A Little Paint Goes A Long Way...

I'm sitting here, literally waiting for paint to dry.  I am almost (key word 'almost') done with what seems to have been the never-ending Cabinet Make-Over for our new home.  We loved everything about our home before purchasing except for the light golden-colored cabinets that were in both bathrooms, laundry room and kitchen. We contemplated buying all new cabinets - but thought why not put our money towards our other big projects such as new flooring instead; so we opted to paint.  I knew I wanted a deep espresso color for all cabinets to contrast with our very light bluish-gray walls, but didn't know how to actually go about painting them.  After a plethora of varying advice from everyone we know, searching the internet and asking the trusty Home Depot employees; we finally got it down.  I've had so many people ask me what kind of paint to use and how to do it, so  I thought I'd share it with everyone. 


First, take a peek at our Bathroom Cabinets BEFORE:

Excuse the messy countertop

Now, take a look at what a difference a little paint makes:

Excuse the bad photography

Here's what you need to get started:


-Sanding Paper
-Denatured Alcohol 
-Primer (since we were painting such a dark color, we had the paint people at Home Depot tint the primer as dark as it could go) We used Behr Premium Plus Enamel Undercoater Primer and Sealer
-Porch and Floor Paint - Yes, Porch and Floor Paint!  I know it sounds weird, but the people at Home Depot assured us that it was the best choice for cabinets in high traffic areas since it's a heavier duty paint.  I can't find the paint color we chose but I think it was something like "Java Bean" but it was seriously one of the darkest colored brown paints I could find.
-New Hardware (optional)


Here's how to do it:
1.  Sand surface lightly
2.  Rub cabinets with Denatured Alcohol - this cleans the cabinets of all oils, dirt and dust.  I put the alcohol on a clean rag and rubbed it all over both sides of the cabinets
3. Prime surface with one coat of Primer
4. Paint!  Because our paint was so dark, we actually had to paint on 5 coats - but totally worth it to get that rich espresso color.
5. Add new hardware - this of course is optional.  Our old knobs weren't bad, but I wanted to update them just a bit.  We used Liberty's 25mm Satin Nickel Knob (found at Home Depot)


OLD:

NEW:

It really is easy and inexpensive to do.  One Gallon of the paint got us through our Master and Guest Bathrooms as well as the Laundry Room.  We just bought another Gallon for our Kitchen and even though I'm almost completely finished, it looks as though I didn't even put a dent into the additional Gallon.


So literally, a little paint...goes a LONG ways.


Unfortunately, I don't have a before of our Kitchen - but the cabinets looked exactly like the above BEFORE bathroom pic.  (I'm still working on the other side of kitchen)


Here's a pic of our progress so far:

The only thing about my new-found love of our cabinets, is my new-found hatred for our White Appliances that now pop against the surrounding darkness.  That's okay - Stainless Steel Appliances are coming soon:-)