I Can DIY My Kitchen (Part B)

Once our crown molding was installed, I was ready to start painting. Except I realized that I wasn't ready to start painting yet. I still had a TON of prep work left to do.

Step Four: Prep Work Is Killing Me!

But you know they say that...

So, I painstakingly began removing every single cabinet. I inspected each one meticulously. While I removed all the old hardware, I filled each imperfection with sand-able wood filler. 

Five down and several more to go...

I had a few doors that were similar sizes and so I labeled each door with a Sharpie marker where the hinges would be placed. I then covered the number with a small piece of painter's tape that could be removed after they were painted and therefore identifiable.

Once all of the cabinet doors were removed I stood back and prayed no one would stop by unexpectedly. You can tell a lot about a person when their cabinet doors are removed.

Do they keep secret stashes of candy way in the back? Yep
Does a family of four really need 389475028 plastic cups, water bottles, coffee mugs and glasses? Probably not
Ahhh I see you have a 75 piece glass Pyrex baking set. How many pieces do you think they actually use regularly? Like 3

Step Five: Primer

Primer is the definitely the point of no return. 

Just one dip and swipe of the paint brush and you are now painting or replacing all of the cabinets. There is no turning back!

I researched endlessly on what was the best kind of primer to use. I went into our local Benjamin Moore dealer and talked with a few guys there as well. Ultimately, more hands were pointing towards a product called Stix interior and exterior primer. The general consensus was that really the primer was the most important element of painting your own cabinets. Good adhesion to the cabinets was critical in order to prolong the life of the paint job.

I decided to go with the Stix Primer. 

DIY Note: I had total sticker shock at the check out counter! It's like $55.00 per gallon for this primer. When I got home I expected it to be gold tinted with real gold flakes, but it wasn't. It just looked like plain old white paint. It better work!!

The primer went on super fast, super easy and dried with minimal brush marks as I went.

It was still only primer, but I started to get super excited. The gray color on the walls was starting to pop. My kitchen was already looking brighter! Choo-Choo let's keep the painting train a rolling on!

After I was finished priming all of the boxes, I went out to set up my painting station in the garage. First, I had to assemble my painting and drying racks. Who knew my Open House signs would end up being such a good investment?! I just hope I don't need them in the next few weeks...

I painted all of one side of the doors and let them dry over night and then primed the other side and also let them dry for a day. I wanted to make sure that the primer dried and cured completely. 

 I love this old yellow dog.

But I hate his wild tail! Boji often gets really excited and will whip his tail so hard back and forth that he breaks it open at the tip. His tail will start bleeding and as it whips with excitement he will cover every surface under 4' will bloody streaks and splatters.

Drawback of white cabinets, I give you exhibit A on Day 1.

Step Six: Paint Baby!

Again after a TON of research, I decided to go with Benjamin Moore's Advance paint. Advance paint offers the application and performance of traditional oil paint in a waterborne formula that cleans up with soap and water. It is a 100% alkyd formula water-dispersible alkyd developed with proprietary new resins that keep VOCs low even after tinting. It flows and levels like a traditional alkyd with the extended open-time required to achieve high-end finishes.

DIY Note: I do not understand the Advance paint description. What I did get was a) cleans up with soap and water b) it's not smelly c) it's self leveling so I don't have to obsess about the brush marks until I drink myself into a frenzy because this paint has magical powers and should dry smooth. Actually, it had better dry smooth as glass as it's like $65 bucks a gallon.

I chose a very popular color most bloggers used, BM White Dove. I didn't want the cabinets to be the exact same color as our baseboards and other trim. I was looking for a subtle difference. I also wanted a color that went well with my new existing gray wall color, BM Nimbus. White Dove fit the bill.

First coat went on without a hitch!

As the first coat dried, I could truly see the magical self-leveling agent in the paint at work. It was amazing!

You really can't tell from the photo how amazing it is. But I am telling you, it's just as amazing as that stirfry sauce is!

I did not plan to paint the inside of the cabinets. Therefore, I knew that I had to hand paint all of the boxes. However, I planned to spray the cabinet doors in order to truly ensure I had that brush-less finish. There are so many different paint sprayers out there. I relied on an old high school friend of mine who has an amazing bog for advice. She highly recommended the Home Right FinishMax Paint Sprayer.

The drawback of using a paint sprayer is that you have to thin the paint. My friend's blog suggested thinning to a 50:50 ratio of paint and water. That mixture ended up being way too thin for me. It caused a lot of drips and runs and I spent more time chasing drips with a paint brush than actually spraying. I have a few residual drip marks that I missed and dried with that first coat. It is what it is...

One tip I read in another blog post was about straining and filtering your paint unless it was truly a brand new can of paint. Filtering your paint prevented any potential chunks from clogging up your sprayer or spitting out on your project. I didn't think I "needed" to do this but considering I had spent two days painting the boxes I did it anyways. It was worth it. I was shocked at the amount of solid materials that were trapped in the filter. 

I set up a spray booth.
And by spray booth I mean I hung plastic from Mr Blue Eyes' hockey nets.

I made sure to wear a respirator mask while spraying.

All that prep time and the first coat went on in like 20 minutes!!!

Now I just had to spray my life away. I ended up spraying two coats on each side. After the second coat, I took a cabinet inside to see how they would look in the same lighting as the kitchen. I freaked out a little. The edges, grooves and details of the raised panels were not excellent. The paint was just too thin. Coverage was weird.

So I went back out and hand painted the borders, sides and grooves of every panel. After that dried, they looked so much better! Handy Man starting dropping hints that I was taking way too long to finish this project. I sprayed all of the fronts one final third time and I was DONE with these cabinets!

Time for installation!

Check back for Part C