Welp. The time has finally arrived! The Livingstone countertop salesman came out this week to measure for the new counter on the butler’s pantry and the island. I AM SO STINKIN’ EXCITED!! Unfortunately, it will be 2-3 weeks until installation. In the meantime, I’ve found a new project for myself! Surprise, Surprise!

We have a set of cabinets along the wall to our bedroom that we’ve been storing tools in for all of our projects, pretty much since we moved in.

Here she is in all her glory!

It finally feels like the projects have slowed and the tools need a new home in the spacious garage, so the cabinets are getting a facelift. I painted the cabinets once-upon-a-time with wall paint when we first moved in, but the paint has started to chip where we use our fingers to quickly pop open the door to throw something inside. IT’S DRIVING ME CRAZY. I had great success with the Valspar Enamel paint I used for the cabinet doors on the butler’s pantry, so I’m using it here too for the doors, shelves and the cabinet interiors.

Here’s a shot of the pantry doors I did a few months ago:

This paint is great for doors. I goes on smoothly, is self-leveling, and dries nice and hard to prevent chipping and scrapping. It is so annoying to apply though. It needs to be brushed consistently in one direction, or the brush lines are clearly visible, it stinks up the whole house, and it’s oil-based paint so it can’t be over-brushed and every errant drop on my hands or the brush handle gets sticky and has to be scrubbed off with paint thinner or acetone. My hands hate me right now. I should have bought some plastic gloves before I started painting!

My vision is to attach 4 Ikea Saxnas poster frames (just $5 each), 1 to each outer cabinet door. Here’s one of the frames leaning against a door to give you an idea of the size:

I’ll paint the frames white to match the cabinet, and use a light gray chalkboard paint inside each frame to break up the white and give the doors a fun feature. I am also toying with the idea of putting teal chevron liner on the shelves to give a fun little surprise when the doors are opened. That would also save me a coat of paint on each shelf, which would be pretty stinkin’ awesome! I painted 2 cabinet interiors today, and it was not a fun job! I’m hoping to tackle more on my day off mid-week, so I’ll keep you updated!

Tomorrow’s forecast is warm and sunny, so I’m hoping yo get outside for a bit. Enjoy a new week everyone! Hope it’s productive!