Kitchen Remodel: DIY Distressed Vintage Cabinets

Hello ladies! How are ya’ll? Good I hope and ready to learn how to give your cabinets a distressed vintage furniture finish.

Before I start though I would like to remind you of the $25 Home Depot gift card I am giving away in celebration of finishing my kitchen.  I thought it would give one of you a start on your next project. Click here to enter.

Here is how my cabinets looked after I finished but before I put on the hardware.

This is a view of the bottom cabinets.  The top cabinets were done with a lighter finish. This is what I started with your basic oak finish.

Tip: When you remove the doors and drawer fronts number them so you know where each one goes when re-hanging them.

Here is how I completed the top cabinets.

First I painted them with Annie Sloan Chalk paint in Pure White.

Next I mixed black pigment with a glaze and brushed it on.

I then took a dry rag and removed the glaze.

After I had removed most of the glaze leaving more in the details I decided It was not light enough for me and I wiped it again with a damp cloth to remove more glaze.

After they were dry and re-hung I still wanted the top cabinets lighter so I went back and dry brushed more Pure White on them.  Finally I was satisfied.

I then used ASCP clear wax applying it with a brush and wiping off excess with a rag as I went.  I then distressed them and when they were dry applied another coat of wax. To finish I buffed them to a light sheen.

My bottom cabinets I wanted a little different so I started by painting them with ASCP Paris Gray.  I then followed the steps above except when I applied the black glaze I sort of slopped it on every which a way so that when I followed up with dry brushing the white on I would have more texture.

Here are the pictures showing you the steps.

First one with glaze and the one at top after wiping with dry cloth.

End of bar after glaze had dried.

By the way these are the front of the cabinet drawers they pop off which made them much easier to paint.  This one is after about two coats of dry brushed Pure White. 

Dry brushing is a method of using a dry brush with most of the paint wiped off.  When you first start applying the paint you are barely touching the surface and as most of the paint is used you will press harder.  You never want to get a solid looking brush of paint on the wood.

After each coat dries you continue adding the white with a dry brush until you get the look you want.   I think I applied a total of five coats in this manner.

Now here is where the bottom cabinets start to really look different.  Next you wax them using the soft clear wax wiping off the excess with a dry cloth.  I then took one of those gray sanding blocks and started distressing them. Resulting in the gray paint showing through in spots like they had worn over time. 

You want to distress anywhere you think they would naturally wear. Around the handles and pulls, on the corners, at the base, etc.  After all that scrubbing and rubbing they look like this. 

Corner top cabinet showing new bottom trim around cabinets.

To finish them I used different pulls on the top, the drawers, and the bottom doors to look as if they had been added at different times.

We only have a few small things to do before I share my completed kitchen.  I hope you are inspired to take your cabinets on as a spring project.


Oh yes, by the way, here is the inspiration picture I used to base my kitchen cabinet remodel on.

habershamhome.com

In a comparison of the inspiration picture and my finished cabinets I think I managed to upgrade my stock cabinets beautifully.  What do you think?

Thanks for stopping by and I am sharing with the following lovely ladies.

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