KnittyMagic in the Kitchen
No, this isn't about cooking.
This is about giving my kitchen a whole new look for very little money.
My kitchen cabinets are a style and color that's charitably called "Builder Oak". They're cheap, they're neutral, and they're not something that's likely to offend anyone. They're also boring as shit and look too old-lady for my taste. (My kitchen was not created by a builder, but rather a cheap old lady).
In a perfect world, I'd have the scratch to buy new cabinets; and I'd get lovely maple ones with glass doors on the top. Alas, this is not a perfect world (I love it anyway!) and so I had to roll up my sleeves and get creative.
When we bought our house, so much was made of the "good oak" cabinets that I was a little afraid to paint them. Wasn't that sacrilege? Painting "good oak"? Once I realized they were "shitty oak" not "good oak" I timidly asked my husband (who HATES home improvement projects) "Honey, what would you think about me painting the kitchen cabinets?"
(anyone who knows me IRL is laughing at A) the idea of me being timid and B) the idea of Mr. Knitty refusing me anything I wanted).
He said "You know what would be cool? Painting them turquoise." After a brief check to make sure we hadn't accidentally swapped brains, I said "Well, that's good because I wanted to paint them turquoise, but was afraid it would look too crazy." I've been drawn to all those lovely turquoise retro kitchens in my DIY magazines.
Painting your kitchen cabinets is a lot of work. It's not hard work, but it's tedious work, because you have to wait a LONG time between coats. It's also a challenge because you're still *using* your cabinets while this process occurs, and so you end up not being able to find things (was that in the box in the living room or is it somewhere here on the floor?) and also having to pussyfoot around the cabinets while they're still curing. When doing the doors, it's best to have them off the hinges and laying flat. Which is excellent provided you don't have a cat who wants to immediately walk on them.
I was shocked at how little the cost was for this project. It's almost all labor. I purchased one gallon of primer ($24), one gallon of paint specially formulated for cabinets ($30), a few new brushes ($8) and an extra package of sand paper ($3). In the end I also ended up wanting drawer pulls for the drawers (I previously only had knobs on the doors) so that was another $30-some.
All in all, I spent just a shade over $100 on the project, and the difference in my kitchen is stunning!
This is about giving my kitchen a whole new look for very little money.
My kitchen cabinets are a style and color that's charitably called "Builder Oak". They're cheap, they're neutral, and they're not something that's likely to offend anyone. They're also boring as shit and look too old-lady for my taste. (My kitchen was not created by a builder, but rather a cheap old lady).
In a perfect world, I'd have the scratch to buy new cabinets; and I'd get lovely maple ones with glass doors on the top. Alas, this is not a perfect world (I love it anyway!) and so I had to roll up my sleeves and get creative.
When we bought our house, so much was made of the "good oak" cabinets that I was a little afraid to paint them. Wasn't that sacrilege? Painting "good oak"? Once I realized they were "shitty oak" not "good oak" I timidly asked my husband (who HATES home improvement projects) "Honey, what would you think about me painting the kitchen cabinets?"
(anyone who knows me IRL is laughing at A) the idea of me being timid and B) the idea of Mr. Knitty refusing me anything I wanted).
He said "You know what would be cool? Painting them turquoise." After a brief check to make sure we hadn't accidentally swapped brains, I said "Well, that's good because I wanted to paint them turquoise, but was afraid it would look too crazy." I've been drawn to all those lovely turquoise retro kitchens in my DIY magazines.
Painting your kitchen cabinets is a lot of work. It's not hard work, but it's tedious work, because you have to wait a LONG time between coats. It's also a challenge because you're still *using* your cabinets while this process occurs, and so you end up not being able to find things (was that in the box in the living room or is it somewhere here on the floor?) and also having to pussyfoot around the cabinets while they're still curing. When doing the doors, it's best to have them off the hinges and laying flat. Which is excellent provided you don't have a cat who wants to immediately walk on them.
I was shocked at how little the cost was for this project. It's almost all labor. I purchased one gallon of primer ($24), one gallon of paint specially formulated for cabinets ($30), a few new brushes ($8) and an extra package of sand paper ($3). In the end I also ended up wanting drawer pulls for the drawers (I previously only had knobs on the doors) so that was another $30-some.
All in all, I spent just a shade over $100 on the project, and the difference in my kitchen is stunning!
posted by knittykat @ 8:23 AM
1 Comments:
At 2:05 PM,
erin said…
I'd love to see pictures of your projects. It sounds like you are really creating the home you want!
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