A Cabinet redo

BEFORE

AFTER

I am in the middle of redoing 2 cabinet doors that started to chip after about a year of use by a client. Here is what I recommend if you have any water damage to the existing finish BEFORE you paint.......sand it down to bare wood and them prime it with oil-base, stain-blocking Kilz primer.

When I painted this kitchen I lightly sanded all the cabinets front and back and used a bonding/self priming basecoat. The two doors that were under the kitchen sink had more water damage than I originally thought. After use, the paint started lifing a bit. So I took them to my shop and sanded off ALL of the paint down to bare wood and will be starting them from scratch.

You don't want to just lightly sand in a case like this because if your bottom layer isn't bonding, it won't matter how many coats you put over it, it will still fail.

I hope my failure will help you in the future. Remember, prep is the most important part of any painting project. Do not skip this step, or you will be creating more work for yourself!

Until then, Keep on painting.

Sneak peak of some of the painted items

Sneak peak of the Starfish Girls Vintage sale - happening this weekend!

Part of new sign made from cabinet door.


handpainted old silver coffee pot



Silver creamer painted black w/ some sparkle




Trio of A's painted on back of glass





Coffee table made shabby with hand lettering






Matching side table







Old wood dresser hand distressed and painted.....still need to put the knobs on.








Old wood drum tables that needed a major facelift. Top is Lusterstone plaster hand troweled on and also a raised stencil on the bottom with the same Lusterstone.

VINTAGE SALE - Next weekend

What a disaster - not just the clutter either!

I have so much fun stuff in my shop to paint right now for the upcoming sale that I can hardly move! I love it! I took some time off from painting to heal an injury and my husband took over my shop with car parts. He is rebuilding a Limited Edition 1979 Smokey and the Bandit Trans Am. So as I was getting back into painting I was more than willing to share my space.....but NOW, I had to start moving his stuff out and my stuff in! I had to leave a small space for the doggy bed by the heater for Jasmine and Zoe (Jasmine is in the picture). Zoe comes in with all the filberts and lays there and cracks them open with her teeth....I have filbert shrapnel all over the floor and in front of my shop. (I think she's gaining a few pounds in the process by eating all those nuts!)

One of the issues that I have concerning painting is knowing when to stop. I get obsessed and want to get all this stuff painted yesterday. I have to realize that it will get done in time but I need to find a balance in life. (Still remembering to eat, going to the gym, cooking, cleaning, etc.)

Does anyone else have this problem? Geez, I hope I'm not alone....

As I was prepping the dressers (that you see pictured), I ran across a small problem. I cleaned them, sanded them and then primed them with Kilz oil based stainblocking primer. I then threw on 2 coats of paint. There was now a pink color bleeding through from the wood below. Which I thought was weird since I did prime.....only 1 coat though. I sanded it again and reprimed the dressers and re applied the paint. OK - now they look great ~ no bleed through! I picked up my distressing tools and beat the crap outta it and then overglazed the whole thing to make it look yummy and old. Wow - LOVE IT! I came back the next day to seal it with a topcoat and noticed that everywhere that I had banged and chipped it, it was bleeding the pink through those areas! On the blue dresser I didn't think this would be an issue - just adds a bit of character. On the white dresser - not so much. I haven't distressed the white dresser yet for fear that the pink will look garish seeping through. I am hoping that by applying the sealer/topcoat on the blue dresser that it will stop the bleed through so it doesn't overwhelm the color.....right now it looks ok.

One thing to take away from my trials and tribulations is - PRIME, SAND, PRIME AGAIN, SAND AGAIN and wait overnight to see if anything is bleeding through. If not, you are ok to basecoat. If it is beeding through still, sand and prime again until it blocks it all. And if you know that the piece will bleed, maybe don't distress it knowing that it will bleed through your barrier coats once you break through them.

Until then....... I have to get something to eat!

Vintage Sale Oct 2-4, 2009

SAVE THE DATE:

The Starfish Girls are having a Sale!!

When: Oct. 2, Fri. 2-6, Oct. 3rd, Sat. 9-6, Sunday Oct. 4th 12-6 Where: Old Town Florence, Oregon

179 Laurel Street (by the fountain)

What: Vintage Furniture and Accessories

Hand crafted Jewerly

Hand sewn/quilted items

Etc, Etc, Etc

There will be multiple vendors! Some of the furntiure and accessories will be professionally hand painted by yours truly!

I will post more details as I get them.......until then - keep painting!

This is GORGEOUS!!!!

My next adventure

I am going to be working with The Startfish Girls as their "trash to treasures" painter. They are Vintage dealers and will be finding some very cool vintage items and giving them to me to spruce them up, give them new life or make them just plain off -the- wall.

What I have been painting lately....

So I have been spending time exploring my creative side (which I didn't really think that I had). I have used various products and mediums to create. Silverleaf and plaster, Modern Masters reactive metals and rust, scrapbook paper and rusty metal stars. It has been fun.

Guestbath Room gets New Life

I LOVE Proceed products! I could have spent quite a bit of money to complete this bathroom buying different colors of plaster to layer on the walls. BUT....all I had to buy was 2 products and I only tinted what I needed. I even have left overs that I can use on a different project. And the kicker is it's untinted so the next project can be ANY color. I'm not committed to the purple that I would have to wait and try and find the right project to use it on.