CABINET WOES
The cabinet in our room is a dark brown that is "enhanced" by several coats of varnish. Varnish and polyurethane present special problems that require a change in our strategy. We have already sanded and cleaned it but because it is varnished we will need to add one more prep step. Sanding is not always enough to ward off nightmares when dealing with these glass like surfaces. Of course we need to prime it, but not with our general purpose acrylic latex primer. The recommended primer for these surfaces is a primer/sealer, the same one we used to seal those water rings and stains. The up and coming water based primer/sealers are rapidly improving, but as of this writing they are still a few notches away from the solvent based products. Of the solvent based sealers, the alcohol based product (white pigmented shellac) offers the best results with the least odor.
All primer/sealers dry very fast, so we need to apply them at a little faster pace than normal. Do not worry about brush marks or thin spots, and do not brush back into the primer when it starts to dry, if you must re-prime an area wait until the primer is dry. Primers should be applied thinly and as evenly as possible, but they do not need to be full in appearance. Since the inside of this cabinet appears to be clean and in good shape, I have opted not to paint it. If we were painting the inside, it would be the starting point, remember the general painting rule; "from the inside out and the center outward".
Since we are only painting the cabinet face and door sides, this is how we prime it.
First, remove the door pulls (handles or knobs) this is not a wasted effort. Mix a 50/50 solution of household ammonia and warm water. Wipe down all the cabinets and allow them to dry.
Now, with our last throw away brush let's start priming with the doors, in the closed position. Next, prime the exposed face of the cabinet (with the doors closed). Open the door and prime the remaining cabinet face at the edges of the opening making sure to connect with the previously primed area. Now we can prime the back sides of the doors. These hinges are in bad shape , so let's go ahead and prime them also.
That's it....... looks great, for a prime job.
We will finish paint this cabinet in the same maner as we primed it. It would be a good idea to lightly sand (the key word being lightly) the door fronts with a piece of 220 grit sandpaper. Do not sand through the primer, we are just fine tuning the surface. Because of the dark color this cabinet will require two coats of paint over the primer. Just accept that fact and don't even try to cover it with one coat.
I know that the joy in painting lies in the anticipation of a beautiful result. however, if that anticipation causes us to rush to the finish, the result will be less than gratifying and far from beautiful. On that profound note....
Let's take a break.
