Kitchen — Day 4 Covered in Dust

The contractors were at the house today doing demo work. I laughed when I got a call this morning asking if I was certain I didn't want the desk before they wrecked into it. I think he was making fun of my polite note asking that he save the four cabinet doors—Pinterest tells me those can be upcycled to various somethings. Very farmhouse-chic, I'm sure.

Let's review...There are 31 cabinet doors and drawers of varying sizes. I only brought home (aka the rental) 10 to work on, and I didn't even get through them all! I had this idea that smaller sections would make it feel less overwhelming. I'm not entirely sure that's true anymore. 

I started by cleaning them all with a degreaser. I'm sure there are other options, but TSP was readily mentioned in all the tutorials. And the water was nasty when I was done, so it cleaned something! I'm having a hard time not judging the people who lived here before. You should, on occasion, wipe off your cabinets people!

After they all dried, I started working on the worst door. I thought about replacing this one all together, but before I went to the trouble to find a replacement, I thought I should work on it. It had clearly broken at some point and been put back together with some kind of foam adhesive. Luckily, a little sanding and scraping took it right off. Sanded the entire piece with my little Black and Decker Mouse, a piece of 100 grit sandpaper for the edges, and then finally the big Ryobi belt sander just on the major flat surfaces on the front. The goal is just to get the shiny finish off--not necessarily get down to the wood. 

It occurred to me that I didn't need to try too hard with the drawer backings because they get screwed onto the drawers anyway. I'm filling in the hardware holes because I don't plan to use the existing hardware (although I don't know what I'm using yet!) And I've decided to try to fill in deep wood grain
to make the paint as flat as possible. I tried this on a couple of the doors today. Not sure if this Plastic Wood is the best thing to use. I've seen some liquid options that may be better. But I basically pushed and scraped it into the crevices, and I'll go back and lightly sand it again. Great. More sanding. I'll see if this is the right stuff to use before I tackle the large doors.

Soooo much sanding. I was COVERED in dust. And then I realized I left the shop vac at the new house. Whoops! 

I feel a little bad about painting wood and not refinishing it. I DO have a love for wood. But I'm beginning to realize I'm doing these cabinets a real favor. They've clearly exhausted their ability to look good without paint at this point.