The inspiration behind my decision to distress my kitchen cabinets came from this article. I fell in love with that French inspired kitchen and decided I needed a little of that in my life s’il vous plait! We inherited black granite counter tops and painted white cabinets from the previous owners, so we weren’t too far off of the inspiration kitchen. All I needed to do was distress the cabinets to achieve the look. It wasn’t a difficult task but it was time consuming.
Here’s a recap of the process.
1. Remove all of the cabinet hardware.
2. Sand the cabinets with a sanding block.
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| Yeah, you break your ankle around here and I put you to work 🙂 Slave driver much?! |
The goal was to remove the shine so that the antiquing glaze would stick.
It was a messy job. Like really really really messy. Sanding inside is a pain in the what, and did I mention it’s a mess?!
I guess we could have taken the doors off and sanded outside, but the bases needed to be sanded as well so it seemed pointless to me. Before you sand, cover your appliances with plastic drop cloths and take everything off of your counter tops. Our house is just over 20 years old so we didn’t have to worry about any lead paint issues. I kept a vacuum handy and just cleaned as we went.
3. When all of the sanding is done, clean clean clean. Wipe down all of your cabinets with a tack cloth and then a damp rag. Make sure all traces of dust are gone.
4. Bust out the antiquing glaze. I did not actually “distress” my cabinets. These cabinets have a wood grain. I knew the glaze would get into the grain, so I decided that alone would give them enough of a distressed look. I could have used a small nail to scratch up the doors and drawers in places. However these cabinets are over 20 years old, so they were already worn (dented/nicked/scratched) in places. The antiquing glaze was all I needed to achieve the look I was after for my kitchen.
Apply the glaze sparingly.
Let it sit for a minute or so and then use a damp (not wet) cloth to wipe the off the glaze.
When you’re finished glazing wait for at least a day before you add a top coat. You want the glaze to dry completely.
5. Apply a top coat. I used polycrylic and applied it with a sponge brush. Sand between coats for a nice smooth finish. I only did 2 coats and that seemed to be enough for a nice wipeable finish.
6. Let the topcoat dry for about 24 hours before you add your hardware.
I also added a piece of decorative moulding (Lowe’s) to the area under the sink.
Gorilla wood glue was all I needed.
Then I used some masking tape to hold it in place while the glue dried. Once dry, I painted and glazed. So easy and makes such a difference!
I love the way our new black bamboo floors look against the white distressed cabinets! I’m so glad to have all that sanding behind me and so is the hubs. 🙂 We’ve got some more decorative moulding that is going to be added in the kitchen. Hopefully I’ll be able to show you that very soon. Good heavens if there’s any more sanding involved I might go crazy!
*For a full tour of our completed kitchen check out the house tour page. Check out how I made a no-sew “roman shade” for our kitchen window here.
First off, I love your floors. Bamboo is my new fave, as it's environmentally friendly, too!
Second, the cabinets look awesome. You're the queen of diy (: