Steve also made an extra trip back to IKEA for a handy tool to help him line up drill holes for the hardware. Luckily, I had $75 in gift certificates so we only spent $15 out of pocket on hardware. We got our doors and drawers back from DJ, then looked to IKEA for hardware. (DJ will definitely be considered for more time-consuming painting projects in our home!) DJ was hard up for some work, had a decent portfolio and wanted $280 total to caulk, prime and paint all the doors and drawer fronts. We had every inclination to just prime and paint them by hand but knew it would be a loooong time before we were able to complete that taskвЂ¦ it was January in OhioвЂ¦ we didnвЂ™t want to paint them indoorsвЂ¦plus we have two kiddos that take up most of our timeвЂ¦not to mention jobs. Unfortunately, all the quotes were well over $2000вЂ¦ more than we were willing to spend. But after reading about how difficult they could be to clean and how thinning the paint correctly took some trial-and-error, we looked into having someone spray them for us professionally.

We contemplated buying or renting a spray gun for the doors and drawer fronts. The total cost in primer and paint was less than $80! Once the frames on the wall were painted, our kitchen looked like this for 2 months while we celebrated Thanksgiving, Christmas and New YearвЂ™s. (These cabinets have to put up with our two little boys.) Both were purchased from Sherwin-WilliamsВ at one ofВ their 20% off weekend sales. We chose an oil-based primer and latex enamel paint for durability. For maximum benefit, we let the primer cure well longer than the recommended time.

Then we (this time I really mean вЂweвЂ™) primed and painted the cabinet frames that remained on the walls. The next step was to lightly sand and degloss all cabinetry surfaces. Our entire kitchen contents lived on/under our dining table for about a week. (My dad and grandpa are uneasy over this latest turn of eventsвЂ¦being quite the handymen and thinking it a crime to paint oak.)ДЇirst,В we removed all the cabinet doors and drawer fronts (and by вЂweвЂ™ I mean my hubby) and emptied the cabinets of their contents. Yes, thatвЂ™s right, I said PAINTING over oak cabinets. Needless to say, it was pretty easy to decide on PAINTING our current oak cabinets white. However,В I didnвЂ™t have $10,000 sitting around (nor didВ I want to slap that down on a credit card) for new, custom white cabinets. Since our walls are already a gray color,В I thought white cabinets would fit in nicely. All the kitchen pictures in my inspiration folder are of light, airy kitchens with either white or light gray cabinets. Nothing awful but IвЂ™m not an orangey-oak, grainy wood kinda gal. Take a look at our builder basic kitchen before we painted the cabinets white. So, remember me dreaming of a white kitchen ? Well, I finally got me a white kitchen! And I didnвЂ™t spend a fortune on it either.

Tweaking new images with backyardeos