cabinet makeover - How to remove old paint and give your old cabinet a much needed face lift

So if you remember a couple weeks ago we scored this awesome beauty

The paint was chipping and the top was so gross and dirty. But we saw past that and I just knew it would be perfect in our kitchen. When we renovate our kitchen it will not be like your standard kitchen in your standard, cookie-cutter home. 

Our plans are the following: Gut out the current cabinets, stove and fridge. Right now there is this area (oh man I don't even know how to explain this part..) Ok there is a way in the kitchen with THREE doors. One door is to a very small bathroom, the middle door is actually an old back stairway but it was blocked off way before our time owning the home and if we had wanted to open it back up (because it's just cool to have  second stairway!) it would have led right into the bathroom upstairs..and well..I really don't think anyone wants to have a stairway in the middle of a bathroom. Okay. The third door leads down into the basement. Our plans are to remove the actual stairs and block off the stairs going into the basement. (Once the upstairs is complete- the laundry will be upstairs) and the only other reason to go in the basement would be for Kevin to get to one of his workshops. So he will just utilize the stairs from outside. By converting all this - it will leave a VERY large pantry. The fridge, a small freezer, and shelving will be in the pantry. So all our plates and everything you put in a pantry will be..well in the pantry! 

As for the main kitchen: We are searching for a large farm table. We found one at a local antique shop that is  9' by 3'. When we find one - that will be the centerpiece of the kitchen. It will be our work space and also eating spot. We will only have a few shelves on the walls and then we are also looking for an antique stove - So we bought this piece and it will have my mixer on it. I can't even explain how excited I am about this plan we have. I'm not sure if you can envision what I just explained without you seeing my kitchen. But it will be awesome, trust me!

Ok..now back to the cabinet. I thought it was going to be a quick process. While I detest chemicals. We had some paint remover here from ages ago that we never used, so I thought I would just use that and be done with it. 

I put on the remover in a small area..waited the allotted time..and a big fat nothing happened. I was already disgusted with myself that I even tried to use a chemical to remove the paint so I immediately stopped  and moved to the source I KNOW works.

That would be my trusty heat gun. It is awesome but is very time consuming. 

The tools you will need are a heat gun, a scraper (metal, plastic will melt) and muscle power. You point the heat gun at the paint surface and the paint will begin to bubble. Once it bubbles you take your scrapper and scrape with the grain of the wood (more like pushing the melted paint) This will take off the first layer. Then you do it a second time and the bubbles will be smaller and you can get it right down to the bare wood. 

Take off all the hardware and remove the drawers and door. 

Next step sanding.

It definitely helps having a sweet little baby dog sleeping next to you while you work.

Paint: Super Matte, Valspar, Icy Blue.

Reattach the handles and the door (we..well I should say the mister cleaned the hinges for me - those things were so gross and covered in who knows how many layers of paint.) and SCRUB the crap out of the top. Around the entire thing it was covered in dirt and paint. How someone would have gotten paint on it is beyond me. It was pretty simple to paint and NOT get any on the top! But who knows what people do to their things!

Drum roll.....

And here it is in its current home until renovations can be under way..who knows when that will be! You might be wondering why there are two radiators next to each other. We have forced air in our house and are going to be converting our heat over to radiators and we scored a bunch of gorgeous ones. The white one will be in the kitchen and the small one is going to be in the room we are currently using as our bedroom. So right now it's just hanging out until we move on to that conversion.

Before and After

I am absolutely in love with how it turned out. I LOVE the color and am just so happy with it. Woo-Hoo!! I love completing projects!