Here we go! Finally, the end result of the cabinet door, Plan A version. It looks pretty good!
You may recall that we originally had to vote to decide which Drillbit Art pattern we would use. The winner was the bird!
So I eagerly got started, sanding and priming, in Painting Your Kitchen Cabinets – Part One .
And I showed you how to do a bird design via secret Remodeling Guy methods, hereafter known as Drillbit Art .
What happened next was a surprise to everyone including myself! I got frustrated with some brush marks and decided to try something new. We spray painted the cabinet door with good old spray paint.
That was plan B. If you haven’t seen that post, you ought to take a look because the results were pretty darn good. And the door we did is holding up great!
Back To Plan A
Well, I had already started the door and committed to give it to the lucky winner of the giveaway! I was determined to get it looking nice one way, or another. So after the paint dried I took a good look.
It wasn’t so bad. Both the initial problem (brush marks), and the fact that it came out nicely had a whole lot to do with the fact that I was using a matte flat paint. The winner specified that she didn’t want a sheen to the finish so I went with flat.
Flat never paints that smoothly on woodwork (with a brush) and I knew that, but those brush marks made me crazy! The good news is that flat doesn’t show the brush marks as much. Even so, the door had to be lightly sanded again and another coat applied, for a total of three coats. That was a TON of work for one little door.
The finish looks pretty nice, but you can still see some brush marks.
Even the area around the bird, and the large flat surface of the raised panel wound-up looking pretty smooth. I had to hit some of the bird holes with the drill a second time because paint had gotten in them, but that was easy.
The Verdict?
I don’t know. Based solely on the evidence I SEE, from my experience with this project, given the choice…seems like spray paint to me. But read the comments on that last post before you try it.
I call you guys The Crew for a reason. I consider this a team effort and many of the comments had good points, both for and against the spray paint. The hand painted method worked out fine too.
The Important Thing
It’s really not super critical HOW you paint your cabinets. The important thing is that you DO paint your cabinets if you don’t like them now! Both of the “average Joe” friendly methods I’ve shown are bound to have a mistake or two. But just remember the words of a wise friend….
It doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful.
Just go for it! You’ll be glad you did. One really important bit of advice is this… whatever method you choose, practice on something small first! Get good at in in a bathroom or on a small piece of furniture, then go for the gusto.
If you haven’t seen it already, take a look at the post about the Spring Round-Up. I’m going to give you all a chance to show off your work, painting or otherwise, on May 1st.
I’d love to hear your thoughts. What do you think of the finish on the Plan A door? Has anyone tried to spray paint? One reader did try and had problems, anyone else?
(I thought of one more thing and added it in the comments… lucky me, I was the first comment!)
I forgot to tell you something! Unless you really hate any sheen to your finish, I would steer clear of the flat paint. At least a satin, but a semi-gloss would be better. Much easier to clean and more practical anyway!
What about those spongy non-brush things? (No idea on the name, sorry) I love them because they DON’T leave the brush marks.
Tug’s last blog post..On break…again.
I remember seeing a Canadian television show where Debbie Travis did that to a set of cabinets years ago,before she became uber-famous. I always loved it, and it would be fun to do to a cabinet in a mudroom or something. You’ve given some great instruction…thanks for the tutorial!
Cheers,
Linda
Linda@ Restyled Home’s last blog post..April Showers…of a different sort!
I’m all for the spraying. However, the amount of spray paint needed to effectively cover a whole kitchen of cabinets would be ridiculous.
Coming from an individual knee-deep in a kitchen overhaul and stuck in the procrastination stage of finishing my cabinet painting–rent yourself an HVLP sprayer. It will save you a lot of headaches and maybe even a stroll down ol’ Procrastination Lane. Juuuuuuuuust trust me on that one ;0)
I brush/roller painted my cabinets, inside and out; however, I will be renting an HVLP sprayer for the doors. After trying just 2 doors, I am convinced that the brush is for the birds! The sprayer is the way to go. There is just no better way to get a fabulous finish. I’m all for the shabby chic finish… but the brush just makes things way too shabby and not so much chic!!
Thanks for a fabulous post, Tim! I’m inspired to keep moving forward on this now that I know I don’t have to settle for the brush marks and foolishness!!
Hello All!
I wanted to respond to something Tammy said and that I’ve heard from a number of people. The point they make is that the amount of spray paint to do a whole kitchen would be excessive.
I want to make a point to say that i don’t think that’s true! Despite our tiny house, we have a big kitchen. We just took a look at it and estimate that it would take less than a dozen cans of spray paint to do the outside of the cabinets and the doors.
Even if you got a dozen primers and a dozen paints, the cost wouldn’t be higher than it would to go and buy regular paint and all the misc. apparatus that goes along with it. Especially if you had to rent a sprayer.
So, the ONLY thing in all of this that would keep me from painting my kitchen cabinets with spray paint is the prospective longevity of the finish. Will it last? Will it hold up? Those would be my questions.
Knowing this, I would pick out the finish I wanted, buy enough of the material to do a small test, and do a single door or maybe a similar piece of furniture. Even if you bought a “test” item at Goodwill or something, you wouldn’t have to spend much for something to practice on.
The problem of masking off the kitchen seems minor to me. It’s easy enough to put up some newspaper and blue painters tape to cover those things that you don’t want painted.
Overall, the total cost would be so much less than hiring a pro it’s not even comparable. If you can find a good quality spray paint that’s in a color you like, I would do a sample and get good at it, then go for it.
One reader had issues with the paint coming off. This would generally have something to do with the original surface. There must have been some reason that the primer didn’t stick. The process of doing a sample would show you if you have this problem before getting too far. You don’t want to have to sand it all off!
I’m enjoying the discussion, so further thoughts are welcome!
Tim
Would you recommend spraying the base cabinets also? I would be worried about overspray.
My carpenter said I should look online for some kitchen cabinets that I like. I’m in Fresno and have looked at a few local stores, but I’m trying to find a good gallery.
Do you know of any sites that have a good kitchen cabinet gallery?
I really like cream distressed cabinetry. I have read word for word what you said. If you go the spray paint route, can you distress the doors with sand paper? Would you go over them with a clear finish for durability?
Hello…
Just came across your experiment and I see that the post is from 2009… Was just curious to know how the spray paint held up since.
Thinking of doing a test run on my laundry room cabinets then if all goes well tackle the kitchen cabinets.
Thanks! 🙂