How to Paint Cabinets to Look Antique

Paint Your Cabinets To Look Antique

Painted wood is the trend right now in both furniture and cabinets. In fact, chalk paint has become all the rage. There are websites galore that provide instructions and even instructional videos on how to paint a piece of furniture with chalk paint. The look goes especially well with cottage style decor or shabby chic.

My kitchen cabinets are the old oak cabinets you see in just about every house built in the 1960s-70s.

They are also starting to look pretty shabby. I’ve decided ready for a change, so I’m going to paint my cabinets to look antique.

With kitchen cabinets, chances are they have already been varnished or otherwise coated to give them a glossy look, so, before doing anything else, you need to rough them up so your paint will stick. This can be done one of two ways: either by sanding them very thoroughly or by treating them with a chemical, such as Krud Kutter Gloss-Off, which is a great all-in-one cleaner and deglosser. It will get all the excess “crud” off your cabinets. Sometimes sanding and using something like Krud Kutter both are necessary to get the job done right.

Once you have prepared the surface, you are ready to start painting. But first remove the cabinet doors. It will look far more professional in the end if you remove the hardware and perhaps even update it. Another very important point is to use high quality paint, either an oil based or something like Benjamin Moore’s Advance, which has the qualities of an oil-based product (like sticking well to the surface being painted) even though it is basically still a latex.

You will want to do a primer coat and a final coat in an acrylic or semigloss. It’s also a good idea to paint the inside of the cabinets first. That way you’ll get used to the character of the paint and, if a paint gun, you can work out the kinks on the part of the door that won’t show.

After all your cabinets have dried it’s time to do the antiquing. Wrap a sanding block with 80-grit sandpaper and sand the corners and edges, allowing the bare wood to be exposed in spots. Some put a little Vaseline along the edges and corners before that last coat of paint. This makes it easier to remove that last layer, giving it an older, worn look. Don’t be afraid. Just eyeball it to decide when it looks weathered enough. You can always repaint and start again.

Next you rub or paint on an antiquing glaze. Let that sit for maybe five minutes, then rub it off with cheese cloth. Again, this will call upon your artistic eye to determine if it has the right look. Finally, dip a paint brush in some stain; squeeze out the majority of the moisture, then spatter it across the surface. This will give the appearance of aging. A good whipping with a heavy chain and a nail hole or two and, voila’ – you have yourself some spanking new “aged” wood cabinets.

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