The cheap kitchen redo is coming to an end.  I thought I would share with you the antiquing process I used to redo my kitchen cabinets. 

Here is a reminder of what some of my cabinets looked like before:



In order to antique the cabinets I followed these prep steps:
*Removed all the doors
*Sanded all the doors
*Cleaned all the doors with TSP

I then selected a color to paint them.  I chose Creamy White by Behr.  I used the paint with the primer included thinking it would help lessen the amount of coats but I still had to put 3 coats of paint to completely cover.


I really liked the color and was tempted to keep them just like this but in the end I stuck with my original plan.


Next is the Gel Stain.  I had my friend Barbara come help me with this.  It was messy but also lots of fun!


To put the stain on you just brush it on.  You do not need a really thick layer, seeing the white through is fine.  You can see above about how much we put on.  You then get an old rag and wipe as much of the stain off as you want.  I did not want a dark looking cabinet so we took a lot of the stain off.  Make sure to put plenty of stain in the corners, that is what will help accent the piece and make it look old.

The rest of the details are coming up...