Blog Swappin' with Nicole from Our Cozy Nest

I'm excited to do a little blog swapping with my friend Megan today. I asked Megan what she thought I should do a tutorial on and she said my kitchen cabinets. I'm thrilled to post about this, it was definitely one of the biggest things we've done to our home and wow, what a difference it made.

Here are a couple before pictures...................................

After............................................

I think that painting our cabinets black was one of the best decisions we've made. EVERYONE thought we were crazy at first, including my brother n' law who is a home builder, but I'm so glad we were gutsy and went through with it because we love them.

Soooooooo if your thinking of painting your kitchen cabinets here is my little tutorial and some tips we learned along the way.

We took the cabinet doors and drawer fronts off. We set up a little work station in our garage and gave them a good sanding . (Buy a box full of square foam sanders, it's a little more expensive than just sand paper but you'll be glad you spent the extra money.) Wipe them off after with a damp cloth.

WARNING: Unless you really like black, mask your working area off really well. If possible use cloth drop cloths on the floors because with plastic the paint gets tracked everywhere.

My husband hung them from ropes in our garage by tying them to a nail that he put on the inside of the doors so the hole wouldn't be seen. We rented a sprayer from Sherwin Williams. I really would recommend this for a nice smooth finish. We primed them first with a coat of grey primer, (unfortunately you can't get primer in black). Let them dry and then lightly sand them again.

Now give them their first coat of black paint. We used exterior laytex black paint from Sherwin Williams. We ended up giving them two coats of black paint, but looking back I think I may have even given them a third, especially the ones that get more wear and tear like the ones under the sink. Inside the house I used a small foam roller on everything else.

After we had let them dry for a couple of days, I distressed them a little and then we painted a clear satin coat over them with a foam brush. (I did this while they were hung up in the kitchen again.) Another thing we did that made a HUGE difference was put up a little molding at the top of the cabinets, and added new hardware.

And there you have it, I hope I covered everything. If you are thinking of painting your cabinets black here is the post that inspired me to do it. Now, if only I had the money for granite counter tops and an updated stove :) .

If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment over at my blog Our Cozy Nest and I will do my best to answer them.