Kitchen Transformation: Painting it White

So here is the kitchen before we started our update.  It looked okay, but the orange-ish builder grade cabinets just weren’t my style.  My dream kitchen consists of crisp white cabinets, subway tile, a lower bar between the kitchen and dining room, stainless steel appliances….ahhh the list goes on.  But we had to start somewhere, and that somewhere was with paint!    

The project started by empting out the kitchen piece by piece and cabinet by cabinet.  Luckily we were able to shift most of the stuff over into the dining room.      

I used the kitchen island to create a makeshift cooking station complete with microwave, coffee pot, toaster, and cook top.  I figured with these appliances I could brave it a couple of days without my kitchen.  Some people would be fine without a kitchen for several days…..but not this girl.  I live in my kitchen so while it was under construction it was like missing my right arm.  Some words to the wise…..if you are planning a similar project have some meals planned in advance that you can heat up in the microwave (like soup), put in the croc pot, or fry over a cook top.        

I also made a little makeshift station with dishes, measuring cups, bowls, Tupperware, etc. so I could have easy access to the essentials during the painting bonanza.  This was a lifesaver and stopped me from ripping my hair out from the frustration of not being able to find anything.  These last two pictures are proof of how neurotic I can be at times…….but it leads me to organization and piece of mind so I’m okay with it.         

All of the cabinets slowly emptied out and we were ready to get down to business!          

Well…..all the cabinets except the pantry that I just organized.  That seemed like it would be a bit of a bizznitch to put back together so I elected to tape around it with plastic.  I guess I should explain/defend the dumping of the kitchen contents as opposed to just taping plastic around it.  Dust is small.  It gets everywhere.  It is the honey badger of home reno projects….it doesn’t give a shit if all your dishes are clean….it’s gunna get all up in there and settle all over it.  I thought it would be easier to remove everything and put it back in than spending days or weeks cleaning out all of the dust because I didn’t tape the plastic well enough.               

Here are all the materials you will need: drop cloths, plastic gloves, respirator mask, 120 grit sand paper, sand paper for electric sander, 2 inch brush, small art brush, regular paint roller and fine paint roller (looks like a sponge), frog tape, and semigloss latex paint.  Also in the picture is a product called Floetrol, which is a product that is added to paint to eliminate brush and roller marks.  It was recommended by the lovely people at Home Depot to help make sure paint brush marks didn’t show up on our cabinets.  It also thins the paint out.  If you cabinets have heavy wood grain like ours did I wouldn’t recommend this product.  We didn’t have a problem with the stroke marks showing, however the paint was so thin it would settle into the wood grain so we ended up putting on a lot more coats than we originally should have.                   

First you take all the hinges and doors off.  Remember the part about me being a little…well…neurotic?  Soo I kind of marked all the hinges and doors to make sure they went back in the right place.  It was a good idea in theory but in the chaos of it all we ended up saying “screw it” and just took it as it came.                     

If this is something you can keep organized all the power to you!  After several days of plastic and paint everywhere my spirit was broken and I gave up on the organization part.                       

When all the doors came off the real muscle work started.  I took all the doors down into our basement to get them ready to prep for paint.                         

And then our kitchen looked like this.  I took a moment to enjoy the peace before the chaos started.                           

Next I taped up all the plastic.  I wrapped the stove up like a mummy because dust in the stove crevices = not a good situation.  I taped up the space between the kitchen and the dining room and the walkway to the basement.  Not to mention the counter tops and the entire floor.  Every brush stoke has the potential to drip paint and anything that could be damaged by said paint needs to be wrapped up or have plastic over it.  I taped up the spaces between the kitchen and the other rooms to prevent dust from traveling and setting everywhere.                             

I taped up my spices good and they seemed to survive the dust storm.                               

Then it was time to get serious so I busted out the electric sander.  After this there was no going back!                                

When you are sanding don’t forget to wear your respirator mask.  Inhaling all that dust isn’t pretty.  I also took some sexy pictures of myself in the mask……but they didn’t turn out to be so pretty so I decided to leave them out of the tutorial.                                  

I then sanded and sanded until I couldn’t sand any more.  I am proud to say that I did all the steps in the first part of the kitchen tutorial on my own!  From the taking off the cabinet doors, to the taping and putting up the plastic, and the sanding down the cabinet faces.  Only several minor calls were made to the hubby throughout the day, and if I can manage to get through this without gouging out the cabinets or having a door knock me unconscious when I’m taking it off the hinges, anything is possible!                                    

How to Paint a Wall: Our Living Room

Remember when I shared paint swatches for my living room waaay back here?  Ya, it’s been awhile.  Well, the official winner for paint was Agave from BEHR.  We took a trip to the Home Depot and came back with bags full of painting supplies and two gallons of BEHR Premium Plus Ultra Paint and Primer in One in Interior Satin Enamel.  Besides paint here is what you will need before you get your painting on:

• Paint Rollers
• Smaller Brushes
• Drop Cloth
• Painters Tape (I recommend Frog Tape)
• Sander/Sand Paper
• Paint Trays
• A step stool (if you are short like me and need a little…boost)
• Nail Hole Filler
• Putty Knife
• Screw Driver

If you remember, we were working with two dark and mysterious maroon walls that definitely needed a makeover.

The first step is to prep your surface.  This means taking off all light switches, vent covers, etc. that will be hard to paint around.

Then put down an initial drop cloth (to catch all the dust).  We used a cheap plastic one from Home Depot. 

Next, you need to make sure your wall is nice and smooth so that new coat of paint looks nice and smooth.  Take out all your nails and sand down the nail holes and rough/raised patches.  This can be anything from a bad mud job that left some bumps on the wall to previous paint drips.  It’s all gotta go. 

After all that sanding there are probably a few holes in the wall (from nails) and a lot of dust!  Wipe your wall clean and use a your putty knife to spread the nail hole filler over your holes. When doing this my first instinct was to wipe off all the nail filler with the putty knife and make it nice and flat.  That’s a bad idea because then when the mud dries there still may be an indent from your hole.  Thank goodness I had the hubby around to set me strait.  It’s best to leave the filler raised at bit.  Let it dry for 15 – 20 minutes (test it because you’ll know if it’s still wet) and sand down again to make a smooth finish.  Wipe down your wall and you are now ready for painting….while almost!

You then need to tape. Around everything.  This means trim, where one wall meets another (if the wall is a different color), and any other weird obstacles that are in your way.  It was pretty humid the day we were taping, even with the air conditioning on, so getting the tape to stay was a bit tricky.  We brought in our dehumidifier which was amazing for the tape, and also helped the paint dry better!

Then secure your drop cloth over your whole floor.  We have hardwood in the living room so it was really important to us that we didn’t ruin it with a big ole' paint splotch.  You probably feel the same about your house.  If we were expert painters we probably could have gotten by with just around the edges BUT did we want to take that risk? Nope!

Now you are officially ready to open that paint can!  A great tip the hubby taught me is that when you open the can, put a few nail holes around the rim of the can where paint tends to get stuck (which is a beeyotch when it dries there and either gets into your paint OR makes the can really hard to open).  This allows the pain to naturally drain back down into the can where it belongs.

Since we got BEHR paint with primer we got to skip the step/work/extra money for primer! Woo hooo!  I totally recommend this to anyone thinking about painting.  We got er’ done in only two coats!  Start by painting just around the edges of everything with a small brush.  This makes it easier when you are painting with your roller so you don’t have to get too close to the edges, or your ceiling, or anything else that could be disastrous.  It’s kind of like making a line to color in. 

Next use rollers to paint in the rest of your wall.  For most people, the W pattern works best, but you will find your rhythm of what works for you!

Let the paint dry the suggested time on the can.  I think we went a little over at 6 – 7 hours for dry time when the can recommended 2-4.  After your coat has dried, repeat painting the edges and filling in the middle with a roller as many times as you need to cover your wall.  For us it was only two!  Then roll up your drop cloth, clean off your brushes, and voila! You have a new room!