Before and After: Top Tips on Painting Kitchen Cupboards with Fusion Mineral Paint
This utility room was looking a little dated and tired, there is nothing structurally wrong with the existing kitchen cupboards but it needed a new look. The most economical and least disruptive way is to paint the doors and handles.
Here's how we did it:
Firstly remove the cupboard doors from the cabinets, leaving the hinges attached to the cabinet carcass.
Number all the doors so that it's easy to refit the same door to the same cupboard later on. We always number them in the hole where the hinge sits so that it doesn't get covered with paint.
Remove the handles, these are thoroughly cleaned and then we spray painted them with Rustoleum Metallic Gold Spray paint, we did three light coats and left to cure for 48 hours.
Clean and de-grease. No matter how clean your kitchen is there will always be a little grease on the cupboard doors. We used Fusion TSP, a water-based biodegradable degreaser which thoroughly cleans surfaces prior to painting. Highly efficient, it removes oil, grease, fingerprints, stains and other contaminants, which will improve the adhesion and the look of subsequent coatings. It is safe to use on all surfaces (wood, paint, gypsum, melamine, plastics, metals and glass). Fusion™ TSP is environmentally friendly and contains no phosphates. We diluted it into a spray bottle and a cloth to throughly wipe over and air dried.
Scuff: The doors are laminated MDF so we lightly sanded and de-glossed the surface and edges using 120 grit sandpaper and dusted off with a large dry paint brush.
Prep: With a Synthetic Flat Brush we applied a thin layer of Fusion Ultra Grip making sure we didn't leave any lines in it, we started on the back of the doors and edges and left to dry overnight. The next day we turned the doors over and applied the same on the fronts.
One of the doors had some writing in permanent marker that didn't come off completely during cleaning and sanding, so we covered this using a coat of Zinsser BIN stain blocker.
These cupboards are in a small utility room with limited natural light, so we decided to paint the top cupboards in a light colour to bounce as much light around as possible. We used Fusion Champlain which is a lovely soft, warm white.
The client has dogs and wanted something darker on the bottom cupboards so that they wouldn't show any paw prints or flecks of mud, so we used Fusion Mineral Paint in Bayberry, a luscious and classical green.
Paint: We started on the back of the doors again and made sure we painted the edges and top and bottom of each door too. We applied two coats and left overnight to dry throughly before turning them over to apply two coats to the fronts of the doors. We used a Cling On Brush and made sure that all the brush strokes went in the same direction for the smoothest finish possible.
We painted the kick board in Bayberry to match the bottom cupboards in situ as it has been screwed in place by the original kitchen fitter. We followed the same process as above and protected the floor with frog tape.
We left the doors to cure for two days before rehanging in the room and reattaching the new look handles.
Fusion Mineral Paint takes three weeks to completely cure although it dries really quickly. What does this mean? It's touch dry within an hour or two (depending on humidity) you can still use your piece gently, however the paint will be at it’s strongest to resist any marks the longer it has had time to cure.
Tool kit used:
- Phillips Screwdriver
- Fusion TSP degreaser £8.99
- Fusion Ultra Grip £18.95
- Fusion Mineral Paint in Champlain 500 ml £21.99
- Fusion Mineral Paint in Bayberry 500ml £21.99
- Rustoleum Spray Paint in Gold £9 from Wilco
- Fusion 2" Flat brush £3.99
- Cling On Shortie S30 Paint Brush £22
- Frog Tape £4.50 from Screwfix.com
- Clean Cloths
Total cost: £111.41 however we have enough of all the consumable items left to do the same project four times over or more, 500ml of Fusion Mineral Paint covers approximately 7m². Obviously the brushes can be reused too.
Why use Fusion Mineral Paint?
- It's a top quality paint for DIYers and professional furniture painters alike.
- It's really easy to apply, the preparation is minimal, it has great coverage and a built in top coat (no waxing required).
- It's water based so washing your brushes up afterwards is really easy, no chemicals needed.
- It comes in a beautiful range of over 50 colours and has a modern matt finish.
- It is made of acrylic resin so is water resistant, durable and low VOC.
See the full range of Fusion Mineral Paints here
We hope you've found this useful, we offer a painting service in the Andover, Hampshire area, if you'd like a quote for your kitchen makeover please do get in touch.
Steph & Stu at La Di Da Interiors
Fusion Stockists, Andover, Hampshire UK
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