Updating Old Cupboards

Well, it is official. Jack and I have officially purchased Jacks parents house that they built with their own hands in 1953. It is a huge beautiful house with two apartments upstairs, a third that we are building in the basement and the main floor, which is where we live.

The kitchen is the biggest room in the house (which I LOVE) however, it is time to add our own touches to it. We decided to start with the cupboards.They are solid pine, but they have been painted with the old roll on wood grain and painted in cherry red.

Because of the roll on wood grain, the cupboards need to be sanded to take the texture off. That is no picnic, there is a lot of detail in these cupboards. I used a mouse sander for the flat surfaces, but had to use sandpaper to get into the nooks and cranny’s of the shelving.

The cupboards after sanding the roll on wood grain off.

Next, I had to take the wallpaper off the back of the cupboards. This was scary because I had no idea how easy it would come off. I was happy that I could just peel it off without much work. Once it was off, I counted four colours underneath.

They used to be teal, blue, yellow and white!

Next I had to prime the surface. I cannot believe how much surface there was. With two coats of primer, it took me 3/4 of a can and about an hour per coat….and a sore wrist! After the priming, I painted another two coats of white paint (another 3/4 can and two hours 🙂 )

Next was the exciting part! Since I wanted to have glass doors made for the top cupboards, I decided to paint the insides a dramatic colour. After much though, we went with slate grey because it would go nicely with the overall design of the kitchen.

Grey — The contrast of the white and slate is perfect!

The overall colour scheme of the new kitchen with sage green walls and butcher block wood flooring!

I needed a break from painted, so we went looking for kitchen hardware. Home Hardware just happened to be having a parking lot sale, selling all cupboard hardware for $1 each! We got all new handles and knobs as well as new hinges for a total steal! Saved $180!!!

This is what they looked like and what they WILL look like!

I am really happy with how they are turning out. With a total cost of less then $100, we will have beautiful new cupboards that will compliment the new kitchen! Now to get the bottom cupboards done!!