"Glaze Craze" or "Don't Stress the 'Distressing'" ..Ha!

Tuesday, June 16, 2009


Thanks so much for your patience in waiting for a post about how I painted/glazed my bathroom cabinets.

First, I need to say that my existing cabinets were already painted so It was pretty easy to just add a coat of paint and then glaze. If your cabinets are wood then you'll need to go through a process that's a little more involved. You can read this post a did a while back about painting the uhh-gly honey oak cabinets in my old kitchen. You would follow that process prior to glazing.

So here's how I painted/glazed my bathroom cabinets. I promise it isn't hard. Seriously, if you can paint you can glaze.

You'll need the following:
Primer (optional)
A can of your base paint color (I used Benjamin Moore Wythe Blue)
A can of glaze mixed with paint (I used the Ralph Lauren brand from Home Depot)
Good Paint Brushes (I used a 1-1/2 inch brush with an angled tip)
Foam Roller
Lint Free Cotton Rags (I bought a package from Home Depot, but a clean old t-shirt would work too)

PREP WORK

Step 1: Clean the cabinets really well. I just used a little dish soap and water, and let it dry completely before painting. You just want to make sure you don't have any dust, grime, grease, hairspray, etc, etc on the cabinets when you paint them.

Step 2-3: Ideally you remove your doors from the cabinet base and prime with a good primer (like Gripper or BIN). I wasn't nearly patient enough to do either of those things, though, so I skipped these steps. I know...I'm such a rebel aren't I :-).

PAINTING YOUR BASE COLOR

Step 4: Paint your base color onto the cabinets. I used Benjamin Moore Wythe Blue (although Stratton Blue would have looked great too....it's a shade darker). I did 2 coats, waiting 4-6 hours between coats. I also used a good paintbrush for the detailed areas (I must emphasize the importance of a good paintbrush...it will help avoid brush strokes!) and I used a small foam roller for the flat areas.

Step 5: I let my paint dry 24 hours before applying the glaze. When painting cabinets (and any other furniture) dry time is key. I KNOW how hard it is to be patient, but allowing the paint to dry (or "cure") completely will save you many headaches in the future.


APPLYING THE GLAZE

I used a Ralph Lauren glaze mixed at Home Depot. They mixed the glaze with a color called Tobacco. I really should have gone a little lighter with the glaze color, but it's not the end of the world. Ideally, your glaze should be darker than your base color, but not super dark. You want it to be dark enough for there to be an obvious difference, but not so dark that the difference screams at you. I hope that makes sense.
Step 6: Use one of those good paint brushes you bought (because you're soooo obedient) and brush the glaze on in small sections. It dries quickly so you don't want to apply the glaze to too big of an area at once. Oh, and a word of advice...once you paint the glaze on and see brown slime over your cabinets you could panic and say "Oh my gosh, I just ruined my newly painted cabinets!" Don't worry, most of it will come off!


Step 7: Use a lint free cotton rag to wipe the glaze off. Gently wipe off most of the glaze, but leave just enough to show a bit of a patina. You'll leave a little more glaze on in detailed areas like edges, and around trim. Keep in mind, the glaze usually dries just a tad darker than it looks when you're working with it. So keep that in the back of your cute little brain when you're deciding how much glaze to leave on. Your goal is to have a patina and some depth. You DON'T want to make your cabinets look dirty, and leaving too much glaze on will make them look dirty.

So the glazing process in a nutshell is: 1) paint on glaze in a small section; 2) wipe off most of it immediately leaving just enough for a patina; 3) move on to next small section....and ta da! You're done! See...I told you it wasn't hard.

I hope this was helpful. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions! Oh, and I PROMISE I'll show you more of my bathroom soon. I still have to put paint cans, hammers, and a whole bunch of junk away. Ahhh...the magic of photography :-).

15 Suburbanites Said:

imjacobsmom said...

Great step by step action. Thanks for all the details. ~ Robyn

Stacie said...

These turned out wonderfully!! I bet you are thrilled with them.

Jen @ tatertotsandjello.com said...

You did such a great job! Thanks for the glazing info. I want to do my bathroom cabinets someday.

XOXO
Jen

Stacey @ The Blessed Nest said...

Thanks for sharing these directions with us :)! I'll put it in my files!

Hayley said...

Love it! We did our headboard and footboard with this glaze, but our base was cream. The guy at Home Depot says it works better with a semi-gloss base paint (I don't know if it's true, but we used a semi-gloss and it worked great). My tip: if you're doing a large space, try and do it all at once, don't leave until you're finished. That way it looks even across wide surfaces. Also, fast and easy way to get it done that worked great for us... do it with two people. Have one apply the glaze and the other follow behind wiping it off. So much faster that way!

Its So Very Cheri said...

They came out beautiful

Cheri
www.itssoverycheri.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Your tutorial was great and the cabinets are great too ;o)

Thrifty Decor Chick said...

That color is dreamy...loooove it.

Aura said...

My husband wants to glaze our kitchen cabinets that I plan on painting white, but I'm too scared!! I'll have to show him this so he can get a big fat I told-you-so.

ItaJeff said...

thank you for sharing the direction. The color is lovely..

Have a nice day

Lots of luv,
Ita

gina said...

Great advice. And I have some of those honey oak cabinets in the kitchen and they are on my long term to do list for sure!

Rachel said...

I just found your blog - your bathroom turned out so well!!!
Our master bath is (truly) ugly. And we DO need to re-tile, but in the meantime I'd really like to make it look a little nicer. I'm tired of the marroon moire-look wallpaper and cabbage rose border.
This is such a great idea! I love how it turned out. I love the color you chose!

Mindy said...

I stumbled across your blog last week and LOVE it! I'm learning so much from you. I love your bathroom makeover. Can you tell me where you got the glass knobs and what size they are? Do you think they would work on the white cabinets in my tiny kitchen?

AnNicole@Our Suburban Cottage said...

Hi Mindy - Thanks for your nice comment. I bought the glass knobs on ebay about a year ago. It was a one time deal for the seller, so it wouldn't be helpful to tell you who they are (if I could remember...), but there are LOTS of good deals on crystal or glass knobs on ebay. I buy most of my knobs on there.

Good luck!

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