Kitchen Cabinets Transformation with ASCP

Hope you all are getting your Christmas shopping finished up! Is it just me, or did Christmas sneak up on us really fast? It seems like last week I was barely getting ready for Halloween.

Anyway, about a month ago, I painted some kitchen cabinets in ASCP's Country Grey. This is a house my family owns and rents out, and the kitchen cabinets were dirty, greasy and in rough shape. Not to mention brown, boring and VERY dated. The kitchen counters are a weird green tile, but the appliances are stainless steel. Because it is a rental and we needed to keep costs down, my mom asked me to paint the cabinets.

To start, I removed all of the cabinet doors and hardware. I then used scotch bright pads and scrubbed down everything. Most times I down even clean dirt off of furniture before painting, but this kitchen was not clean! I wasn't worried about the paint adhering, it was just gross! I painted the cabinets themselves 2 coats of Country Grey with a regular 2" angled paint brush.

I then painted the cabinet doors. After 1 coat, I noticed that some of the cabinet doors had grease spots bleeding through. To be safe, I painted them all with 1 coat of Zinser Shellac. It costs about $13 for a quart and you can find this at any hardware store. It dries very fast and only added $13 maybe an extra hour to the job - and thats with 21 cabinet doors! I have painted many pieces of furniture and this is the first time I had to seal something before painting. After the Shellac, I painted 2 coats of Country Grey to all of the cabinet doors, front AND back.

I then finished everything off with 2 coats of lacquer. We already had the lacquer on hand, but if it were my choice, I would have used 2-3 coats of wax which is just as strong, if not a stronger protective finish than the lacquer. This was also before we received the Annie Sloan Lacquer.

I also spray painted the old hinges in brushed nickel to match the new handles. The entire process took about 3 days. Here is the cost and material breakdown as well:

3 Quarts ASCP Country Grey (I still have about half a quart left) = $116.85

1 Quart Zinser Shellac = $13

1 Package Scotch Bright Pads = $8

1 Can Brushed Nickel Spray Paint = $5

New Handles = $40

Total cost = $182.85

Like I mentioned before, I had lacquer on hand, but if I would have used Annie Sloan wax like I would have preferred, I would add an additional 2 tins ($50) to be safe.

Here are the before and after pictures. Please excuse the poor quality!! I was planning on going back to take good pictures after the house was cleaned, but the house rented so quick that I didn't get the chance!

Don't forget to enter the BIG GIVEAWAY here: http://sweetvintagedecor.blogspot.com/2011/12/big-annie-sloan-chalk-paint-giveaway.html

Not sure why, but Blogger is putting the pictures in a random order, I apologize.