As I mentioned in a previous blog posts, the kitchen we inherited with our house could be summed up in one word W-H-I-T-E. Not a stitch of color to be seen. Now, let’s be honest I’ve worked with much worse. My first kitchen’s counter tops were lemon yellow. You couldn’t miss those. The next kitchen we owned was a dazzling array of maple print counter tops. Yes, like as in the tree which we get maple syrup. So I should have been jumping with joy for W-H-I-T-E. Somehow, I felt uninspired but what I had.
This is what my kitchen looked like when I moved in:
I have one easy tip that can take boring builder grade cabinets and give them a high end look in a flash.
No fancy equipment needed.
No special building skills needed.
And it will cost you only $8.
Whether you have stained cabinets or painted ones, adding a glaze to your cabinets will instantly make them look higher end. I worked in the high-end kitchen design world for over a decade, and adding this touch to cabinets was an expensive upgrade. But I can show you how to do it for pennies.
One quick note: If your cabinets are flat (no panels or ridges), this technique won’t work very well since you have no place for the stain to get held up in. Additionally if you have “melamine” cabinets (white cabinets with a plastic look to them), I have never tried this technique on that finish. (But if you want to try it, let me know how it goes!)
But with this little twist I figured I could take my boring white cabinets from ho-hum to elegant. So I loaded up my littlest kiddo and off we went on a Lowe’s shopping spree. I’ll be honest with you…I’m not the type of girl to hem and haw and do a lot of research before jumping into some projects. This was one of them, this was the stain I chose, but to be totally clear, there are many other products you can use, some might even work better. Its been three years since I did my cabinets, and they held up perfectly.
Items You Will Need:
Small paintbrush (1/2″ or smaller)-I used the one that came with my kid’s watercolor set!
Two rags you won’t mind tossing when you are done
And finally, pick yourself up a little $8 can of fun, Miniwax Stain in “Walnut”
By the time we got home it was nap time. So down baby girl went, and I went off to change into my grubbies (which I would highly suggest for this project). I started off by cleaning my cabinets for the best foundation. I used a mixture of vinegar and water, you want to make sure they are clean and grease free.
STEP 1: Take a corner of the rag and dip it lightly into the can of stain-a little goes a long way!
STEP 2: Run the stained end of the washcloth along the crevices of your cabinet doors. It is okay if it looks like you have way too much stain on your door…you do and we will take care of it in the next step! Don’t worry if it doesn’t look perfect! Only run the rag along the edges or crevices of the cabinet. I didn’t wipe it onto the main part of my cabinet door or boxes.
STEP 3: Immediately take the second, clean DAMP rag and wipe off 90% of the stain you just applied. Done! You want just a touch a stain to remain in the hold-ups of your door. On my drawers since they are flat, I went around all four edges with the stain. If you mess up, immediately wipe down with a clean wet washcloth and start over. See how you are left with just a bit of stain?:
STEP 4: Where there were smaller crevices to get into, I used a small paintbrush to dip into the stain and paint on, with the same technique as above. If you want more stain, just repeat until you have the look you want. If you really want a distressed look, you could lightly run sandpaper over the edges to rub away to raw wood.
That’s it! It doesn’t need to be sealed at all. This is the second kitchen I have done this to (along with several pieces of furniture), and it has lasted beautifully for the last three years now.
The beauty of this glazed look is it is SUPPOSED to look imperfect, so its really hard to mess up. Really, it takes an artistic ability of about 2 out of 10. I went ahead and did the same treatment to my moldings and beadboard back splash that we added at the same time. It’s a subtle difference but it really did make my cabinet look about three times more expensive than they probably were.
Actually, I did an entire super budget kitchen makeover (while keeping the cabinets and counter tops) in just 10 Steps and $1000 (want to see how I created a new back splash for around $30?) Check it all out HERE!
Let me know if you tried this technique at home! A table? A dresser? A mirror? Glaze away! Give it a try…it’s only $8! I would love to see your Before and Afters!
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