Painting Cabinets with Chalk Paint is So Easy & Cheap!!!

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Painting cabinets with chalk paint is one of the easiest and most inexpensive ways to upgrade those ugly old oak cabinets.

I have been remodeling my laundry room lately and finally have gotten around to showing you what I did!!  This was the last room in the house that I have done nothing to. 

We never even painted it when we moved in 14 years ago.  It’s been so depressing to walk in to with the oak cabinets and bland linoleum floor.  This was my last set of oak cabinets in the house! 

I have re-stained all of them (tutorial here on how to use gel stain), but for this room, I decided to try painting cabinets with chalk paint to add some fun color!

Here is the fun before picture of our sorry-looking laundry room…  It’s a small narrow long laundry room.

Pretty blah, right??  Trying to make doing laundry enjoyable is tough, but having a cute room to walk into makes it a little easier!

Painting oak cabinets or any cabinets for that matter is super easy with chalk paint!  No prep, no sanding, just painting. 

I didn’t even take the doors off…  no one but me really sees the room, so it didn’t need to be perfect!

Materials Needed for Painting Cabinets with Chalk Paint

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• chalk paint – I used Renaissance chalk paint – Celadonite color found here on Amazon
  
• Clear Wax or Varnish - I used what I had - a Waverly varnish from Walmart
• paint brushes
• Patina or dark wax

The rest of my house is pretty much earthy tones so I wanted to add a pop of color somewhere.  I figured the laundry room was the perfect place! 

I could practice painting laundry room cabinets with chalk paint and aging them too and it wouldn't matter if they didn't come out well. 

But they did!  I love the color and the ease of chalk paint on oak cabinets.

Chalk Painting Cabinets

Again, when using chalk paint, no prep is required. That's the beauty of this amazing paint! If the cabinets are really dirty, you'll probably want to clean them, but mine were fine. Just a light dusting and they were ready to paint!

I grabbed the paint, stirred it up, and started painting the laundry room cabinets.  The chalk paint dries really quickly. 

I started by painting the bottom cabinets.  I opened the drawers and doors and painted the base with the Renaissance chalk paint.

The easiest way I found to paint the cabinet doors was to do the inside edge first.  I used an angled paintbrush to apply the chalk paint on oak.

You can see the trim was already dry and was a slightly darker color.

Then I painted the raised border of the cabinet door and then the inside panel.

I even painted the hardware!!  I know, I know... I told you, it's the laundry room!! I know a lot of you will cringe, as I've seen from the comments, but to each their own!

Another nice thing about chalk paint is that it scratches off easily off places that aren't covered with a sealant so as the doors keep getting opened the chalk paint is coming off the hardware.

For the smaller crevices of the chalk paint cabinets, I used a small paintbrush.

Here is a picture of the laundry room cabinets with everything painted with just one coat.  I love the color but I wanted the laundry room cabinets a little distressed.

Distressing DIY Laundry Cabinets

Once it was dry, I painted on a coat of clear varnish/wax.  You need to do this before you add a dark patina or distressing stain.

Once that was dry, I just painted on some antiquing patina around the edge of the drawers and crevices of the doors.  Then I wiped it off with a cotton towel.

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There is no right or wrong way to antiquing cabinets!  If you want it darker, add more! 

If you think it's too dark, rub a little off with clear wax and a cloth.  The antiquing adds a little depth and rustic look that I love!

Here are some pictures of laundry room cabinets painted with renaissance chalk paint!

That's it!  Pretty easy and inexpensive!  Some of the paint wears off on the hinges but it adds to the distressed look.  Looking so much better already.

You can also read my tutorial on how to paint with chalk paints on bedroom furniture. Or check out my roundup of chalk paint ideas for a whole bunch of more ideas you can use chalk paint for!

Now, on to the flooring.  Click here to see how easy it is to apply vinyl planks.

Then I made this cute laundry room sign.  Check out how to make it and get the FREE laundry cut file by clicking here!

For the full farmhouse laundry room makeover click here!

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a creative day!

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