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Monday, March 24, 2014

Maison Blanche Kitchen Cabinet Makeover!



We bought this house about 2.5 years ago, and the kitchen had builders grade oak cabinets.  I have longed to paint them, and scoured the internet for ideas on how to easily do that over the past couple of years.
It was when I  refinished a dresser a year ago, that I realized chalk paint might be our best bet. 
The thought of being out of a kitchen for possibly weeks while taking care of our 3 and 5 year old was almost enough to make me like those oak cabinets as they were (almost, still not quite enough).
Using Maison Blanche's la craie paint on our dresser was so super easy, I finally dove head first into doing the kitchen!

Here are some pictures right after we bought the house:



Dark, boring, small... a lot of words come to mind.

Here are most of the supplies we purchased:

 2 quarts of Maison Blanche Silver Mink furniture paint
Maison Blanche Satin Varnish
A 2 inch angled Purdy brush
Painters tape
A drop cloth
Behr ultra plus paint with primer in Milkpail by martha stewart
Rustoleum Satin Nickel spray paint for the hinges
Cabinet drawer pulls
Cabinet knobs
Clorox wipes

I took all of the cabinets off of the hinges and scrubbed them really well with the wipes, if there are any grease spots remaining your paint will yellow in spots.  Then they all got wiped down with a damp cloth to be sure there was no remaining soap residue.
Once they had time to dry (I took that time to run to the store for supplies), I applied a coat of paint to all of the doors and trim, and once the doors were dry I applied the paint to the back of the doors.
This paint is very very quick drying, so you need to work quickly, but it meant that by the time I had my first coat done I was ready to go back and do the second coat.
Once the second coat was on, the paint needed at least 24 hours to cure.  I made note of which pieces were finished earlier than others so I could start varnishing asap. At this point, the silver mink color was lighter and not nearly as neutral as I expected, I was worried, but carried on. Once I started applying the varnish the color of the paint changed to the color I was actually expecting. ***Happy Dance ( and a glass of wine)*** The varnish was the consistency of milk, and was very easy to apply.  The only issue I had was occasional drips forming, and this was really a non issue.
The first coat of varnish also dries very quickly, and then our second coat was applied.
My lovely husband drilled and installed the hardware.  I spray painted the existing hardware.  And we jointly painted the kitchen and adjacent laundry room/half bath.   It took 3.5 days and very little sleep, but we were finally finished!  (For now!  The lighting, sink, faucet, flooring, and eventually appliances need replaced too, but this is a big starting step!)







We are so happy with the results! 

Thanks for visiting!
If you have any questions about the process just let me know!

4 comments:

  1. Hi, how have your cabinets held up so far? Wanting to paint mine & seeing how they worked for you :) I have 2 young children & another on the way so need something durable but like you want it to be easier to paint. Thanks!!

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    Replies
    1. Hi there! They've held up really well! The only 2 areas with noticeable wear are the very tops of our silverware drawers, where knives etc have been banged around. I kept the leftover paint, I'll eventually lightly sand just the very top edge of the drawers to give them a touch up at some point, but it really isn't highly noticeable. With the heavy use our kitchen gets (we have 4 and 6 year olds), I've been very pleased!

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    2. Are they still holding up another year later? I am doing our bathroom cabinets first and using maison blanche clear wax...would you say to definitely use varnish in kitchen or wax would be ok?

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    3. Are they still holding up another year later? I am doing our bathroom cabinets first and using maison blanche clear wax...would you say to definitely use varnish in kitchen or wax would be ok?

      Delete