ranandanntaylor: {Painted Garage Cabinets}

When we moved into this home 7 years ago we were able to bring these solid oak cabinets with us. They were used in my parents home before they remodeled it a few years before that. The Man was excited to put them to work in the garage, he had to do a little piece milling to get them to fit together, but once he finished he was pretty proud of his work.

Me, on the other hand, I pretty much hated them! I liked the function that they serve- I just have always hated the way they looked. (Form over function people!) Haha

BEFORE:

As you can see these babies are used- and very loved! There is paint splatters all over them, among other things. They hold a lot of crap (next on my list of things to go through!) but they are grate storage for all our work supplies. Notice how the base is just sitting on 2x4's! The top is actually a nice pice of cut melamine board- as well as the inside of all these cabinets. So even though they are super ugly- they are pretty nice storage for a garage!

I mentioned a few times to The Man that I was going to paint them, his response was always the same- "You dont need to paint them, they are oak! They are fine just the way they are!"

Rule number one (In my own make-believe book)

1. Just because a piece of furniture or item is made of Oak does not mean that you are not allowed to paint it! You can paint ANYTHING!! (And oak might be my favorite thing to paint, just saying!)

I hate oak.

I just do. Sorry.

You can hate me if you love oak!!

Anyway- moving on! (I might have had to fight this battle a few times!)

This week, while the kids were outside enjoying the sunshine and I had a few hours to kill, I decided to fix these babies up a bit. I made sure to be done before The Man got home!! I knew he would like them once I finished- but I also knew he would fight me on it if I waited and asked him what he thought!!

Before I started painting I had to add some trim work and fill in some holes. I had some extra pieces of trim that I simply measured- then cut- then used my nail gun to attach. It was a quick fix and looks a million times better! It's amazing what a little wood putty and trim can do! I even finished off the side- this mess has driven me nuts for the past 7 years!

DURING...

I also attached some vinyl stickers to each door/drawer for a little added organization! I didn't have all the numbers it would have needed, so I ended up using letters- it makes for a great learning tool when I ask the kids to grab me sandpaper from "E."

I used only about a half a quart and a brush to do these! It was a quart of paint I had left over from a previous project- I dont even have a name for the color because it was a custom tint! But it is Sherwin Williams, Cashmere paint. Its a really great grey-blue color. I used a brush simply because I didn't want to tape everything off! Also because I liked the way a little of the grain came through- I didn't want it to look "to feminine," after all, it is still a garage!