Monday, August 20, 2012

The Kitchen Cabinet Project


My maybe-one-day-MIL said to me yesterday, "you've got a thing about kitchen cabinets." Well, friends, I suppose I do! I despise cooking in a kitchen with ugly kitchen cabinets. And I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

And to be fair, the kitchen cabinets in our last rental were knotty pine.... blech!

We start this post with a picture of the horrific kitchen cabinets in our new rental. I don't know what possessed the last person to paint the cabinets orange with a red countertop. Frankly, I don't really want to know. What I did know was that redoing the kitchen cabinets was a top priority after we moved in. Also, sorry about the lack of cabinet doors. I forgot to take a picture before P and I started unscrewing all of the hardware. You can trust me- they are as orange as the rest.

I had some ultrabright white kitchen & bath paint left over from our last place, so I went ahead and lightly sanded the frame and did two coats. You wouldn't believe the difference. I like it almost enough to do that whole no doors thing. Almost.

Since the house was built in the 50's, there were plenty of layers of paint on what I think is the original hardware. I was looking for some eco-friendly ways of removing paint from hardware, and decided to give the 24 hour soak in vinegar method a try. It kiiiiiiiind of worked. It loosened up the paint enough that I could take an exacto knife and scrape the paint off. It took probably two hours, but here's what I was left with.


Umm gorgeous! AmIright?! My next step with these little beauties will be to buff them up with some homemade beeswax furniture polish. One part carrier oil (like jojoba) to 1/4 part shredded beeswax. Melt in microwave, pour into container, stir a few times over the next few hours, and voila! Cheap, chemical free polish. Be still my heart.

Leah

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