Home Improvement #2

My old golden oak cabinets were something I knew I wanted to change and thought it would be a fun way to give the house an updated face lift. I found a tutorial online and just went with it and I absolutely love the results! The cabinets look great and at fraction of the cost to replace them. And to think some people would actually rip these suckers out just to replace them with something else that serves the same purpose but is a different color? I prefer this way. Much more cost effective with an awesome authentic result.

 Here is my guest bathroom BEFORE:

AFTER:

How Its Made:

1.Obtain the following supplies.

- frog tape
- plastic gloves
-mens socks
-120 grit angled sand paper block
- butcher paper
-all purpose cleaner
-paper towels
-General Finishes Java Gel Stain
-General Finishes Polycyclic satin finish
- lots of used plastic grocery bags
- fine bristled paint brush (about 1/4 inch wide)

2. Remove Doors.

Tip:
*I actually left the hinges on my doors to save time and stained around them.

3. Tape off area to be stained.

4. Lightly sand each surface with 120 grit sand paper.

Tip
*When I say lightly I mean lightly and not very long. You do not want to make any large variations or indentations in the surface of the doors and certainly are not trying to remove or strip the prior stain.  You only want to rough the surface up and leave a light layer of dust. I spent about 45 seconds on each door. After sanding you will then wipe the surface clean and dry with your all purpose cleaner.

5. Stain.

Tip
*This stain goes on like butter and looks like chocolate pudding, yum! I was surprised as how it seamlessly melted into every grove of the wood. Its certainly a great stain and is pretty fun to use.

6. Apply stain.

Tip:
*skip the plastic gloves and use a plastic grocery bag to cover you hand prior to putting it into the sock. I found the gloves are expensive and rip rather easy due to your nails. The plastic bags left my hands stain free every time I used them and never ripped.
*If possible purchase socks without a red line or grey toe as these do bleed out. Its not noticeable with the stain but is with the poly. Or just run the socks through the wash first to get any red/grey dye out of them
*mens socks are used to cover the length of your arm to protect you from any unwanted stained skin.
*apply thin to win! The thinner the better in this case and don't stress about it not fully covering or coating the wood. You want the stain to be light at first and it will absorb more and into a darker richer color with each coat. Have fun!
* don't be afraid to whip our your brush. The stain works so well its hard to leave bristle marks even with a brush. I used the tiny paint brush to get into the groves of the cabinets. It works great and spares you the time of trying to stick you fingernails into each corner.
 

7. Coat #1.

8. Coat #2

 

9. Coat #3

10. Ploy coats #4 and #5 

 11. Screw doors back on the cabinets.

And whala!

Finally the finished product and boy was it worth the time and effort. I am saving up some energy and will be doing my kitchen in the next few months once this Phoenix heat cools off a bit. All in all it took me about 2 weeks to do both of my bathrooms (master bath pictures to come.) However, I let each coat dry for a minimum 24 hours. I was in no rush so I wanted to make sure every coat was good and dry. I would caution you on the amount of coats you will ultimatley be doing can be deceiving. Lets to do some math:

1st step: sand
2nd step: clean
3rd step: stain
4th step stain
5th step: stain
6th step: poly
7th step: poly

Thats a total of 7 coats you will be working on each and every surface. You times that by the amount of surfaces you have:

1 surface: cabinet frame
2nd surface: door1
3rd surface: door2
4th surface: door 1 back
5th surface: door 2 back

gives you 5 total surfaces 7xs 5 = 35 applications you get to make or you 2 door guest bathroom. So it can be more work than meets the eye but it's still not worth not doing. Its pretty hard to mess something up and what a great outcome. If I was Tim the tool man Taylor I think I'd deserve a grunt right about now :)