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!

Maison Blanche Chalk Paint Tutorial ~ Dresser Redo

  I'm about to share one of my new favorite products with you!

Maison Blanche's La Craie Paint.

It. Is. Amazing.

I've been wanting to try chalk paint for a while, and I've heard of another brand that's been used buy a lot of people lately, called Annie Sloan.  I was searching Knoxville for a nice dresser  to redo or our master bedroom makeover (to be revealed later...) and I ended up in a furniture store here called Consign to Design.  I not only found my dresser, but they are also the local retailer for Maison Blanche Paint and Waxes.  I asked the girl about the consistency of the paint and I was told that it tends to be thicker than Annie Sloane.  I hadn't tried either, but I was definitely going for a more covered look so I figured thicker would be best.  I bought the dresser, and also left with a quart of La Craie in Franciscan gray, and a container of Maison Blanche's clear Antique wax.

I started working on the dresser at eight o'clock at night after the kids were put to bed.  There is no sanding needed at all, even on this lacquered dresser.
I removed all of the hardware.  I swiped a barely damp rag across the front of the drawers where the hardware was removed, just to remove the dust that had built up.

I spread a painting drop cloth out, since I was working in the living room.  It was freezing in the garage.

I shook the can quite a bit to get it mixed up well, and then we stirred the paint.

I was advised that it was good to use a Purdy brush, and though I'm sure it's great to use one if you have one, I did not.  I was coming in right on budget for my dresser and didn't feel like spending another $15 on a brush.  I used a cheap $3 economy brush from Lowes.

I first applied a very thin, and I mean, very thin, layer of paint, all over the dresser and drawer fronts.  I used so little paint that you could barely tell there was any missing from the can.  If you were painting a lighter color piece of furniture, or if you weren't going for a very covered look, you could have possibly skipped this. I wanted to be sure that it wouldn't end up streaky though.  You can see it looks pretty rough here, but for the teensy tiny amount of paint used, the coverage is astounding.

I let the first thin coat dry for about 30 mins, it was such a small amount of paint that it dried amazingly fast.  I  then started on the next coat.  I applied the paint fairly heavily, as I wasn't going for too much of a distressed look.  The paint went on extremely easily and smoothly.  I let it dry overnight, and it was dry by morning.

The next morning I took my clean brush, and applied the wax.  It is firm, as you can kind of see in the picture here.  I just swipe the brush over the wax a few times, and then swipe it onto the dresser.

It just ever so slightly leaves a color difference, so you can tell how smooth it is going on.   They also sell a brown version of the wax if you are going for a more weathered or distressed look.

Once the wax was applied, I let it sit for about 15 minutes, and then quickly buffed over the surfaces with a dry rag.

I spray painted the hardware with some Rustoleum metallic flat nickel.

We put the hardware back on, and it was ready to move to our room!