Remember - paint goes a long ways. I think I used less than half a quart of the paint and less than 1/4 of the Polycrylic. We plan on doing our kitchen soon also - so we just got the bigger size of Polycrylic. It goes on like water - so you don't use very much. :)
Be sure to remove your cabinet doors, hardware, and drawers. All of our drawers were glued on (go figure) except one that the kids, somehow with their super power, knocked off. Next time, I would remove all of them because it was a little hard making sure I got every piece covered completely in black paint.
You will need to tape off your cabinets and then get sanding! Take some fine sandpaper and just rough up your painting area on the vanity. If you have a tack cloth - it might come in handy. Since I didn't, I just took a wet rag and wiped off the residue so it wouldn't get stuck in my primer or paint. :)
This was the part I hated - Kilz and I have a love-hate relationship... basically I hate it because I seem to get it everywhere and since it's oil based, I have to cover myself in paint thinner to get it off... lol. Oh well. This is where a couple extra foam brushes and rollers help you out, because it's just easier to throw them out than trying to reuse them. (At this point, I ALMOST forgot about the doors - don't forget to prime and paint the doors also!)
After each coat of primer and paint, you are going to sand it lightly with the sandpaper. This is a good opportunity to sand off any place where there might be a run or if the paint got particularly thick in places. I actually don't know what the purpose of sanding it is (I'm pretty sure my husband just wanted to create extra work for me ;) but since I'm not a pro-painter, it was good for me to go back and fix up any mistakes. :) So - that being said - do a light sanding of the primer.
Next, you're going to get out the paint! This was my favorite part - and was therapeutic to me. I got to see an immediate difference and painting is a lot easier than Kilzing - at least to me.
Be sure to cover all of the primer! You don't want that coming through the paint. So get in every nook and cranny.
I did three coats of black paint. Go around the edges/trim with the foam brush, and then use the foam roller to get it all uniform and smooth... with a foam brush, it doesn't leave any streaks, but the roller just makes it look so good! And don't forget to sand off any drips or runs between paint coats after it dries!
After three coats of paint - it looked fantastic. I could already tell that the SATIN paint was the right choice to make - it looked like it was just meant to be!
Next was the polycrylic. Be sure to STIR and not shake the polycrylic. Unfortunately, I shook it THEN read the directions. It says in small print - not to shake it. Oh well - I made the best of it.
For me, when I rolled the polycrylic on - it left little bubbles. Soooo... I used a foam brush to cover the entire vanity... twice. I put on two coats - I wanted to be sure I had a good layer of sealer - this is what is going to save your cabinet from oil from your hands and water and just going to be sure that you have a long lasting paint job.
According to the directions - the polycrylic dries after only a couple of hours, but you should not use the piece for 24 hours. During that time, we spray painted our hardware. We considered getting new ones - but since ours were still nice and just need to be updated a little, we spray painted them a nickel color. :)
BEFORE!
AFTER!
Good luck to you all!
