DIY Spraying Kitchen Cabinets Like a Pro: Part Two

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Woah, where did the time go?!? Getting back in the groove to finish up this Kitchen renovation series. If you are looking for more ideas and inspiration we did a fun segment on Keloland Living, you can check it out here. Otherwise you can read all about the first part of our kitchen renovation in the links below.:

• Removing Backsplash and Repairing Drywall
• DIY Backsplash Tips and Tricks
• DIY Spraying Kitchen Cabinets Like a Pro: Part One

In the last blog post we wrapped up deconstructing the kitchen and prepping the surfaces for paint. This next post is all about protecting the surfaces you don’t want painted.

Taping and Draping (8 Hrs)

Kicking off then next part in painting the cabinets is taping and draping the kitchen. It felt like the most time consuming part of the entire project. When I was done it looked like a scene from breaking bad.

If you wanted to save some time you could brush or roll the bases instead. I have a large island with decorative panels, and opted to keep the smooth finish throughout the space. I may be a bit type A, but I notice brush marks or the texture a roller leaves behind.

I used painters tape, construction paper, and drape tape to cover every surface in the kitchen I could (floor, ceiling, walls, inside of cabinets, and drawers). When you spray there is a good amount of over spray and dust so more is best for this step.

For time and sanity sake we chose not to paint the inside of the cabinets. I was able to leave everything right in the cupboards and drawers. We did set up a temporary kitchen in our formal dining room with the essentials.

I had several surfaces in this room to cover: Cabinets interiors, Drawers (my faces were removable), Walls, Ceiling, floor, backsplash/counters, and draped the room. This step is really important to protect everything in your kitchen you don’t want painted as well as contain the over spray dust created. I have heard if you don’t drape the room the dust will circulate in you heating cooling system and spread throughout your entire home.

Cabinets

For cabinets I first put tape down the lip of both sides leaving a small gap at the bottom (with the sticky side out). Then I put tape going across the lip on the top of the cabinet. Next I put a piece of tap face down across the bottom of the shelf to ensure a clean crisp line. Last I folded a piece of tape and put it across the bottom. This way the entire space was framed out with half of the sticky side of the tape facing out. See the images below.

Once I had each section taped I used 12″ painters paper and gently placed on the sticky tape. Most of the cupboards were wider than 12″ so I added a second piece of paper. Then I taped over the seem to ensure no spray would enter the cabinet.

Drawers

My drawer faces were removable, which made painting them much easier. I pulled each drawer out and wrapped with tape and paper. NOTE I did not go all the way to the back, and we have several utensils with paint on them now 🤦‍♀️. So if you use this technique I would put a piece of paper over the drawer contents before wrapping. Otherwise you could also just remove the drawers, and tape off like the cabinets.

Side note…. if you happen to join us for dinner there may still be paint on my serving utensils.

Walls, Ceilings, Backsplash, and Counter

This is where I LOOOOOVE drape tape. If you are not familiar it is plastic that comes with tape already attached. It is one of my favorite supplies for painting. I love that the plastic sticks right to walls and ceilings. The drawback is the tape that comes on this is very narrow. For ease and to ensure a crisp line I put regular painters tape, then I apply the drape tape over that.

I used this method to cover the walls, Ceiling, backsplash, and counters.

Since this process was over several days I did have to overlapping pieces of plastic over the sink and fridge. That way I could access both of these between coats, but safely protect them during painting.

Draping

To ensure the over spray dust and fumes were contained in the kitchen I draped both sides of the space with plastic drop clothes. I think it also helped keep people out of the space to let the paint dry and cure.

I used very inexpensive plastic drop cloths to create a wall on each side of the space. Both of them had a little “door” to access the space. You can see in the image below in the right hand corner where the drop plastic was tied. I would set something on that knot to keep it in place during coats.

The other side of the kitchen is completely open to our eat in area and family room. It took two large plastic drop cloths and a lot of tape to cover that side. You can see in the image below to the right of the fridge was the “door ” on this side. I also kept the sprayer and paint over here, and ran the the hose into the kitchen.

Floors

I used a ton of construction paper from Menards to cover the floors. One lesson I learned here is that painters tape can damage the finish on wood floors. We noticed this in a few places where the tape was walked over. If I had it to do over, I would only tape paper to paper not on the actual floor.

Whew! That was a lot of prepping, but soooo worth it I promise. In the last post of this series I will talk through applying paint.