Do graffiti artists prefer silver spray paint? I do.

Just because it’s shiny doesn’t mean it’s new. Saving money we don’t have is a decent game and winning meant the moved kitchen cabinets were only getting new handles for Christmas. We’d tart them up with some white paint and… the hinges?

Ah. The hinges. We’d eagerly bought shiny new hinges before fully studying the engineering of the originals. They’re weird and wonderful and unrepeatable.

Spray painting? I thought we were stuck until I read Amy’s recommendation to spray paint them. Surely not? She’d come to the idea as reluctantly as me – and then very kindly emailed to confirm that, yep!, they were still good-as-new two years later. Brilliant. But, in order to spray the hinges or paint the doors… we first had to clean them. 

We cleaned (oh how we cleaned) - and it was even worse after Jessica explained our hinges and cupboards were covered in not just forty years of kitchen grease, but likely nicotine and smoke as well. Her emailed description pretty much sums up our not-at-all-festive experience cleaning hinges and cupboard doors last December:

Ooh boy, what fun! My formerly coppery hardware is now almost pink after multiple soakings/scrubbings in boiling water, dish soap and baking soda, although they’re definitely not perfect. It was really, really exceptionally gross the first morning I came into the kitchen and saw a bucket of brown water that had chunks in it when I drained it. And every single time we redid it, multiple times a day, the water turned brown and had chunks in it. I finally just had to decide it was good enough. …You should have seen my face the first time I cleaned the woodwork and the rag came back as dark brown as the trim, lol. Good luck!

I do like exaggerating, but this is no such instance. Bunch of disgusting truth right there. Finally clean, spray painting toxicity seemed a divine privilege. What began as temporary solution has held up perfectly – the hinges look brand new. In fact, just last week someone referred to my “fancy hinges” and I laughed. (But didn’t say a word).

Results? So good we spray-painted our door hinges too – which, thank you 1970s, are part of the door frame itself. Sprayed silver they’re now perfectly acceptable – even at eye level.

Cleaning the cupboards – Horrible. Filthy, greasy cabinets.  I can’t remember what concoctions I used for cleaning, but I’m pretty sure Angelina Jolie made a bomb from them in Salt.

Painting the cupboard doors - you’ve read how to do this (or could, if you have half an interest) on a million or more sites – I can only provide affirmation. We did not sand (it’s a very delicate balsam kind of wood… and already had a flat finish), we primed, we painted twice. A boon was having no-VOC paint and primer – so we did this indoors and managed to keep the doors shut (it didn’t smell at all). Jane mentioned the strong smell of Zinsser primer while doing the same job — it was bad enough sticking my head in this:

At the time I couldn’t decide whether it was “worth” painting the insides of a cupboard that would receive rubber liners anyway. Conclusion: yes. I’ll have to paint inside a few doors and over a few shelves before we sell.

9 months later - they’re still perfect. Not a nick or scratch anywhere.

The key? Following this advice, we’d painted the outside (front) surface last – and then left them to dry for over a week.

The gummy effect on the paint (CIL Naturaliving semi-gloss) lasts for quite awhile but now it’s rock hard and there for good.

Early assessment - So, the spray paint cost – what, $10? And the paint and primer barely changed level in the can. Capital outlay of about $55 for both cans (which we needed anyway). Getting the picture?

Very few monies on our cupboards for dummies.

By this time tomorrow I’ll have figures for the whole operation… and there’ll be at least 1 fewer bottle of BC wine left in the province.

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Salt movie photo found here.