There are many things you should consider before diving into your kitchen makeover. If you lack the amount of money to invest in new kitchen cabinets, you will want to put on your creative cap and read through this article.
You’ve already spent some time looking through Pinterest to get some unique and creative ideas and picked those that will add a touch of awesomeness into your kitchen while working with a small budget. Before you go about making any changes though there are a few things you should keep in mind before you begin:
-
Keep your expectations real
If the cabinets you want to reface are damaged, chipped, or warped, you will spend your money and time to paint them and they still do not bring you the high quality results you expect. That explains why keeping your expectations real matters before you find yourself with brush and paint in hand. Even the quality of wood shouldn’t be disregarded. Cabinets that are made of bad materials will not form a good bond with the paint, and it may readily scratch and scrape off, or the texture of the cabinets may show through and be hard to cover, even with multiple layers of paint.
Setting clear and real expectations will help you and your family a lot. They will dictate how the entire project is planned and executed. Keeping a realistic attitude during the whole remodeling process will let you better see the possible mishaps and prepare you for the results, no matter good or bad.
-
Clean and prep your cabinets first
Painting kitchen cabinets is a time consuming task and for most is never easy. There is a lot of prepwork involved. The results will be noticeably poorer or possibly unaccomplishable if there is dust or dirt on their surface. Cleaning is important before you put some colors on it. No matter what refacing technique you are using, you need to remove all the cabinet doors, drawers out of their boxes, with the hardware. After removing, cleaning and prepping are next steps.
You will almost always need to scrub the surface since there will likely be a thin layer of cooking grease on the cabinet and drawer faces. Not cleaning this grease off will prevent the cabinets new paint from bonding. If you have a cabinet with finished wood (as most cabinets do) you will need to sand and strip this to various degrees to ensure a consistent bond. Not forgetting that dust can make your painting layer chunky leaving you with a gritty finish. Choose sandpaper for cleaning and a stain-blocking primer to impact your results on the end in a positive way.
-
It takes more than a day
Every beginner that decided on painting the cabinets thought of finishing the painting in one or two days. But usually, it takes more than that for DIYers. First, you will need to remove the cabinets with the hardware, and then you will prep and clean the surfaces of the cabinets. Then you will need to apply a primer, and the primer will need some time to be dry.
Calculating only the starting steps will take you one day at minimum, and longer depending on the number of cabinets, and you haven’t even started painting. It will need more than a weekend to a whole week for everything to be done properly if you’re doing it yourself. These days might seem like it is enough for a project like this, but when you add the hours every layer needs to be completely dry you may be inclined to hire a cabinet painting professional to do the work, even though it may cost more than initially expected.
-
You must organize it well
When taking apart your cabinets, you should know that removed items should be returned to the right place. You should remember the right place of the cabinet doors, drawers, and the hardware that connects them with the boxes. When you begin to spray or paint the cabinets with color it is hard to know which cabinet belongs to which box, and which hardware belongs to each cabinet face.
Organization helps avoid mismatched cabinet doors, which would otherwise lead to a bad end results and a kitchen with cabinets not fitted properly. A smart step you can take is to label all the removed items and put all the tiny hardware pieces in bags, so you will easily find everything when you need it.
-
Avoid cheap paints
You are taking this project into your own hands because you don’t want to spend money on a cabinet painting or refacing company, but that doesn’t mean you should choose very cheap painting materials, or paints of bad quality, or made for different tasks. Think of buying better quality paints as a great time-saver. Often high quality paints last longer and need fewer layers, which is the case with cheaper ones.
-
Choose the Right painting tool
As is the case for the paints, other materials also need to be of good quality. Many paintbrushes leave some marks that are visible after the paint dries, and low quality rollers may leave lint on the cabinet faces. There is a spray gun that can help you with reducing marks but needs practice to learn how to use it properly and for best results.
Maybe practicing on an old piece of wood might help you when you try it on the cabinets themselves. Make sure you protect the surrounding area with plastic sheeting to avoid spreading the paint or overspray onto items and surfaces you want to keep paint free. If you’re not prepared or wanting to learn to spray, using a high quality brush or a roller made of smooth foam might as well help you cover the surface of your cabinets with a new color.
-
Find adequate space for painting cabinets
If you are painting in the kitchen then you are going to have to stop all your cooking and eating activities there for some days. And that might bother other family members if you only have one kitchen in the house. Since all the cabinets are going to be removed you can paint them in a room that has adequate space, like a garage or a empty room that no one is using.
Keep in mind that the paint has a strong smell and you don’t want anyone to breathe that, it is best to do the painting in an area that you can assure proper ventilation. You can even place them outside if the weather is nice, though there is risk of dust getting caught in the paint if the wind picks up at all. Also don’t risk leaving them outside being exposed to unpredictable weather conditions, like rain.
-
Setting your budget for painting cabinets
Maybe this step might have come at the beginning of the painting process and is an important factor that will impact your decision when you decide between doing it by yourself and the little help of your family is a good idea. Now that you know all the things when it comes to painting kitchen cabinets, consider the amount of time you put into this kitchen makeover, versus the cost of hiring a professional.
If you think that there isn’t much difference compared to hiring a team of professionals to paint those cabinets, you definitely need to check on and you’ll find yourself with amazing kitchen cabinets while you were enjoying your precious time with other activities. For more information, visit https://kitchencabinetscalgary.ca/cabinet-painting/.
