Home Improvement

Since we have a pretty eclectic forum here, thought I'd post a topic about all those 'fun' projects many of us get sucked into doing around the house. I'm always interested in getting advice, and maybe, just maybe, I can give some as well.

When we first moved in I was about as un-handy of a man as possible, but after re-roofing the house, putting in a patio, refinishing the driveway, renovating the half bath, building a TV stand, installing new doors, installing a ceiling fan in the living room (with new wiring), etc. I can now knock out projects pretty quickly. Unless I want it to take longer . If anyone needs tips I can try to help, plus I know we have some real-life pros in the club, so maybe we can share ideas.

First point of discussion:

Has anyone repainted the cabinets in their kitchen/bathroom? If so, how did it go, what colors did you use, etc. I'll be tackling that in the next week.

I've done this a few times at my Parent's house (many moons ago).... It went well, but they were solid wood (stained) and we painted them off-white. For solid wood (non-laminated) cabinets, take the doors off to paint them. You'll want to sand them very well to rough up the surface so the paint will adhere. I'd also recommend using a good primer (especially if the cabinets are currently stained with an oil-based stain. Above all else, TEST paint ONE door to ensure the paint will adhere... When I say test, I mean the entire process start to finish (including dry time and rehanging).... It's MUCH easier to strip and repaint 1 door as opposed to the entire kitchen. Last thing you want is your paint chipping and flaking due to poor adhesion...


If you have laminated cabinets, I really don't have any advice other than Googling it...

Knowing my wife, she'd opt to replace the cabinets.

As for actually repainting, take the doors off and strip it down. Just follow Lou's post.

Thanks guys, I'll definitely do the test idea. I'm doing the bathroom cabinets first, and unfortunately they are just laminated. I have the trim and half the doors sanded and dissasembled, seems like I'll have a reasonable surface to work with. Planning on using Kilz to prime, then likely going with a dark brown paint (wife wants bathroom to be earth tones). Think it will look fairly classy with the white countertop, but I always hate painting wood since I'm more of a stain & lacquer guy. No choice with the cheap crap we have though, but still good structurally so I can't justify buying new.

Just get new doors then?

I haven't had much experience with it, but how is that "paint and primer" mix? (Probably using the wrong term)

From what I've been told those paint-and-primer mixes should be avoided. I've heard lots of people say they're awful, and never heard anything positive.




Not to get off topic but here's what I'm planning on doing this weekend...
Laying down tile on my screened-in porch (it's bare cement now). Any tips???





The color's actually a bit "warmer" than what it looks like here

Haven't seen tile on a porch before. Just make sure you put down a vapor barrier? Don't want that concrete to sweat through. Then again, you are down.south so maybe it's not necessary.

Around here, if it's not bare concrete (like yours is now) it's patterned concrete.

We had flagstone at our last house. Never again. Sure it looks nice, but what a pain to shovel.

Well the concrete isn't actually "bare" as some might call it. It's definitely got some texture and the surface is pretty rough. But tile on the back porch is pretty common here. Luckily it only gets down to freezing a couple times a year so pretty much any ceramic tile will hold up just fine.

joekorn wrote:First point of discussion:

Has anyone repainted the cabinets in their kitchen/bathroom? If so, how did it go, what colors did you use, etc. I'll be tackling that in the next week.

I offered to paint the cabinets in both bathrooms as part of the wife's Christmas present........I am still not finished lol. It's a bit more labor intensive than I expected with the sanding and priming and adding hardware and filling nail holes and painting the old hinges with the rattle can and the waiting for stuff to dry uuugggghhhh. That one section of cabinets looks damn good though

As for using the Kilz primer, I picked up some to brush and roll on where needed. I also grabbed a spray can for the more ornate sections of the cabinet doors. I figured I would get a better primer coat this way.

marmuttlebow wrote:Just get new doors then?

I haven't had much experience with it, but how is that "paint and primer" mix? (Probably using the wrong term)

I have used these mixes to paint walls in the house, woks great there. It easily covered old colors and stains from the kids. I tried it on the cabinets and still had to go back, remove and prime to get good results with it.

Eric - Thanks for the info, I never thought about spray primer. Makes sense that a quick spray in the tricky bits would be better than applying either too little or a blob with a brush.

Fraid - Not much experience with tile, so unfortunately don't have much for you. Do you have a tile saw?

My next project is to start organizing my garage.

Basic stuff.

Shelving and some "rails" to hang tools on (shovels, rakes, etc).

joekorn wrote: Do you have a tile saw?

Unfortunately, no. Trying to borrow one from a buddy who has a construction company but I may have to bight the bullet and rent one for $50 or so.

joekorn wrote:First point of discussion:

Has anyone repainted the cabinets in their kitchen/bathroom? If so, how did it go, what colors did you use, etc. I'll be tackling that in the next week.

My wife bought a dresser the other night and I guess the plan is to remove the first row of drawers and sand it all down, paint it, fatigue it, and turn it into an entertainment center. No big deal, but the project she had me start on today may prove to be interesting.

Let's just say Pintrest is evil. It's like porn for woman. Or maybe it's more like Crack, because she's hitting that damn site everyday. Either way, it's the source of this project. Mandy wanted to get rid of the carpet in our bedroom and the family room. She wanted to just pull up the carpet and paint the concrete then throw down a rug (how is a rug much different than carpet? but I digress). I told her we couldn't do it because the concrete is not a finished surface. Disheartened, she didn't know what to do. In steps Pintrest, who says "Why don't you get that brown paper (like your paper lunch bag), tear them into various size pieces, stain them, glue them, then put 10 coats of poly urethane on top of it!" And Mandy said "Does this have the potential to go wrong?" Pintrest: "Yes, yes it does" Mandy: "Great! My husband lives for that sh#t!" And so with a smile, kiss, and a generous flash, I was conned into taking on the project. I'm taking pictures and if turns out OK, I'll post more info on it.

Wow. That sounds.... creative? I'm at a loss here. Have never heard of anything even close to that before. Then again, people once thought that peanut butter and chocolate together would be gross. It is not. It is awesome. Post some pics, I'm interested to see how it goes. Good luck!

Lowflyinmx3 wrote:Let's just say Pintrest is evil. It's like porn for woman. Or maybe it's more like Crack, because she's hitting that damn site everyday.

Your's too? I'm thinking about putting Pintrest on the blacklist of my home router!!!

Low that sounds terrifying! Gallons of polyurethane and thousands of pieces of easy to crinkle/fold paper, all having to be handled by hand... what could go wrong?

So it's been a few weeks but I have to show off all my hard work. As a side note, I will NEVER tile again! It's more than worth what it costs to pay a pro



Here is the porch as I started





The finished product:

Looks great Fraid!

Thanks Low, I certainly have a newfound respect for guys that do tile work!!!

That looks pretty incredible Fraid. Nice work!

My bathroom project stalled halfway through, the back staged a protest. Think it's back up to speed now though, puns intended. Have an appointment with a surgeon on Monday, need to teach my body a lesson for messing with me.