Monday, April 25, 2011

Getting the low down on paint.....

Before I started my "kitchen project" I read as much as I could about painting kitchen cabinetry. There are many sites online where one can glean this information. Some say "clean, sand, prime and paint", the others say "use tsp, deglosser and paint. Well, I have tried them both. I first started with "use tsp, deglosser and paint". That didn't go to well, it was time consuming, stinky and I had to use more coats of paint. My sweetie and I followed the directions on the deglosser product and in my humble opinion it didn't degloss enough. Ok, let's try the other "painting expertise". Clean, sand, prime and paint....works much better. My expert suggestion in this (expert because "I" made the mistakes and learned from them); if you have a low gloss finish (this is for stained and varnished pieces) clean with tsp, sand, use a light coat of primer (if you are going with a dark color have your primer tinted), and paint. If you have a high gloss piece use the deglosser (but clean with tsp first), sand prime and paint. By the way, Benjamin Moore makes a great paint, with low VOC and they will color match for you. Another by the way, TSP is a cleaner; it cleans the grease and grime from the wood. We all know if any grease or grime is left on the wood, the paint will chip off from that area.

My second suggestion is...expect the project to be time consuming! Unless you have a really small kitchen with very few cabinets and drawers, it will take several days to complete; if you work full time like I do, it might take a couple of weeks to complete; if you travel like I do, it might take a couple of months to complete. But, you know I can't leave you on a negative note, stop dreaming about it and talking about it, take the plunge. I'm not finished with the project yet but I'm already happy with what I am seeing.

Final suggestion; before you start, pull all your thoughts together for this project. Make your decisions on the color and style you want and finalize them. This will minimalize second guessing yourself. Second guessing myself has been the biggest problem and frustration I have encountered in this kitchen redo. It's hard to have a sense of peace about anything if you are playing the second guessing game.

My lower cabinets were one of the things I kept second guessing myself on. I finally chose a Valspar color called "Fired Earth". This color is a deep chocolate color that is brown-black. I love it! I plan to paint a couple of chairs with this color and a dresser. It is deep and rich, exactly the color I was hoping for.

I hope these suggestions help you. If you have any questions or just need some encouragement because you are in the middle of a kitchen redo, send me an email, I'm here to help anyway I can.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Progress

Things are going slowly in the renovation department. Not only has it been slow it has been stressful. My darling sweet Sweetie has second guessed me the whole way so far and we are barely into it. What's the problem you might think (at least that is what I would be thinking if I were reading this on someone's post). Sweetie has completely fallen apart about painting the beautiful oak cabinets. What? Couldn’t something have been mentioned about this before we painted? It's kind of late to have hysterics in the middle of it all when there is a wet paint brush in hand and 3/4 of the wood has been painted. Mercy! I am going to be a basket case by the time this is finished. The counters are ordered and the templates are completed. The counters are scheduled to be installed on the 25th but more about that in a moment. Back to the story...a good friend went by her local Lowes to take a peek at the quartz I had ordered and told me she was surprised I had chosen that particular piece. There I go again second guessing myself! I love all the beautiful, colorful, busy quartz and granite patterns but kept finding myself drawn to the more subdued Corian patterns with its soft colors and less busy pattern. We were on the verge of buying the Corian when someone (actually the sales person) told us the down side of this surface. We knew it would scratch easily but it could be sanded out...right? Well, he showed us how easily it is scratched and how sanding it out leaves a dull finish afterward. Back to the drawing board. That's when I researched granite and quartz. When I saw the piece that we ordered I wasn't in love with it in the beginning til I took a look at the showcase counter top the store had installed. One look and I knew that was what I wanted....so tell me to quit second guessing myself. By the way, I have deliberately not mentioned the pattern because I had rather show and tell once it is installed. And, personally, I think the cupboards are looking pretty good. I am painting the bottom cabinets a deep brown/black color. I was afraid to go completely black because I didn’t a black and white kitchen. Decisions, decisions…uuugh! Ok....when I typed the first paragraph I was on a business trip. I had asked my son to take some photos of the cupboards and email them to me. I kept checking my email but no photos. I then asked my sweetie to take pics and email them to me; again, no photos. I've been home 2 days and will be taking those photos tonight to show you a peek at part of the redo. We have the color for the lower cabinets and will be starting on those this weekend. Now for the counters; as I said they are being installed on the 25th of this month. I am leaving for another business trip that very day and will be gone around 5 weeks. While it seems unfortunate, things could be worse. This renovation has been in our minds for a while so I think I can wait another few weeks to see the finished product. I have been collecting items for decorating the kitchen onces I am finished. Of course that will be on hold until I get back, unless my Sweetie volunteers to do it while I am gone. I'm also changing the wall color, as you can see we werent to careful while we were painting the stationary parts of the cupboards. Now I wish we had been because I won't be able to paint until I can back, unless, again, my Sweetie does it while I am gone. Hmmmm, maybe that's an option. It's hard to second quess yourself if you aren't there...right???? Hopefully I will get some photos from the family while I am gone and if they do send them to me, I'll share with you. Until next time. ~willa~