hi there my name is joy welcome to my
channel so I usually post about
minimalism and mum life and things but
this week's bit different I have just
transformed my kitchen with chalk paint
so I thought I'd film a little how to
DIY in case you're interested in that
and if you've just stumbled onto my
channel because of it hi there and yeah
hope you enjoy right so this is what our
kitchen looks like I mean they are
really nice oak cabinets it's just we
kind of fancied a bit for change and
make it a bit more our kind of style so
these are the paints that I've got it's
a rust-oleum chalk finish and I do a lot
of furniture upcycling and things so I
know this brand and have used it Lots
before so picked the winter gray and the
graphite so the biggest tip that I can
give you when you're planning to like
paint your cabinets and just transform
your space is to work with the style of
the cabinets you've got ours quite
traditional and they're a bit rustic
with kind of knots of grain and like
Marx taken out of them which when you
paint them are gonna show up so
obviously we couldn't pick like her
gloss white or something because that
just wouldn't work with the old style it
would kind of jar a bit so that's why
the chalk paint was ideal for us and the
fact as you can see I'm working mum I've
got two little boys one and three year
old so yeah
this project also had to be manageable
and something that I could achieve in a
short amount of time which is also why
I'm not taking the cabinet doors off if
you wanted to do this really thoroughly
you could I did paint the inside of the
doors and the outside but I just masked
the area off and went along with them
all in situ I knew my limitations and
yeah it just wasn't going to happen so
the first thing you want to do when
working short paint is to make sure
your surfaces are nice and clean I am
did use a sugar soap on these cabinets
but I think a regular household cleaner
would have worked just as well I just
wanted to make sure that there was no
kind of grease or grime on their front
of the kitchen and then yeah with chalk
paint it's really great you don't have
to put a primer on or anything so you
can paint straight onto the wood and I
would recommend that you try out your
paints and everything on the inside of
your cabinets first so you can get a
feel of what it's going to look like and
also how many coats you need because
chop paint can get quite thick and
craggy especially if you're doing
multiple coats the second and the third
coat you have to thin down so that it
doesn't create really thick lines on
your cabinets because that wouldn't look
nice and you can also sand them as you
go so if you do find you've put too much
paint on and you've got thick lines just
sand it back the beauty of chalk paint
and you'll be good to go
then once you've done the painting
you've got to wax or seal the paint in
some way because chalk paint doesn't
contain its own finishing product so you
need to make sure that you've finished
it especially in a kitchen it's gonna
need that layer of protection otherwise
it will just flake I actually wanted a
bit of an aged look so I did scrape from
home back I used a knife and some
sandpaper and just roughed up all the
edges to try and create this kind of
aged look and then went on with the wax
now the reason why I chose this winter
gray color for the uppers was because
it's got this blue under based like
ideally I would have liked a white
cabinet but with white when you put the
wax on it has a tendency to go yellow
because you can see the yellow wax so
just try it all out before you kind of
go ahead with your decision of what
color you want because that will
obviously be quite a difference from
being a white cabinet to a cream cabinet
whereas the blue in this winter gray
kept it all kind of looking true to
color so yeah we went for a light gray
on the top and then because we've got a
dark cooker and the dark washing machine
and everything and two little toddlers
running around the place I went for a
dark gray on the lower cabinets so it
kind of just gave it a bit of a contrast
but still as you walk into the kitchen
it feels quite light and airy because of
the uppers all being light but yeah this
this dark gray was picked to hide a
multitude of stains yeah and so far it
is holding up nicely and you know we
just love the color and the
transformation that it's done in the
kitchen so yeah to keep the boys
occupied I did have help painting and
this is my little three-year-old who
came along to paint with me I let him
paint inside some of the cabinet doors
and he was just thrilled to be involved
and loves telling everyone he comes to
visit that he helped me paint the
kitchen yeah I did keep him on the
inside of the doors just to make sure
that I could keep it nice and neat on
the outside but like I said chalk paint
you can cover a multitude of sins with
it so yeah my little 1 year old got the
paintbrush on the cabinets and he had to
go as well that's just mum life you have
to do these things kids involved but
yeah they had a great time and loved it
and yeah I love the fact that they
helped out too so then this me just
going over with the wax on the lower
cabinets and I used a brush to apply the
wax to the cabinet's because I wanted to
make sure there'd be a really good layer
on it just to kind of give it the most
protection of seat is going to get
kicked and scuffed and mopped and water
spilt on it it's yes a working family
kitchen needs a lot of protection so
this is the finished result
it's a small
kitchen so the light color has really
opened it up and it feels a lot lighter
and brighter and the comment that most
people have said is it looks a lot more
modern as well and yet we just we love
it we love this dark gray color it works
well with our countertops and yeah it's
just smartened the whole place up yeah
so very pleased with the outcome would
recommend it it cost a total of whether
the paint's worth $12.99 I think and
then the wax was eight pounds say that
was all I spent well had the
paintbrushes the hardware is all the
same as what was there before and just
just paint and I did all this for under
fifty pounds which I'm absolutely
thrilled with so that's it my kitchen
transformation we are so pleased with
the results I mean the cabinets were
nice to begin with but it's just kind of
freshened it up and made it feel a bit
more modern and really kind of motivated
me to kind of do the final addy putter
and really just get my kitchen organized
and in order and if you're interested in
watching a little bit about my kitchen
and why I've got in some of the
cupboards and all that sort of thing
then I have also posted my minimalist
kitchen video so you can kind of have a
look at that as well okay thanks for
watching bye
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