When we moved into our house last November I knew right away I wanted to get my hands on the guest bathroom. The trim was old and didn’t match the rest of the house that had been updated, the cabinets and doors were caked in paint and it just needed a little TLC. After convincing my husband, we finally decided to try and tackle the cabinets. We did some research to find best practices and took a trip (or two) to Lowe’s and Sherwin Williams to get supplies.

Supplies:

• Sandpaper (60, 120, 220)
• Paint Brush (we used a one inch)
• Small paint roller
• Primer
• Paint (we got semi-gloss and color is Naval)

Step 1:

Remove any cabinet doors and drawers. Start sanding with the 60 to remove any current paint. Because ours had so many coats already, we weren’t able to get down to the base of the door but we sanded away as much as we could.

Step 2:

After using the 60, use the 120 to smooth it back down before applying the primer.

Step 3

Apply a layer of primer to one side of the door. Let it dry for 30 minutes before doing the four sides of the door. Let it all dry for about four hours then use the 220 sponge to sand the primer down so it’s smooth before adding another coat of primer. In total we did two coats of primer and a final 210 sanding on each side of the door before applying the paint color.

Step 4:

Now that the sanding is done it’s time to have fun! Start with a small brush to get the detailed parts and grooves of the door. We then used a small roller brush to do the rest of the face of the cabinet door. We let the first coat dry for four hours before applying a second coat. Because of timing, the second coat dried overnight and the next day we did a third and fourth (and final) coat.

Step 5:

Once the face of one side of the door is complete, repeat all the above steps on the other side of the door as well as the base of the cabinet and any drawers you may have. Then BAM! Brand new cabinets.

*DISCLAIMER: we did the top cabinet and then my husband decided to do more research and we got a paint sprayer – START THERE if you can invest in a $50 paint sprayer. I promise it will make your life SO much easier. We used it for the bottom cabinet and then redid the doors to the top cabinet because it looked so much better!

*Please note that I am by no means a DIY or painting expert, these are just the steps that worked for us and the project we wanted to complete!

XO,
Morgan