Cupboard/Cabinet How To

I received a few questions/comments about my cupboard makeover and thought it would be nice to do a "how to".  A bunch of you mentioned your husbands aren't in favor of this adventure.  Neither was mine.  In fact we had a bunch of friend couples over for New Years Eve and almost every wife wanted to something like this and all the husbands were against it.  I think it has to do something with they know they get dragged into our adventures and get put to work. 

I have been talking about painting my cupboards for years but when it came down to it I was a little chicken.  Lately my kitchen hasn't been making me super happy and I just decided to do it.  In the words of my mother-in-law "painting is the cheapest way to remodel".  I agree and I love my new kitchen.  My husband does too!

I'm going to show you how to do this on the inside of one of my cupboards I haven't finished yet.  Lightly sand all your cupboards.  This part is the hardest/messy step in my opinion.  We (hubby and I) sanded with a palm sander.  I then went around with a damp cloth and made sure there was no dust left on the cupboards.

Next step is painting.  I used a paint brush because I still wanted to see some of the wood grain through the paint.  I used Valspar's Sand Drift.  I love this color because it took out all that yucky orange that I didn't want anymore.

Lightly paint the cupboards.  The can of paint will go a long way.  This can did two kitchens, my table and there is still some to spare!  Let your cupboards dry overnight.

Next step is glazing.  I'm new to glazing but have decided I love it!  This is the can I grabbed from Home Depot...

It says on the can it's clear but when I opened it up it looked like this...

Maybe I'm crazy but I don't call that clear.  I'm not sure if somehow I ended up with a tinted can or for glaze that is clear???   To tint your glaze just add paint.  I added paint (chocolate brown) until it was the color I desired.

Just a side note...I tried this the first time with black paint.  The effect was too harsh for me.  I had to paint over the cupboard again.   That's the good news...if you make a mistake paint over it!   Mix the glaze and paint in a cup.

Brush on the glaze.  Make sure you get it into the corners.   Perfectionists beware!  The more imperfect it is the better.  I had to talk myself into that :)  My advice is to try this on the inside of one of your cupboards first.  Experiment until you get the technique going you like.

Have a damp old towel waiting to rub off the glaze.

I used that old towel until my cupboard looked something like this....

Last use your brush with the glaze on it and "ink" the edges.  I say "ink" because I felt like I was inking the edges of a paper with an ink pad. 

Painted cupboards + New kitchen = Happy Wife!  Good Luck and let me know if I missed something!