Hello All!

Welcome BACK! You didn’t miss week 5 at all, don’t worry. The One Room Challenge team decided to cancel week 5 in remembrance of George Floyd. So in following their rules we didn’t post a laundry room update last week. But we are back again and are right on track with finishing in a couple weeks! I have definitely enjoyed having a full 2 months to work on this room. Usually these challenges are shorter than that and can sometimes be hectic. But I haven’t felt rushed at all – which is much more relaxing.

Last time we were all together with an update was when we finished our Board and batten wall treatment on the bottom half of the walls. I will tell you I am still absolutely loving this look. I am very glad I didn’t just leave the walls plain, but instead added a little bit of character to the room. (If you missed that update click HERE.)

Here are my cabinets “Before”

So what have we been up to the last couple of weeks, well we got a lot done! Some of it was little, but we did end up getting a major item checked off the list. We painted the cabinets! Oh and it feels so great to get that finished! Vicki and I have painted many cabinets in our day, mostly in my homes. So to paint just a couple was no problem at all.

The key to painting cabinets is always in the preparation. You have to have a clean them very well to make sure any dirt, grime or oils is off of them. This is especially key when doing kitchen cabinets as you are often cooking with oils and grease! For my cabinets I used TSP alternative by Fusion Mineral Paint. It is a concentrated solution that you mix with water, it doesn’t leave any residue and doesn’t need to be rinsed – easy peasy!

 

After cleaning I took a little square of fine grit sand paper and just scuff sanded over all the doors and the cabinet bases. It doesn’t need to be hard work, and you do not need to take off the existing finish. Just scuff it a little bit, enough to get a little bit of “tooth” on your surface for maximum adhesion.

If your cabinets are melamine, laminate or extra glossy you would next want to use a form of primer. Fusion recommends their “Ultra Grip”, but if you have another primer on hand you could certainly use that as well. 

Once your cabinets are all prepped you can then begin painting! I used Fusion Mineral Paint in “Raw Silk” for my cabinets as it is a nice warm off-white color. Still in the white category but not so stark. I chose Fusion Mineral Paint not only because Vicki and I are retailers of the brand, but because it is one tough paint that is so EASY to use. Besides being super smooth to apply, it has a built-in-topcoat which is very tough. That means that you don’t HAVE to seal it unless you want a special look, you want your surface glossy or just a little bit tougher.

I chose not to seal my cabinets because I knew I would be doing many coats since I had a white color going over wood. (White paint almost always takes 3-4 coats, no matter what paint brand you use.) Therefore the more coats you do the tougher your paint! For my cabinets it took 3 full coats to cover perfectly in this color.

 

And my cabinets look great! At least I think so, I’m sure there are some out there that would just keel over knowing I painted my oak cabinets! Haha! But you have to go with what you like in your own home.

Besides the cabinets I was able to finish the board and batten by the tiny wall by the sink cabinet. It just didn’t get done before, but I knew it wouldn’t be a problem to finish. I also spray painted that horrible gold towel hanger to a lovely oil-rubbed bronze color to match the new hardware on the cabinets. I still have to makeover the mirror that goes above the sink yet. I am hoping my idea works…

 

 

We have one more week before the final reveal and I am in a good place! All I have to do is the mirror and finish decorating. I got a lot of the small items done these last two weeks. I wish we were financially in a place where we could just upgrade our wash and dryer and make that area into a built in complete with counter top, but since we don’t NEED new appliances we of course won’t get them! That will be for later.

Well stay tuned for the last couple of weeks! Get ready!