Sun-Mon, 2/15-16 - Rest days and Kitchen Painting

Took a couple days off because Sarah and I finally took on the kitchen improvement project we'd been wanting to do. It was freezing in the single digits a lot of the weekend with highs in the teens, so it was a good weekend to stay inside and tackle this project.

The plan was to make chalk paint by mixing latex paint, plaster of paris and water and use that so we could distress the cabinets a bit to give them an antique look. After about 4 coats of chalk paint and some additional research about finishing the cabinets over the chalk paint, we discovered that a lot of people had significant issues with finishes over the chalk paint. We were planning on using a wood wax, but that takes several coats and needs to be re-applied every couple of months. Ummm, NO, not happening.  Polyurethane...difficult and messy.  Another NO. So, in the end, we painted over the 4 coats of chalk paint with straight latex.

We were disappointed at first, and wasted a LOT of time (a full day probably) with the chalk paint, but the finished cabinets look great. We also replaced all the hardware, including the hinges that needed new holes drilled to secure. My forearms were killing me after all the sanding, painting and screwing in all the hinges.

Here are some before, during and after pics.  Oh, and it turns out Sarah and I work well together and didn't want to kill each other. Often. :)