP THREE:  Topcoat with a Benjamin Moore’s Advance or RepcoLite’s Hallmark Ceramic.

A Gallon of Paint: The Tire of the Home Improvement World

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bigstock_group_of_automotive_tires_74428147_smallerI drive an old car.  An OLD car.  It’s a 1996 Chevy Cavalier.  It’s purple.  It used to be my wife’s.  And yet, even though it has all that going against it–even though it’s probably one of the least “manly” cars you’re likely to see on the road–I continue to drive it.  The reasons?  It’s paid for and it continues to run.

That is, until a couple months ago.  See, a couple months ago, the front end started giving out.

Now, I should be clear and explain that I’m not a car guy.  So, what I mean when I say the “front end started giving out,” is simply that the car started shaking violently whenever I exceeded 30mph.  In fact, it would shake so violently that the flabby skin under my arms–you know, where your muscles would be . . . if you had them–started jiggling and bouncing and flopping all over the place.  It got so bad that just feeling it bouncing started to make me motion sick.

After one excessively jiggly ride, I got out of the car, waited for the flabby skin to settle down, and then announced to anybody who was listening (my wife), that it was time for a new car “because this one’s shot.”

However, before I jumped into the process of buying a new vehicle–and partly because I knew of my limitations as a “car guy”–I brought my little purple car in to a repair shop so they could confirm my diagnosis of death.  Surprisingly, after about 15 minutes with the car, they informed me that I needed a new passenger-side front tire.

Yeah.  Instead of the $4000 bill for replacing my front end, I needed a $67 tire.

Well, naturally, I told them to go ahead with the work and I was shocked when I drove the car off the lot and my flabby underarm skin didn’t jounce all over the place.  It was hard to believe that a $67 tire could make all that difference.  But it did.

And crazy as it sounds . . . a gallon of paint is just like that tire.

See, many folks look at their homes and, if they’re bored with it or if their feeling that some changes need to be made, most of them feel that the solution is to remodel.  They debate whether or not they should tear out a wall, put in new flooring, rip out their cabinets and replace them with new.  They toy around with the ideas of buying new furniture, new artwork, new window treatments all in the hopes of sprucing up their home and giving it a much-needed facelift.

However, what many folks don’t realize is that a gallon of paint can often make all the difference in the world.

Now, maybe that doesn’t sound accurate to you, but it’s the truth.  Painting a room in your home is rated by almost every home decorator and home fix-it guru as the best “bang-for-your-buck” project you can tackle.  And the reason is simple:  the color on our walls does more to influence the look and feel of a room than almost anything else.

You want to make your furniture look new?  Then put a new backdrop behind it.  Change that taupe on your walls to a brighter color, a darker color, a lighter color.  Go with a green or a blue or a grey and watch how your couch or your chairs suddenly take on new life.

Sick of those old cabinets?  Well, rather than rip them out and replace them (easily a $10,000 project), why not repaint them?  Get rid of that old wood look and turn them white, or bisque or whatever color you can imagine.  Sure, it will take some work, but in the end, you can probably accomplish the project for under $200–much less than the cabinet re-do.

To get back to my car scenario:  I was convinced the only way to make a difference in the way my car felt, was to either drop $4000 on huge repairs or to buy a new car.  I was shocked to find out that something so small–a new tire–could make the car drive almost like new.  In the same way, don’t let yourself be convinced that the only way to spruce up your home significantly is to tackle some hugely expensive remodel project.  A gallon of paint can go a long way’s toward changing the look and feel and attitude of any room–and at a price you just can’t beat.