Red Cottage / Farmhouse "Antique" Cabinet Makeover - A Few Progress Photos

First I'd like to thank everyone that commented on my last entry and for introducing yourselves...it's so nice to meet you all and I hope to hear from you again!

Ok, though I'd love to be able to wait until the ENTIRE kitchen cabinet project is completed before posting photos, I know that it's going to take a while. Plus, there's nothing wrong with "progress" photos, lol. So I thought I'd share with you photos of the one, almost completed cabinet. I haven't been able to work on the other cabinets because we still needed to add the rest of moulding to them. The GREAT news is that all the moulding work is now complete! Last Saturday, Hubs nearly pulled out all his hair (and mine!) trying to get the corner cabinet miter/bevel cuts just right. It's not completely perfect but it's nothing that a little caulk won't fix. We were tired of buying trim everytime we messed up so decided to settle on "almost just right". Buy the time we're all finished, hopefully no one will notice but us.

On with the photos...I haven't finished the doors and the new hardware hasn't arrived yet, but the rest of the this cabinet is complete. I won't kid you. Painting and distressing this cabinet was very labor intensive, for me anyway. I wanted the cabinets to look as though they were antique cabinets I picked up at a flea market. That's quite a process. After the photos, I'll explain what paints and techniques I used...
(Note: I've had a few people email me to ask what color green my kitchen is now...actually, the current color is just a green primer, but in the photos below, you'll see that we've painted a sample beside the red cabinet of the paint we're going to be using- it's called "Homestead Resort Parlor Sage". I think it looks great with the red cabinets, which is called "Cherry" by Waverly...)

(Click photos to enlarge)
Before (the doors removed):


A test run on the red paint and the inside painted Homestead Resort Parlour Taupe:



After beadboard panels were added to the sides:




Bottom moulding pieces added:




Crown and Rope moulding added:





After priming, putty, and caulk:








After painting, distressing, and waxing (doors not yet put back on) See the green sample on the left side?:





Close ups of added crown and rope mouldings:






Close ups of added bottom trim (to hide undercabinet disc lighting...and to look pretty)




Before beadboard and moulding:


After beadboard, moulding, and paint:


The other side...(Do you notice the just added crown and rope moulding to the rest of the cabinets in the background? Yay!)


Like I said, antiquing cabinets is quite a process. Here's what I did after all the moulding was added and cabinet was primed, sanded, caulked, and puttied, :

-I painted the cabinet, inside and out, with Homestead Resort Parlor Taupe satin finish. It's not very taupy but more of an off white. This was my base color.

-Next, I added three coats of the red paint to the outside of the cabinet, leaving the inside "taupe" (four coats of taupe, I might add). Again, the name of the shad of red I used is "Cherry" from Waverly. I chose the satin finish again.

- The next step was to lightly sand the cabinet in just the right spots and down to the taupe basecoat. Sometimes I sanded right down to the oak, but that was ok.

-Then I added a brown glaze to the outside of the cabinet, letting it fall into the beadboard and moulding crevices. Afterwards, I wiped off the excess glaze.

- The next part was kind of tricky for me. To make the cabinet look like it had layers of different colors of paint showing through the red here and there, I drybrushed shades of green and blue and "taupe" to certain parts of the cabinet. I didn't want overdo it so it's all very subtle, but it does add a lot of character and age to the cabinet.

-Lastly, instead of adding a polyeurothane (sp?) protective coat, I decided to use a wax paste instead. I applied a thin coat over the entire cabinet (not the inside) and when it was dry, I buffed it all out until the cabinet had a nice, warm, glow with a smooth, satiny sheen. My wax wasn't tinted, but you can buy it that way if you want to warm it up a bit more.

And that's it! So now I just have to repeat this process with the REST of the cabinets, lol. I hope you all hang with me till it's done - I'm going to need all the support I can get!

JULY 2006 UPDATE: To see the completed cabinet makeover photos, please see this entry.

Keywords: cottage, kitchen, cabinets, trim, paint, makeover, photos