Since purchasing an old house that needs some tender loving care, I've been looking through a lot of home decorating magazines and drooling over pages of gorgeous kitchens. A great way to update a kitchen and still stay within a budget is by repainting kitchen cabinets. I want to show you how easily you can add a bit of vintage charm by giving your cabinets an antique effect.
Apply base coat color
If your cabinets are already painted, you can probably just wash lightly and begin painting. If your cabinets are stained wood or formica, check with your local paint store for tips. There are special primers and sanding step that may need to be tackled first.
Here are the four simple steps:
1. Begin by painting your cabinets your base color. I started with a creamy white called Pearl Essence.
2. When that has dried, prepare your antique effect color glaze. I used a light brown color. Use one part water to one part paint. Mix together in a small container. All the water does is thin the paint so that it does not dry as quickly. This gives you more time to work with it.
Brush on the glaze
3. Using a small 1 inch brush, apply the glaze to your cabinet, concentrating on any raised moulding. This step takes some guts, as the dark brown streaks look a bit strange!
Wipe lightly with a damp rag
4. With a damp rag, immediately lightly rub off most of the paint, leaving enough behind to remain in the cracks and corners.
Continue wiping until you achieve the desired effect. Don't get too fussy. Imperfection is actually a desirable look for this effect!
Remember that you may need to rinse the rag clean after a while, as not to allow too much paint to build up.
Continue wiping until you reach the desired effect
Allow to dry again, and you are finished! Sometimes a second glaze color is applied for a more varied color appearance. This step is optional.
If your cupboards do not have any raised moulding, consider adding some simple trim pieces. Just a simple rectangle will go a long way towards making your cabinets stand out.
Remember, if you don't like your color choices or aren't happy with your results for any reason, you can easily reapply your base coat and just start over. Try other colors, like a sage green with brown antique effect, or black with a gold accent.
Have fun with it!
Tamra Klaty brings common sense and beauty into keeping a home. You can find Tamra at It All Started With A Kiss, where her heart and soul spill over onto her blog.
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The link to my blog no longer works, but you can find me at http://www.tamragirl.com