Quick and Easy Cabinet Redo's
Although doing craft painting and refinishing furniture is my favorite, I decided to take on a more practical project. Something that had to be done and had been put for off way too long. The bathroom cabinets....oh no! The finish on these bathroom cabinets was original from 11 years ago. It was a builders grade and had very little stain as well as almost no clear coat. It had a lot of water damage from years of use as you can see. They looked terrible. The more they were cleaned it the more the finish came off. So I wanted a quick fix that was very inexpensive and would look great and take very little of my time.
When refinishing you usually take of all the hardware and remove the doors but I was in a rush for a quick fix up before company was coming. I didn't even want to take off the doors so I just took of the hardware and picked a shade of Chalk Mineral Paint that was slightly darker than the original color so no one would notice the contrast on the inner doors. I used Dixie Belle "Coffee Bean". The inside of the doors were fine with no damage and I just wanted to clean up the look on the outside so this was my final plan. After I finished it was not very noticeable even when I opened the doors because the colors were very close to each other once dried. My 2 bathrooms were done very quickly and was ready to show them off the next day with this quicky method.
To start I took off the hardware. Then I cleaned the cabinet doors completely with my White Lighting Solution until the cloth was clean. This takes of all of the dirt and a little bit of the original stain.
Then I taped everything up as I was not going to take of the doors. Grabbed my brush and paint and was ready to go. This is the difference as I painted the 2 doors on the right 1st with only 1 coat. It looked great even on the first coat but I did do two coats for a smoother finish and waited 15 minutes between the coats for proper drying.
My finishing step the next day was with a coat of Clear Coat Satin. I like to wait overnight before applying the clear coat but you could do it earlier same day if you wished. Gator Hide could also be used instead of clear coat and is more water repellent. A coat of clear coat satin worked for me as my family is much older now there is much less water mess to worry about. Overall, the cabinets are way more protected than they were when they were originally installed.
Once the Clear Coat was dry I put back on the hardware and removed the tape with some unwanted help from my pup. When the project was finished I did 2 bathroom cabinets (one 2 door and one 4 door) with an 16oz jar of Coffee Bean Chalk Mineral Paint and I still had about an inch in the bottom left over to use another project. It also took less than 8oz of satin clear coat for both. It was really satisfying to see how much it improved the look of the bathrooms. Both look new again. Here's the before and after pics.....
BEFORE
AFTER .....
This is how great they look now and it was so quick, inexpensive and easy to do myself. Best of all no sanding...
Hope you enjoyed.
Andrea Hinz