Mission Cabinets: Day 1

Our Little Old House had been divided up into a duplex - one apartment downstairs, the other upstairs - and when we bought it, part of our big renovation plan was to return it to its original lay-out as a single family home.

We even went one step further and tore out both existing kitchens, replacing one with a brand-new kitchen from IKEA and the other one with a master bath. Neither kitchen was original to the house, both were gross, and so we didn't shed a tear when we said good-bye to them.

We did, however, save two old kitchen cabinets in the process, one of which we installed in the laundry room for storage (read about it here).

Did you read that post about the laundry room and how we installed the cabinets above the washer and dryer?
Yes?
Did you notice how I talked about the "next step" being paint?
That was in May 2011!
HOLY COW!
TWO years ago I was talking about how next thing I was going to paint those cabinets.

Ahem ... guess something important came up.
Yeah ..or I get sidetracked ... a lot.

I finally got around to painting the cabinets though as part of my "three of three" plan but since DIY and blogging isn't actually what I do for a living, I had to space it out over three days (with a weekend out of town in the middle to boot).

Day 1 of "Mission Cabinets" saw me prepping the area with drop cloths on the floor and old towels on the washer and newly refinished dryer .

Then I removed the doors. Those cabinet door hinges are actually pretty neat and very different from all the other hinges in the house. They sort of clamp onto the cabinet frame and are held in place by one single screw, so taking them down was easy-peasy.

With the cabinet's insides bared to the world, I also realized that there really isn't much rhyme or reason to what and how things are arranged inside the cabinet. It's a random collection of bits and bops (vases, light bulbs, paint testers, etc.).
Time (or opportunity) for some spring cleaning and reorganization, I guess!

 

The doors and cabinet frame are solid wood, stained and sealed with glossy poly, I believe, so first I had to sand them to make sure the paint would stick for any length of time. Usually just roughing it up a bit is enough, but here the sanding took much longer than expected, interrupted with runs to the bus stop to pick up Little Man after school, drop-off and pick-up of Little Man for Karate class and a mad-dash over to Cub Scouts afterward. Then it was time for dinner and collapsing on the couch before crawling into bed. 

Yeah, I love Mondays.