I have never really done a home makeover other than adding things in the home like shelves, crown molding, and stuff.

We plan to try to start selling our home soon and want to do some improvements. I would like to do as many of them as possible. My wife would like to paint and add hardware to all of our cabinets in the bathrooms and kitchen amongst other things. I have never painted over cabinets before so I am curious if anyone has experience and can tell me the best way to do this with my type of cabinets. Can I just simply paint over them, or do I need to sand them down first? With a color change is it better to sand and stain instead of paint?

Here is a picture of the cabinets in one of our bathrooms. All cabinets in the home look the same.





This is kind of how she would like it to look like.



Right now the mirror looks like the below picture, but she would like it to look like the above picture. I assume I can just cut the trim, paint/stain it, and glue and nail it around mirror unless anyone has ideas. There is a company who if you give them the dimensions of mirror, they will send you custom pieces to glue on mirror. I figure I can do it for way cheaper.

I'd consult a realtor before I invested any money in this. Nothing looks broken, so nothing *needs* to be repaired to sell it. It would be a crap shoot whether the prospective buyer a) would prefer it the way it was before you started, b) would prefer it the way it was after you were done, or c) would rip it all out and do it over either way.

quote:

Originally posted by whanson_wi:
I'd consult a realtor before I invested any money in this. Nothing looks broken, so nothing *needs* to be repaired to sell it. It would be a crap shoot whether the prospective buyer a) would prefer it the way it was before you started, b) would prefer it the way it was after you were done, or c) would rip it all out and do it over either way.

I 100% agree! My wife is who wants to do these upgrades. Our house is 19 years old and if it was up to me I would only replace the kitchen appliances as they do need it. My wife actually mentioned today to have our realtor come over and give us recommendations so we will definitely do that.

I would still like to hear some recommendations on best way to update it in case that is recommended.

I did the mirror in our bathroom using molding and glue and it came out nice. Cost was about $50 and that included a new handsaw and template to cut the angles. A relatively easy job for somebody like me with minimal handyman skills.

The comments above make very good sense. 'If' you opt to proceed, here's a couple things to consider.

1 - Stain is not going to take if there's any of the old finish remaining. That alone would turn me off of trying to re-stain.
2 - Those cabinets are red oak which by nature is a very large/open grain wood. As such, if you paint them, you're going to have to prime them prior to painting and you'll still see that grain pop through the finish. There are fillers you can use to try and fill the grain prior to painting, but they're a lot of work to apply and sand, and the results are usually hit or miss.

I did ours several years ago. Light sanding, wipe down with a wash and then prime before painting.

Bigdeal is correct, you should not attempt to apply stain to a finished cabinet, your best bet is to prime and paint. I would recommend a shellac-based primer, like BIN, then an application of something like Ben Moore's Advance. Using shellac as the primer will help reduce the chances of contamination on the surface from causing "fish eyes". Without filling the grain before priming, you will have the open grain of the oak showing through.

I would highly recommend seeking the advice of an independent paint dealer, like Benjamin Moore or Pittsburgh Paint, they tend to have skilled and knowledgeable folks behind the counter.

Don't event try to re-stain those cabinets, you will be sorely disappointed. Consider cabinet paint (very specific).

I have refinished cabinets before using Behr paint (https://www.behr.com/consumer/products/specialty-paint/cabinet-and-trim-enamel/behr-premium-interior-cabinet-and-trim-enamel). Here is their how to do it https://www.behr.com/consumer/...w-to-paint-cabinets).

One point I'd like to make is that if you paint the cabinets (which is not hard, just takes time), and trim out the mirror, do yourself a favor and replace the countertop. You mirror clips sit on top of the edge of the backsplash, so do it all at once. When it is done, it will not look like it was done part-in-parcel. We framed our old house with slate moulding, refinished the cabinets, replaced the countertop, and put down tile, and everybody who walked the house mentioned how the good the renovation looked.

The total cost for us (we had a smaller sink top) was just over $1,400, and broke down like this:
$600 for the countertop and sink (installed)
$80 for the slate mirror surround
$525 for tile, grout, and floor supplies
$95 for cabinet primer, paint, rollers, and supplies
$80 for handles and trim
$15 for new kick plate
$25 for mirror calk
$35 marble door threshold

We will be updating our current master bathroom in about a year, and will not be messing with the cabinets (5 years old, good shape and chocolate ebony colored), but replacing the mirror, countertop, and shower surround, and I have priced out the supplied to be about $1,700.

In today's market, the grey pallet is both modern and classic.

Definitely sand and prime first.
It is a lot of work!
When we sold our house we renovated, too. The new owner tore it all out. Keep that in mind. Ask a realtor first would be great advice.

If you are selling I'd leave it alone, change the mirror or put an oak frame for $50 that matches the cabinets maybe to dress it up.

Paint the walls a nice fresh coat, change the color to a neutral grey tone,

It looks in good condition, if it was in bad shape yeah fix it up.

Good luck

Yep. The 1 year old master bath remodel was one of the big things that helped attract buyers to my house.

Outdated kitchens and bathrooms tend to be some of the biggest interior things that can hurt your sale.

But I agree that consulting with your realtor first is a good idea. A good realtor will typically either know what style most buyers are currently looking for, or will at least have an interior designer on speed dial that they can consult.

Once you decide what you're doing, if you're going to be painting the cabinets, using a sandable wood filler/primer followed by a specific cabinet enamel paint like 280nosler suggested is likely your best bet for getting a smooth finish on such heavily grained wood.

Correct in that to stain > the effort will not get the results proportionately.
Too much work and expense for a less than optimum result.
They can EASILY be painted and look fine.
I had the exact same finish/material as those cabinets and painted them and they looked great.
You do need good prep work but much less than staining.
Take off, clean and lightly sand, prime. paint.
I used oil based paint but now days a high end latex works too but it won't last as long or get as glossy or smooth.
YMMV and Good Luck

Due to the grain in those cabinets, I wouldn’t paint them at all. I’d replace them.

It can be painted, after properly prepping it by
Wiping with thinner
Primer
Paint
Maybe another layer

You will be able to see it has been painted, and paint will gather at the joints in the corners and the panels.

Unless you spray it...and that is a whole other animal.

First I’d ask a realtor to see if it would be better to update the bathroom now or if they think they can sell it as it is.

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
Paint the walls a nice fresh coat, change the color to a neutral grey tone,

Yup, my wife is wanting to paint all the bathrooms a light grey color. I am picking up the paint tomorrow.

Thanks for all the input so far! Definitely going to wait for the realtor’s advice.

FWIW if you decide to proceed...my wife wanted to re-stain our master bathroom cabinets. I told her it wouldn’t work and if she wanted to go that route, she was on her own. She cleaned and lightly sanded our cabinets which were already finished and applied a “gel stain”. I don’t know the specifics, but I’ll be damned if it didn’t cover well and look good.

Gel gains maybe something you want to look into.

CT

I'm in the rip cabinet and counter out in bathroom and replace will cost not much more and save your sanity. You're already going to have to replace the faucets, etc.

I suspect kitchen is a whole different animal and unless you're undertaking a complete redo you may be better kicking in a few thousand as an "update" budget at closing.

quote:

Originally posted by 280nosler:
In today's market, the grey pallet is both modern and classic.

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
Paint the walls a nice fresh coat, change the color to a neutral grey tone,

quote:

Originally posted by StorminNormin:
Yup, my wife is wanting to paint all the bathrooms a light grey color. I am picking up the paint tomorrow.

Check with your realtor and/or an interior designer before going gray.

My interior designer friend says that the gray craze of the last several years has peaked, and is currently on the downward slide of the popularity slope.

Just my opinion for easy refreshing. I would oil that wood and give it an nice vibrant warmth and install brushed pewter modern looking pulls.

So we had the realtor over today and thank goodness she convinced my wife of not needing to do so many of the things she thought we needed to do. We will still have a ton of stuff to do in order to prepare to put it on the market. She said to leave most of our room walls the color they were. The ones that do need to be painted, she said to just paint white as that is the current trend when selling. The average house in our area is only on the market for 6 days before selling. She said to leave all Of the cabinets alone except the ones in the kitchen and said to paint them white.