Kitchen Makeover

Our 2nd home in Nebraska was in need of some repairs and updates when we moved in. Some things, like the carpet, were beyond our control. The dark green kitchen though, could be fixed.

I picked a nice, neutral, sand color in a high gloss finish. I thought I could simply remove the cupboard doors, hit them with the belt sander, and then slap on the new color. The hinges were silver so I decided to keep them and just replace the knobs with a simple, round, black one. So easy. So simple. So I thought.

The first two sets went fairly quick. I had to force myself not to get too picky. These were old doors and there really was no way to get them perfectly smooth without completely replacing them. They were very grimy and greasy but came clean pretty easy. 

As I started sanding the next set of doors I ran into a problem. Instead of gently buffing the surface, giant slabs of paint started pealing off. There was no way to sand the edge to make it blend with the now bare wood. My only option was to completely strip the old layers of paint. Funny how it came off so easy in spots but then was stuck so firm in others. 

We went without cupboard doors for more than a year until I worked up the desire to get it finished. I setup a painting station in my living room in November and finally got the rest of the doors finished. If you look close you can see the difference in color between those that were painted over the green and those that were stripped completely. I would recommend stripping the paint.

It's amazing how bright my kitchen was once it was all put back together. Why didn't I get this done sooner so I could enjoy it more?! I had a friend who wanted to get rid of a small kitchen island. It fit perfectly in the wasted space between the refrigerator and the stove.

Hooray for a new-old kitchen!