Kitchen Renovation, Step #3

Step 3: Sand and Paint Cabinets

Miss Step #1, or #2?

NOTE: this step sucks. And it's boring and kind of lame - so I put sanding and painting together as one step because I can't deny they happened. And I don't have any good pictures because sanding it dirty and painting is messy (at least the way I do it is...). So feel free to skip this one, folks.

a) After letting your preowned kitchen cabinets sit in your garage for 4 months untouched, pick one of the hottest days of the year to start working on them.
NOTE: This has nothing to do with your dad asking you how much you've accomplished since they helped you buy them and haul them back to your garage 4 months ago.

b) Put on pants, a long sleeve shirt, and a hat and then use half a can of bugspray to try to ward off the mosquitoes that accost you as soon as you open the door. Start sweating immediately.

c) Remove all hardware and doors and drawer fronts. Tap into your inner OCD and use a half a box of ziploc bags and permanent marker to sort and label everything since you know your dad will make fun of you mercilessly if you can't remember where everything went like being organized.

d) When removing doors and drawer fronts, if you happen to find a door that has been damaged (e.g. missing an inside corner with a cracked panel) set it aside and ignore it for another month. After your dad gives you a tutorial over the phone, go out and buy a new toy tool to help fix the crack, and skeptically start building up the broken corner with a paste made out of sawdust and wood glue. Don't admit that it works.

e) Using a quarter-sheet orbital sander, start sanding the doors and drawer fronts with 100-grit sandpaper followed by 220-grit. After 4 or 5 days and about 12 doors, get lazy and start on a door with 220-grit first - swear into your dirty dust mask when it works better and then use just 220-grit for the rest.
FUN NOTE: Pretend you're Pig-Pen while running around your driveway slapping at your jeans and shirt trying to get the majority of the dust off before you go inside. 

If only the mosquito part were true. via

f) Remember that gorgeous detail on the doors that you fell in love with? You have to sand it all by hand now. You hate it now.
NOTE: Hand sanding results in the sanding of your nails. 

g) After a few weeks of sanding, declare it "done" "good enough" and start vacuuming up the dust and junk that has accumulated on every.surface.of.your.garage. Wipe down the cabinets with a damp rag, and then with deglosser, and then with a tack cloth because you've got some lingering OCD going on.

h) 2 coats of primer plus 2 coats of Benjamin Moore Advance in China White (which requires 16 hours between coats!) is time consuming - but the plus side is that it gives you tons of time to catch up on your podcasts.

Assembly line painting