Need tips for stripping!!

buffettbride · Post by **buffettbride** » June 6, 2008 9:33 pm

My goal for this summer is to strip and re-paint my kitchen cabinets. We are looking at putting our house on the market this fall/winter and it simply MUST be done. We've decided to ditch the burbs and become true urbanites!

I've been reading the DIY info about stripping and repainting and it seems straightforward, albeit time consuming.

Outside of anyone wanting to give me new kitchen cabinets, anyone stripped before and live to tell about it?

TIA!

dean_siu · Post by **dean_siu** » June 6, 2008 10:33 pm

My only recommendation for this task is to make sure you have lots of beer on hand before you start....any sort of manual labor requires lots of liquid refreshment to make sure it is done effectively.

OceanCityGirl · Post by **OceanCityGirl** » June 6, 2008 10:33 pm

Do you really need to strip them? Could you sand them down some, prime and then paint them?

Skibo · Post by **Skibo** » June 6, 2008 10:37 pm

I was really hoping this thread would not be about kitchen cabinets.

Post by **SMLCHNG** » June 6, 2008 10:38 pm

Sorry, Mal.. never did that. I have painted cabinets before but never stripped.

Dutch Harbor PH · Post by **Dutch Harbor PH** » June 6, 2008 10:40 pm

Ocean City has a great question....and to answer you need to give us more info...
- Are the cabinets/ doors solid wood?
- Are they painted? Or Stained?
- Are they damaged?

If they are not damaged and in terrible shape, you could probably get away with just sanding and repainting (if painted). If stained, you will need to figure out if they have been covered with varnish or varethane. if they are you will need to get familar with sand paper and steel wool....it is more time intensive to get a stained/varnished cabnet looking good again as you see through the varnish to the grain of the wood......so.......while drikin' a beer of 12 sounds good...you might want to reward yourself after you are done for the day.....to easy to go overboard if you are not paying attention....

buffettbride · Post by **buffettbride** » June 6, 2008 10:53 pm

they absolutely need to be stripped, filled, primed, and re-painted. No question about it. There are 3 layers of matte, white, peeling paint before you hit the layers of turquoise.

Post by **SMLCHNG** » June 6, 2008 10:55 pm

buffettbride wrote: before you hit the layers of turquoise.

How lovely!!!

buffettbride · Post by **buffettbride** » June 6, 2008 10:59 pm

SMLCHNG wrote:
buffettbride wrote: before you hit the layers of turquoise.
How lovely!!!

Yeah.

Some old lady lived here with an affection for southwestern colors. We have pink, turquoise, powder blue...

Post by **SMLCHNG** » June 6, 2008 11:05 pm

buffettbride wrote:
SMLCHNG wrote:
buffettbride wrote: before you hit the layers of turquoise.
How lovely!!!
Yeah. Some old lady lived here with an affection for southwestern colors. We have pink, turquoise, powder blue...

I remember .. that small area in the kitchen... to the right of the computer.. Or am I going nuts?

bravedave · Post by **bravedave** » June 6, 2008 11:13 pm

Stripping: Start at the top. Work your way down.

(no charge)

flyboy55 · Post by **flyboy55** » June 6, 2008 11:26 pm

I've done it and it's messy and stinky - just like poo.

Also, since you indicated there is a lot of old paint, you should consider the risk that some of it could be lead-based paint. I recommend you consult a local paint pro for some tips with that.

Here is an incomplete list of recommendations:

1) Buy some rubber gloves, goggles and mask and wear them
2) Buy a gel-type paint stripper - it will adhere to vertical surfaces while you're waiting for it to do its thing
3) Remove the doors and hinges and the drawers and strip and sand these outside. In any case, open the windows and set up a fan for the work you do inside the kitchen. You need lots of fresh air.
4) If you have a small power sander great. If you don't, try to borrow one. There will be paint residue that you will need to sand off (see above about lead-based paint and mask and goggles).
5) If you have attractive wood underneath the paint and you're tempted to stain or apply a transparent finish keep in mind you will need to remove ALL the paint and stripper residue otherwise it will look patchy where the new stuff won't take to the wood.

Do you really want to do this?

dean_siu · Post by **dean_siu** » June 6, 2008 11:55 pm

Forget about stripping them....just put wallpaper on the cabinets. They'll look real pretty if you do that!

buffettbride · Post by **buffettbride** » June 7, 2008 12:21 am

SMLCHNG wrote:
buffettbride wrote:
SMLCHNG wrote:
buffettbride wrote: before you hit the layers of turquoise.
How lovely!!!
Yeah. Some old lady lived here with an affection for southwestern colors. We have pink, turquoise, powder blue...
I remember .. that small area in the kitchen... to the right of the computer.. Or am I going nuts?

You're thinking of the lovely sand-textured wall with recessed arches that is now painted a sand color but was once pink.

buffettbride · Post by **buffettbride** » June 7, 2008 12:26 am

flyboy55 wrote:
Do you really want to do this?

There's really no other way. It would be way more $ than we want to put into it to get new cabinets in (and we have weird dimensions in our U-shaped kitchen as it is). The wood underneath is not pretty, but we know there is no risk of lead-based paint. So, once cleaned and stripped and filled and sanded and primer-ed and re-painted, they will be a gazillion times better than they are now.

Still, they won't be ideal, but it will be righting some serious decorating and remodeling "don'ts" the previous owner made and we'll feel better knowing we did the right thing before selling.

I can split the kitchen into two parts and work on one area and use the other to store food and kitchen items then vice-versa once the first area is completed.

Bfan53 · Post by **Bfan53** » June 7, 2008 7:07 am

Skibo wrote:I was really hoping this thread would not be about kitchen cabinets.

Me, too.............can't help with this version

AlbatrossFlyer · Post by **AlbatrossFlyer** » June 7, 2008 8:17 am

peruse the "this old house" website for tips and pointers

http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/article ... 53,00.html

http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/asktoh/ ... 32,00.html

OceanCityGirl · Post by **OceanCityGirl** » June 7, 2008 8:44 am

take the doors and hardware off. This way you can work on them outside and flat which will be easier. I'd still try to convince you to remove any peeling paint, rough up the rest of the paint, fill, prime and paint them with a heavy duty enamel. I hate stripping furniture and would imagine that cabinets will be worst then any dresser i've ever done due to having to work with them in place. You will also have to decide whether you are going to do the insides as well. I am painting today. I have to sand and prime all of my living room trim as it is currently a mauve color which looked very good five years ago. I want to make it white now. I have some bursitis in my shoulders sometimes and they are already hurting thinking about this project.

buffettbride · Post by **buffettbride** » June 7, 2008 10:27 am

OceanCityGirl wrote:take the doors and hardware off. This way you can work on them outside and flat which will be easier. I'd still try to convince you to remove any peeling paint, rough up the rest of the paint, fill, prime and paint them with a heavy duty enamel. I hate stripping furniture and would imagine that cabinets will be worst then any dresser i've ever done due to having to work with them in place. You will also have to decide whether you are going to do the insides as well. I am painting today. I have to sand and prime all of my living room trim as it is currently a mauve color which looked very good five years ago. I want to make it white now. I have some bursitis in my shoulders sometimes and they are already hurting thinking about this project.

There's just so much paint on the cabinets already. If I can get the white all off by scraping (which is pretty do-able since it is cheap-ass paint) and then prime and paint over the turquoise layer (which seems a little more "stuck" into the wood than the layers of white on top), I could probably live with that. When they prev. owner repainted white over the turquoise, they didn't clean the cabinets at all and so there are just bubbles and grime under the layers of white. It is icky!

buffettbride · Post by **buffettbride** » June 7, 2008 10:31 am

AlbatrossFlyer wrote:peruse the "this old house" website for tips and pointers

http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/article ... 53,00.html

http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/asktoh/ ... 32,00.html

We have been trying to think of ways to change our kitchen back splash tile which is pink, powder blue, and cream colored. I read about an oil-based paint that can be used to paint over the tiles as a DIY project. Hubby said he wouldn't consider any project that I can't show that Bob Vila did.

We have to do something about our counter tops, too, so we're thinking about one of those companies who spray over the counters and tile with a newer surface (kind of like Rhino lining for kitchens and baths!).

Our kitchen is pretty tiny. We have 14 cabinets and 28 doors/drawers. In a U-shaped space no more than 12 feet long and 7 feet wide.