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.
