It's Called Glazing

I hesitate to even post this for a few reasons:

A. I love the color I picked, but in the context of our kitchen, it just isn't clicking with me for some reason. I just feel like it would look a lot better with a different counter (not my fault) in a different kitchen.

B. I'm not even sure if it looks better how it is now or how it was before.

C. You are seeing the kitchen I live with (all 4 square feet of it)

You now can't judge me about any of the above stated reasons. Just look at the technique and the cabinets, not the rest of the kitchen, and we will all be happy :)

But... Here's why I wanted to post it:

A. I searched and searched for how to do this and had a hard time finding instructions or tutorials on how to do it, so most of you probably don't know how to do it! I even went to the paint department in Home Depot and they had no idea what I was talking about. So maybe I can give someone a new idea or teach someone that doesn't know how to do it!

B. I was just feelin extra crafty and up for a project so you all get to hear about it :) 

AND...

C. I took all the dang pictures!

Now that you've all been debriefed, here we go!

So Trent and I moved into a new place. We really like it now. But when we were going through it the first time, we were bummed about the TINY kitchen. And i am a kitchen person, so it was rough. But there is actually a TON more storage space in the kitchen than our old place (hard to believe, I know) so we decided we would take it. Sometimes you gotta give up some things to get other things. 

But after living here for a while, I actually don't even mind the small space. It really doesn't bother me, which is surprising. The best part is we can only go up from here! Any kitchen is going to seem like a mansion kitchen from here on out!

The moment we got the place, I knew the first thing to go was the kitchen cabinets. 

They were painted like centuries ago probably. 

And it was the worst paint job ever. 

Stark white. 

Not the cute white cause i know some of you out there have cute white cabinets, no. Just ugly bland chipping old cheap white.

So I was thinking of what I could do, and I was at my moms and noticed their mantle. It was so cute! It was cream but had this kind of streaky but not, kind of paint but not, coat on top.

Cool right? 

So like i said, i looked all over pinterest and the internet and couldn't find that much about it! (Also because I didn't know what it was called.)

Finally I found some different ideas and decided to try it, and also found out...

It's Called Glazing

So I hesitate to show this picture, cause I just hurried and snapped a picture when we were very first looking at the house when the other people were moving out, so it wasn't even clean. But you get what I mean about the bad cupboards right?? And notice the two "handles" on those ones are like an inch off?? haha!

Small right? Whatev, I'm over it. 

(This is also motivation that if i can live in this kitchen, you can live in yours!!) 

 So first you have to get your supplies, obviously. 

SECRET TIP: (Not secret but it was a mystery to me!) Go to the DOLLAR STORE! They have like EVERYTHING you need to paint. Make sure you have 

• brushes
• a paint roller (I DON'T recommend you get this at the dollar store. Get a GOOD one, or else you will have small little fuzzies coming off into your paint every other second and it is REALLY annoying. Trust me on that one)
• a paint pan (ya know, the plastic flat rolly bumpy thing where you roll the paint with the roller? is that what they're called?) 
• a plastic tarp
• painters tape (might want to get at home depot - the good stuff)
• masking tape (for things you don't need good painters tape for - like for holding the tarp in place if you need)
• screwdrivers to take your cupboards and the handles off
• a drill if wanted - makes things really easy 
• and of course, paint! I got mine at home depot. I got a gallon and probably only used half of it. But like you just saw, I didn't have a TON of space to cover. Home Depot has the Glidden brand of paint - it's cheaper and you can pick any color of paint from any other brand and they'll mix it to match that exact color. Cool right?

And if you want to do the glaze on top, get these things:

• Stain. I got the Minwax brand of stain, and got the shade Dark Walnut - and don't worry, unless you plan on glazing the White House, you will have TONS left over when you're done for another project! They have these at Walmart for around $5
•  
• And then for the glaze you need to get Valspar Clear Mixing Glaze - you will also have some of this left over too. This is a little pricey - i got it for around $18 at Lowes. But it's what you gotta get! Thats what I hear anyways. It worked great for me!
  
• Also a sanding block,
• some sort of bowl, 
• and a straw for easy mixing, but anything will do (more on that later)

All in all, I spent about $65 maybe? If you already have painting stuff, then you pretty much just need the paint, stain, and glaze, which would be about $50.

Step #1. Take off all your cupboards and take out all your drawers. Make sure they are clean!! Wipe them down with a wet cloth and let them dry. 

 Tell me i'm right when I say the paint job on these things were bad...

This is what it looked like after the cupboards and drawers were out (Thanks hubby! Couldn't have done it without you!)

Step #2: Paint away! (don't forget to put on your favorite Pandora station :) )

 Another important tip is to use painter's angles that let you paint both sides of the cupboards at the same time. (Instead of doing one side, letting it dry for ever, and then flipping it over and doing the other side and then the bottom isn't quite cured enough so it kind of smudges - don't ask how i know that)

 While that was all drying in our shop, I went back to tackle the inside part of the kitchen.

Step #1: Tape it all off (with good painters tape)

Step #2: Paint Away! (Again, don't forget Pandora - that's important!)

I did two coats - I just went through and painted everything and then by the time I was done, the part where I had started was pretty dry and went through it all again! The second coat is way quicker. 

Before and After of the inside...

Now for the fun part...

When your cupboards and drawers are all dry, you are ready to glaze!

Get your glazing items out, and put some of the Velspar clear glaze in the bowl (however much you feel like starting with, but I would say about 3/4 cup ish to start)

Then get your handy straw, and bring out your childhood thumb-over-straw-and-pick-up-liquid skills (i know you all know what i'm talking about) dipping it into the stain and then letting it release into the bowl of glaze

 You don't need very much stain. I used probably a full straw full for 3/4 cup ish. And stir it all together! My ending color was about the color of chocolate milk (see a couple pictures down). 

Don't worry - the glaze does NOT show up that dark. So it's okay if it's pretty dark, but not too dark. And you don't want it to be too light, cause you won't be able to see it very well.

After I did that, I gave my cupboards a quick sand over (literally like 10 seconds) - you don't want to sand off any paint but just roughen it a tiny bit.

 Then get your brush and dab the stain mix all over the surface (see the chocolate milk color?)

 till it looks something like this

 Then I just did an up and down brushing motion to make it all smooth! 

You can really just have fun with it and experiment to see what you like. It doesn't dry that fast so you have time to work with it. If you have too much you can just use the brush to get some of it off, or have a cloth on hand to wipe it.

 And same thing with the drawers. Just make sure the texture goes the same direction (up and down) on everything, so on the drawers you don't want to go lengthwise, go up and down.

 Again, sand...

 Dab on the stain mixture (it can be messy)

 And smooth so it's all evenly spread going one direction!

If you have a whiter area or a darker area, it's okay. It adds character! You can also emphasize the edges if you want, which i think would add a cool look.

Then let it dry!!

And dry!

And dry more!

Make sure they are nice and dry when you go to put them back in the kitchen. You don't want any smudges or dings or things sticking to the paint after all that work to make them look perfect!

Reattach your cupboards back where they go, put in your drawers, and reattach all your handles - we found these ones in our shop! miraculous!

If you have a husband, he comes in here. Great help. If you don't have a husband... this is why you need a husband :)

And these are my after pictures....

 (for some reason every time I tried taking this picture, it turned out more yellow than it really is)

I hope this helps anyone wanting to do this! 

Happy painting and staining! 

If you decide to do this, let me know how it goes! It really isn't hard, it just takes the time to do it.

Also, I would love to hear your input - do you even think it looks better? I won't be offended - really. If you think it looks bad, please refer to the first paragraph. I almost didn't post this. I am aware of my surroundings haha. I'm wondering if maybe it looked better white! I hate our counter. Bad. If the counter was different, I think it would look a lot better. 

I just look at it this way, hey, i learned how to do it, so i am all practiced up for when I have to do this for real, in our real house someday where I will have to live with it forever -or for a while til i get another idea :) 

So really though, comment below. 

Okay, you've had enough of me. Bye.