Laundry room

The month of January has brought a lot of illness to our family.  For some reason that causes me to go into project overdrive.  One morning after looking longingly at Pinterest, I decided to redo our laundry room.  I have never painted cabinets before and thought it might be best to "practice" with the laundry room before attacking our kitchen.

There are many things I have learned through this project.  And yes, many mistakes.  But I must say, this was a fun project.  And I have actually "enjoyed" (gasp) doing 6 loads of laundry over the past 2 days.

Here are a few things I learned along the way:

Primer:  I asked a few friendly guys at Home Depot for some tips about priming.  I used Kilz latex primer and it was easy to use.  I bought one gallon (which was more then twice what I needed for these cabinets).  **next time I will buy Kilz primer in the spray can as well.  I wish I had sprayed the cabinet door with primer for a smoother finish.**

Paint color:  I LOVE the color I picked (Behr paint - Milestone).  But when I was finished, I walked in the room and thought "wow, there is a lot of blue in that color."  My husband walked in and said "you picked gray????"  So, to each his own.  I did a semi-gloss finish which is as shiny as I would ever want to get.  I bought a gallon and that was dead on for two coats plus touch up.

Painting technique:  This is where I made a few mistakes.  I took the doors off of their hinges and numbered them.  (that was a good thing)  My mistake was laying them flat on sheets in the garage.  When I painted near the edges, I wasn't very careful and there was some drippage.  My lovely door stuck to the sheets, creating bumpy edges.  Granted, this is the laundry room so I am not too worried about it.  But I should have known better.  Next time I will prop them up outside.  I aslo think outside would be a better place for them to dry.  2 reasons - my husband can have his side of the garage back, and the sun will help them dry more evenly.  I did roll the face of the cabinets.  If this was my kitchen, I would invest in a nice sprayer for the doors.  But I don't think the "roller" effect was as horrible as I feared.

Hinges:  I really thought I was on top of this one.  I took the old ugly 80's brass hinges with me to Lowes.  (**side note - I did end up going to Lowes for the hinges because I am a cheapskate and Home Depot didn't carry a contractor's pack of hinges.  It was 1/2 the cost)  I held the old hinge side by side with the new hinges and thought I had a perfect match.  See how great they look on the outside???

My problem is that with the 20 year upgrade, they must have changed the little holes on the inside about 1/8 of an inch.  And I put all the hinges on the cabinet wall first and then hung the doors.  So I have a little bit of a gap now.

Next time I will drill into the cabinet doors first, put them flush on the wall unit, then drill into the wall unit.  Lesson learned.

Finishing touches:  I did add a few fun things to the laundry room.  I found them at TJ Max Home Store, a favorite.  It made it more cheerful and organized.  I still need to get a new light fixture, but that will require some electrical wiring.  My hubby has always done the electrical for me - but maybe this time I will give it a try.  Don't worry, I won't be holding the baby while I check for live wires.