How I painted my cabinets

I had a couple of people ask me how I did my cabinets, so I thought I'd do a little "tutorial" rather than just tell them becuase I had a friend that tried to explain to me the painting technic the first time I tried it, and she finally had to come over and actually show me how to do it because they looked so bad. So you definitely need pictures. Also, I needed some motivation to finish my cabinets upstairs, and this provided me with the extra motivation that I needed to get those cabinets done!
*Disclaimer* I don't know if this is the "right" way to paint cabinets, but so far I have had no problems!


Supplies needed: Course sandpaper, rag, base color paint, brown color of paint, glaze, paintbrush, tape.
I used 150 grit (fine) sandpaper, but I would have used 80 (course) if I had had it. I used the 80 grit in my kitchen and I think it did a better job for these purposes.

I used Behr paint which you can get at home depot. I think all my paint was eggshell finish. I'm sure any sheen would work, just depending on if you want more glossy or less glossy cabinets.

My base coat is called "Bavarian Cream" (1 quart)
My Brown accent color is called "Melted Chocolate" (1 quart was plenty)
I usually base some of my color choice decision on the name of the paint itself. Aren't Bavarian Cream and Melted Chocolate nice names? Maybe it's just the pregnant girl talking.

Anyway, you will want to buy the faux glaze, too. You mix it with the brown and then it prolongs the drying time of the paint so that you have more time to work with it. You mix 4 parts glaze to 1 part paint, but it will tell you exactly how to mix it on the back of the can. 1 quart was plenty for me, I still have tons left over.

Something I should have used but didn't is this: Kilz primer/sealant. Also available at Home depot, I should have painted all of my cabinets with this first. (After sanding, but before my base coat.) My paint chipped off in a couple of places and I think that this would have prevented it. I just get too impatient to paint a whole extra coat of this, and then wait for it to dry. It would have been better, though.



Ok, let's begin! First sand all surfaces that are going to be painted. Pay extra attention to any places where the paint is peeling. The point is to just rough up the surface so that the paint will adhere better.

Next, with a damp cloth wipe all surfaces of the cabinet, removing the dust you just made by sanding.


The next step will be to paint, so tape off all areas surrounding the cabinets that you do not want to get paint on. After taping, this is where I would do a coat of that primer.


I'm sure you all have painted before, but just in case you have not, you only want to dip the tip of the brush into the paint. If not, it gets way messy.

Ok, so paint the entire suface of the cabinets with the base color. I did two coats on mine. Wait until the base coat is good and dry, and then...

This is my favorite part. Paint the brown(which is actually glaze + brown paint) just in the edges, or wherever you want the majority of your color to be. It doesn't have to be perfect by any means, just slosh some brown paint on there.

This is the tricky part, but don't worry, it's not that tricky. So all you have to do is wipe the majority of the brown paint off. Get your rag a little damp, and beginning in a circular motion, begin to wipe off all the paint that you just put on. If it looks bad, just keep wiping. The paint will stay wet enough to work with for several minutes. Sometimes I had to get my rag a bit more wet, and then it would wipe better. Wipe the middle of the cabinet a bit too, so it gets a little color as well.

Here is the cabinet mostly done. I ended up wiping off even more of the brown a little bit later.

On the side of the cabinet I used the same technic. I've also done this on a wall, and I liked how it turned out there too. Again, just slosh some brown paint on there. If it were any bigger of an area, like on a large wall, I would have divided it into sections, and just work maybe a 3x3 area at a time, and then blend the areas together as I went.

Begin wiping. Again, you will be wiping most of the paint off. This is what it started to look like after just a few wipes with the rag. Just keep wiping. I think it looks best if you leave it a little darker in the corners and on the edges.
After a lot of wiping:
Ta-duh! The finished product. Thanks to Alecia. ( The girl who told me how)

I am totally an amateur, but I had fun with it, and generally liked how they turned out.
Hopefully this looong post was understandable. Let me know if you have any questions!

And, of course, little Tate. He unfortunately woke up from his nap before I was finished. He is such a great help with this sort of thing. Yep, that white stuff near his mouth is paint.