Most apartment kitchens are dismal places. But, if you rent, you certainly don’t want to rip out all the cabinets and spend a small fortune on someone else’s property.

Even if you own your home you don’t have to gut the room to give it a fresh look.

Using paint techniques you can update the kitchen for only a few dollars.

Paint is the ideal medium for a quick and easy kitchen cabinet facelift, and in many cases a replacement for costly structural remodeling.

For added elegance to your painted cabinets, apply a faux treatment like bagging. Bagging is a small scale version of smooshing. It is a negative technique because you are applying a coat of glaze and then removing it with plastic to create a textured effect. You can also apply this technique to furniture, doors, walls, and most anything you can imagine painted.

Our friends at Benjamin Moore Paints helped us update the kitchen in our home. Here’s how:

What You’ll Need

* Fresh Start 100% Acrylic Interior/Exterior Latex Primer
* Moore’s Latex Glazing Liquid
* Regal Aqua Glo Latex Semi-Gloss Enamel paint
* Regal Wall Satin Latex Interior Flat paint
* all purpose cleaner
* hand tools for removing cabinet hardware
* sponge or rag for washing
* sandpaper
* tack cloth
* drop cloth
* disposable gloves
* paint brushes
* paint tray and roller
* plastic bags
* painter’s masking tape

What To Do:

STEP 1

Remove cabinet doors and hardware. Wash down cabinets and frames separately using cleaner and rinse. Lightly hand sand areas to be painted. Remove any sanding dust with tack cloth.

STEP 2

Apply Fresh Start latex primer with a brush to cabinet doors, frames, drawers.

STEP 3

Add 5 parts Benjamin Moore’s Latex Glazing Liquid to one part Regal Wall Satin (note: adding more glaze will make top coat more transparent, adding more paint will make it more opaque.) Stir and pour into paint tray. (note: test color on a small area first.)

STEP 4

Mask off an area with tape. Where you don’t want to apply the faux finish.

STEP 5

Apply glaze coat to doors with brush or roller.

STEP 6

While the glaze is wet, crumple the plastic bag in your hand and start patting glaze in quick motions to form veins in the finish. Make sure your fingers don’t stick out beyond the plastic, and be sure to use the non-printed side of bags with any writing on them.

STEP 7

After the glaze has thoroughly dried, replace hardware and reassemble your cabinets.

HELPFUL HINTS

For Better and Faster Results…

* Make sure your base coat is the color you want to see the least and your glaze color is the one you want to see most.

* The thicker the plastic bag, the thicker the veins.

* For large areas, working with a partner is faster. One person can apply the glaze, the other removes it. If you are painting by yourself, do one cabinet door at a time.

* Work while the glaze is wet. For small surfaces, use latex glaze. For large surfaces, alkyd glaze will allow a longer working time.

* Use two or three bags at a time so you’ll always have a fresh, unsaturated bag to work with.

* Make enough glaze to do the entire job the first time. If you run out in the middle, it will be difficult to match the colors again.

source : www.365gay.com

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