29.12.11

DIY : KITCHEN UPDATES

Inspired by many DIY projects I see online, I talked my sister into updating her nice, but outdated kitchen over the holidays. Luckily, she moved into a house with pretty decent bones so the updates while time ocnsuming wont be too hell-ish. We wanted to keep the kitchen light and contemporary, which is exactly what we did.
It began with a few trips to the paint store, but we finally landed on a colour. Since the cupboards are white laminate with wood trim, we dedided to keep the laminate as is (too daunting a DIY) and update the    trim. So we chose a nice soft grey - far away enough from the white so it didnt look like we were trying to match, but soft enough that there wasn't too much contrast. We landed on Benjamins Moores ...
For all you DIYers who are dying for an inexpensive kitchen update, follow these simple instructions, and you'll be fine.

1. remove all drawers and cupboards that are being painted
2. sand surface enough so that the surface is raw - then clean the surface with a damp cloth to ensure no dust particles are left to be painted on top of.
3. prime surface -my container said the leave the primer to dry for approx. 45 mins
4. paint - definitely 2 coats

Some nice and handy tips to note during the process:
- do not test paint colours on the actual cabinets. If you do, you'll spend a ton of unnecessary time sanding off the test colours before you start the project (once colour has been decided)
- be open to talking to more than 1 person in the paint store.. they all know different information
- its worth buying samples. Although the cost and countless trips are super annoying, its well worth finding the right colour. Colour ALWAYS changes in your light.
- remove all knobs and handles before painting

... have fun and play music. It'll make the time pass much quicker!! Any other tips and/or questions, let me know!!

No comments:

Post a Comment