Turquoise, my new bff

I love the color turquoise and couldn't wait to paint this cabinet in our guest bathroom. I wanted it to feel more like furniture than the cheap builder cabinets. There are lots of different ways to go about repainting a cabinet but here are the steps I used. I've found that skipping steps= nightmare later on, so this task took 4 days total to do. I hated dealing with OIL based paint but I wanted to ensure it didn't rub or scratch off, especially in a humid area like the bathroom. So put on your shlumpy clothes, break out your favorite man-cheatin' country songs and get ready to love your ugghhuly cabinets into fabulousness! All for under $50.
Step 1: Remove all drawer and cabinet fronts and wash with soapy water
Step 2: Degloss the laquered cabinets. We used a product called liquid deglosser by Crown. We just rubbed it on and it dried almost instantly. FYI: Stinky stuff!
Step 3: Primed with OIL based paint, tinted dark gray. You have to buy oil based paints at specialty stores like Sherwin Williams. We only had to do one coat! Let dry overnight.
Step 4: Paint with turquoise OIL based paint. We had to thin with some MEK or paint thinner. Stir alot! We tried brushing it on with a paint brush but found it to be really sticky & goupy. So we ended up spraying the drawer fronts and cabinet doors with an HVLP paint sprayer. We brushed on the paint on the cabinet sides. We had to let this dry for 6 hours and repeat 3 times. Total pain! We painted the back side of the doors too, hence this took 4 days!
Step 5: Gel stain magic! I used Minwax Gel Stain Mahogany 605 . Make sure its GEL stain if you are doing this over OIL based paints. I used gloves and a rag and rubbed it on and rubbed off the excess.
Step 6: Wait 24 hours for the gel stain to cure before applying Minwax Fast Drying Polyurethane. This will protect the finish from rubbing or scratching off.
Step 7: Break out the Ben & Jerrys, pull up a chair and sit and watch your new turquoise baby. Take pictures of her, carry her in your wallet, show her off to all your friends because you will love her as much as your newborn baby!

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