Kitchen Before...
Kitchen After...
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Okay so here it is! My beautiful DIY Kitchen. This was by far the most involved project yet. It took me and my husband 6 weeks from start to finish, but I couldn't be happier with the result and all the money we SAVED!
*This was not a difficult project, but extremely
time consuming*
Here's the break down on how to do this
project. (I finished this project before I decided to start this Blog
so most of the steps do not have a picture... I'll do my best to try to explain
everything in detail)
Materials:
- Stripper
-
Metal Scraper
- Heavy duty rubber gloves
- Sponges
- Paintbrush
-
Metal painting try or tin
- Mineral Spirits
- Toothpicks
- Electric
Sander
- 80 grit sand paper
- 220 grit sand paper
- Windex
- Paper
towels
- Wood conditioner (if you have soft wood cabinets- ours are
Maple)
- Painters Tape
- Foam brushes all sizes
- Stain (we used
Minwax Jacobean)
- Polyurethane (we used a semi-gloss)
- Electric drill or
screw driver
Here are some of the pictures of the materials and tools we
used:
Steps:
1.
Decide you are crazy enough to start this project...
2.
Collect materials- you will need electric drill/ screwdriver, stripper, metal
scraper, rubber gloves, sponges, toothpicks, paintbrush, metal painting try or
tin, mineral spirits, electric sander, sand paper, Windex, and paper
towels first
3. Take off all door and drawer knobs
4. Take all cabinet doors off the cabinets and take out
drawers (we did not put them in any order- it might help to do this because we
spent some time at the end trying to figure out where each door went, but it is
not necessary)
5. Unscrew drawer fronts from the
drawer
6. Okay... Here is where you begin to start two
projects at once...
- You will need to use the power stripper to strip the
cabinets on the wall
AND
- You will need to use the power stripper to
strip the back and fronts of the drawers and doors. (Here's where my awesome
hubby came in and helped me get the job done in half the
time)
7. Start stripping! The doors, drawers and also
the outsides of the cabinets. (We left the cabinets attached to the walls and
floor and it worked out perfectly!) Read all directions before using or
even buying these products. The stripper will BURN your hands, trust
me... you will know if it is on your skin... wash it immediately with soap and
water. It is worth the investment to buy heavy duty gloves (I got mine from
Walmart), because the stripper will actually eat through regular dish washing
gloves... Yes I found this out the hard way :)
8. Pour
the stripper into a metal tin or paint tray and apply the stripper to the wood
with an old paintbrush. I caked it on pretty thick and waited about 5-10 minutes
before I used my metal scrapper to scrape the wood which will take off the
finish. Remember to apply and scrape with the wood grain. (There will be dried
stripper and a film left over from scrapping, I just discarded the waste in a
bucket that I later threw away). I used the toothpicks to get the stripper out
of the small cracks in the molding and ridges in the doors, you may or may not
need to do this based on the design of your kitchen.
9.
Apply mineral spirits on the sponge and wipe cabinets/ doors/ drawers down.
This will neutralize the stripper acid.
10. Wait until
they have dried and start sanding! This was one of my favorite parts! I used 80
grit sandpaper first then went back with 220 grit to finish. Always sand with
the grain. I did have to hand sand in some spots that my electric sander could
not reach. Just make sure you do not see any "shiny" areas on the wood. If you
do see this, it means that the finish is still on the wood and your stain will
not penetrate that area. You can choose to strip it or sand the area more. To
get off all the sawdust simply spray a paper towel with Windex and wipe the
cabinet/ door/ drawer down. This way there will not be any sawdust in your
final project.
11. Get the rest of the materials- wood
conditioner, foam brushes, stain, polyurethane. You only need wood conditioner
if you have soft wood cabinets, if you can push your fingernail into the wood
and it leaves a mark, then your cabinets are most likely soft wood and you will
need to purchase wood conditioner.
12. Pre-treat the
wood with wood conditioner- be sure to read the directions. We used Minwax
Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner and stain must be applied within 2 hours of treating
the wood. You use the wood conditioner to ensure that the wood does not look
splotchy and that the stain goes on evenly. This is an important step if you
have soft wood... it really does make a huge difference.
13.
Use painters tape to tape off areas around cabinets that you do not
want the stain to get on.
14. Apply stain with the
grain. I would start by staining the back of the cabinets first so you get the
hang of it, then move to the front of the doors.
Okay so here is where I did
not follow the directions completely...
I wanted dark cabinets (Jacobean to
be exact), therefore you need to use a lot of stain. The stain directions say
to leave it on for about 15 minutes, then wipe it off. I did not wipe the stain
off at all because I really wanted that dark rich color. This means that you
have to be very careful when applying the stain because what you see is what you
get. It is very sticky when it is drying so make sure you do not touch it and
that there is not a breeze that could blow dust or dirt on them.
14. Let the stain dry completely
15. Flip the cabinet over and
repeat.
16. Time to polyurethane! Here is where I also
did not follow the directions. I had talked with our floor guy and he
recommended mixing the stain and polyurethane to get a darker look. He was
right! I mixed a 40/60 blend of stain/polyurethane together in a plastic
container and painted it on the cabinets. Wow it was exactly what I wanted!
There were some imperfections before when it was just the stain caked on, but
once the blend goes on, it really starts pulling everything together nicely. (Be
sure not to cake everything on too thick or you will loose the wood grain under
it or the stain will run and leave dark lines that usually drip to the other
side... yes I made both of these mistakes multiple times)
17.
Let it dry completely for at least 12 hours- I think we let ours dry
for over 24 just to be safe
18. Flip it over and do the
other side. You can lightly hand sand with 220 grit sand paper to correct any
spots that appear to be too dark or "cakey", or to allow the polyurethane to
adhere to the first coat better. (I did this on some of the doors, but it is not
necessary unless there is an area you do not like)
19.
Polyurethane back of doors and let dry
20.
Polyurethane front of doors/ cabinets and let Dry
21.
Hang up the doors and step back and admire your beautiful kitchen!
*We stated the actual cabinets first so that we could use our kitchen.
We stripped the wood, applied mineral spirits (just to neutralize the acid in
the stripper), let it dry, sanded, wiped them down with Windex, applied the wood
conditioner, applied the stain, applied the stain and polyurethane blend, then
the final coat of polyurethane. Then we put our dishes away and had an "open
concept" kitchen for a couple weeks while we finished the doors.
Final
Cost:
(I am not endorsing any specific product or store, I am just
stating what products we used to get the final result)
Product
|
Price
|
Place I bought it
from
|
Power Stripper
|
22.95
|
Menard's and
Walmart
|
Heavy Duty Gloves (3.47 each)
|
6.94
|
Walmart
|
Sponges
|
5.00
|
Target
|
Mineral Spirits
|
8.87
|
Walmart
|
Toothpicks
|
1.00
|
Target
|
80 grit Sandpaper
|
15.99
|
Sears
|
220 Grit Sandpaper
|
15.99
|
Sears
|
Wood Conditioner-quart
|
11.89
|
Menard's
|
Foam Brushes- All sizes $5.99 x2
*
|
11.98
|
Sears
|
Stain (Gallon Minwax Jacobean
2750)
|
25.97
|
Menard's
|
Polyurethane (Gallon
Semi-gloss)
|
32.88
|
Menard's
|
TOTAL
Total with 7.5% tax |
159.46
171.41 |
No Way!!! For That!!!!
|
* We
spent a lot of $ on foam brushes... if you're planning on doing this project I
would recommend collecting them when they are on sale (I know Michael's
advertises 15 for $1.00 sometimes)
Tips and Tidbits:
- Try to do as much sanding outside or in the garage (I
started this project in February and decided to sand some of the cabinet doors
in my dining room because I was being a brat about the cold... the vacuum and
steam cleaner still haven't forgiven me for all the dust)
- Watch for sales
to save even more money
- Do it the right way- taking shortcuts will affect
the final outcome
- My husband also reminded me that I should warn you not to
leave anything with power stripper on it any where but in the try... yes you
guessed it... I forgot about my lonesome paint brush that I had placed in our
powder room sink... and the power stripper actually ate through some of the
granite... this is powerful stuff! (Maybe there will be a new post about how to
remodel a vanity sink... I think yes!)
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