How to Spray Paint Cabinets|Bathroom Makeover

I spent last week making-over my little hall bathroom and video taping the process to share on my new youtube channel.  The bathroom started out ok I guess.  I had previously painted cazy blue polkadots all over it on a whim and it was cute-ish for a kids bathroom but I decided I really wanted to up my game and make it a tad more adult friendly.  So I decided that a bathroom makeover was needed and the first thing I wanted to change were the builder-grade cabinets.  I didn’t really know exactly how to spray paint cabinets, but I’ve spray painted a million other things before without a problem so I thought I’d give it a shot.  As you can see if you are a follower of my crazy projects, most of the time I simply have an idea and just wing it through the process as best as I can see.

The day of the painting was a success…plagued with several small disasters.  First, I went to take down the big builder-grade mirror above the cabinets and the entire thing fell right on top of me and shattered into a zillion tiny shards.  I could’ve died.  And I felt like an idiot for thinking that the tiny screws that were holding it up could make it for “just a second” while I grabbed another screw driver.  Nope.  Those suckers were like, “don’t let us gooooooooo!!!!!” and ripped right through the drywall with ease.

Despite my near death-by-mirror experience, I soldiered on.  The next small catastrophe happened when I went to go mix the wall paint I planned on using in the bathroom.  The wall color (in case anyone is interested) is a minty turquoise color that I mixed from several leftover cans of paint from various rooms of my house.  So no need to ask me what the color and brand are.  I will just tell you its “Mint Mixed Leftovers” by Cate.  Anyway, so I went to go shake up the can of paint I’d mixed earlier.  I gave it a nice big shake and the lid flew off (I apparently hadn’t secured it before) and Mint Mixed Leftovers launched itself out of the can and onto the floor of the garage in a giant oozy pile.  Awesome.  I was 0-2.  I scooped as much paint as I could back into the can and prayed that the hubby would love the freshly painted garage floor.

After the Paint Spill of 13′, I went to tape off and cover up the bathroom in an attempt to keep all but the cabinets safe from overspray.  I thought it would be fine to just lay plastic sheeting on the floor.  After all the painting was done however and overspray was EVERYWHERE, I pulled up the plastic sheeting and died.  There was overspray all over the floor!  In my attempt to be lazy and quick I just made the cleanup substantially more difficult and time consuming.  So heres a tip (its in the video too if you forget) TAPE DOWN the plastic sheeting to the floor.  Don’t just lie it about willy-nilly like I did.  Luckily, a couple hours of scrubbing with my new good friend Comet, the floors were free of out-of-bounds paint.

So, yeah.  This was an interesting project.  Had I not been such an idiot about so many things, it would have gone much more smoothly I imagine.  Maybe not.  I’ll let you know when I get through with “take 2” in my master bathroom.

Cost:  Roughly $20 for paint and supplies

Supplies:

• Spray paint.  I used Rustoleum Enamel spray paint in gloss grey.  I used less than 2 cans.
• Spray primer.  I used Valspar spray primer in grey.  I used 1 can.
• Plastic sheeting.  Enough to cover everything you don’t want overspray to get on.  Especially your floors.
• Painters tape and duct tape.  To tape off around your cabinets and tape the sheeting to the walls, floors, doors, ect.
• Craft paper or newspaper.  To cover the counter tops and the inside of the cabinets.
• Misc supplies like scissors, screw drivers, drill, etc.

Check out the video for the steps and more info on the supplies used:

Now for the before and afters.  I don’t have all the hardware on the cabinets yet because the hardware I bought only came with ridiculously short and insanely long screws.  I feel like Goldilocks.  I’m on a search to find the screws that are “just right”.

You can see in the “after” how the darker cabinets really make the space feel rich and grounded.  That sounds like the name of a reality TV show featuring snobby L.A. teens.  “Rich and Grounded”.

Here is a closeup of the paint I used:

The new mirror I found at HomeGoods on clearance for about $65.  I actually had big plans of framing out the big builder grade mirror with molding from Home Depot but alas, it wasn’t meant to be.  I like the dark mirror and the new light fixture a lot so I suppose it worked out.  I also traded the driftwood mirror (check out the tutorial) for a dark round mirror I had in another room.  I like the balance it creates with the other dark mirror.  I like lots of mirrors in small spaces like this because they tend to open up the space, making it feel slightly less claustrophobic.  I bought a new shower curtain that ties in the wall and cabinet color at TJMax for around $14.  I like that its still a little fun and poppy and whimsical enough to warrant being in a primarily kid’s bathroom.  I just ordered some canvas photo art to go above the shower at the back of the bathroom.  I used a Groupon to get a great deal on 3 18×12″ canvases.  I let the boys have a super bubbly bath and took pics of them in the tub to use for art in their bathroom.  Here are some of those pics, just for fun:

I’m really excited to get them in the mail and hang them up.  I will probably be doing a photography post on how to take great bath-time shots of your little ones so keep your eyes peeled for that.

So there it is.  How to spray paint bathroom cabinets as well as several other tips and tricks about small bathroom decorating.  Oh, one last thing.  You’ll notice I’ve removed the builder towel bars in this bathroom.  This is because NO ONE folds towels and hangs them back up nicely.  No one.  You know I’m right.  Having hooks in your bathroom still looks nice albeit slightly more casual than the nicely folded towels you will only ever find in a hotel.  I bought a wooden shelf with pegs at Hobby Lobby and finished it myself with a natural wood top and painted white bottom and pegs.  I think I got it for about $10 with a 40% off coupon.  Also, note that I keep all my towels the same color.  This cohesiveness keeps the towel area from looking too random and casual.

Anyway, what do you guys think about spray painting cabinets?  Is this something you’d dare do?  What colors would you spray paint bathroom cabinets?  I’d love to hear from you!  Drop me a comment.

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