Paint cabinets to bring a French country look into your kitchen.
The French country look is easy and inexpensive to create by repainting your existing kitchen cabinets. For an even more rural, antique look, you can distress the paint job, either by applying crackle paint or by layering colors then sanding them so that the cabinets appear to have been exposed to the effects of weather and heavy usage over many decades. Replace fixtures such as modern drawer handles with rustic knobs and tarnished brass pulls to compliment this look. Finishing touches can be toile-de-jouy patterned curtains and flour-sack dishtowels. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Remove the doors from the cabinets at their hinges with a screwdriver.
2. Remove the hardware from the doors, saving the screws so that you can reattach the hinges later.
3. Sand the cabinets and doors inside and out to roughen them up, giving the primer a surface to which it can adhere.
4. Paint the cabinets and doors with a base coat of primer. Use a small roller or a paintbrush to cover all the surfaces evenly. Allow the primer to dry according to the directions on the paint can; this can take between three and 24 hours.
5. Paint the first coat with a paintbrush or roller. Use a paintbrush for a more rustic, hand-painted look; use a roller for faster coverage. Allow the paint to dry completely, between three and 24 hours.
6. Apply a second coat of paint if necessary to ensure solid, even coverage. Allow the paint to dry.
7. Apply a top coat in the finish that evokes the look you want to create. Use a crackle finish for a severely weathered look, or a lighter shade of the base coat around the edges of the cabinets for a sun-bleached look. Use a contrasting top coat if you plan to sand portions of the paint job heavily to reveal the base coat, creating a dramatic, playful effect.
8. Distress the cabinets. Scratch and sand them to allow the base coat to show through the top coats. Sand the edges of the cabinets and doors to simulate natural wear. Scratch cabinets with any somewhat hard object, such as a spackle spreader or a length of chain, nicking their surfaces until you achieve the battered effect you desire. Be creative; you can always repaint the cabinets if you overdo the weathering.
9. Apply a layer of wood wax by rubbing it in a circular motion with a clean dishtowel to seal the paint job and make it resistant to fingerprints and moisture damage.
Tags: base coat, cabinets doors, Allow paint, between three, between three hours