...wood that is!
I finally got in to the building supply here and got some great advice on staining the oak strip on the bottom of my melamine kitchen cabinets. The sales guy advised using a stripper to take the laquer and existing stain out, then starting fresh with my choice of stain colour. I've got a small bottle of a lovely chocolate brown stain to test out before taking the big plunge.
My question is ...how much of a mess am I going to be making? I don't have a garage or basement that I can get use, and it's a wee bit chilly out for doing it outdoors. My plan is to strip 1-2 cabinet doors/drawers at a time, doing the work on my kitchen island. Is this unrealistic? Are the fumes going to be too much?
Also, the toe kick area on my cabinets is oak as well - can stripping be done easily on vertical surfaces, or is it going to be runny nightmare?
Any advice from "experienced strippers" is appreciated!
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Stripping? choke..choke..oh its about wood. And yes I have ;) .....stripped wood that is. :D
Well, I needed some instant gratification, so I tackled my bathroom cabinets. Same lovely 80's cabinetry, but with a twist - the builders went wild and used almond melamine instead of white. :rolleyes:
The stain is drying right now, and looks pretty good so far. But, I just realized that I should probably replace all of that laquer I just scraped off. Off I go first thing tomorrow to Canadian Tire to see what they've got there. Does anyone have any recommendations on the type of topcoat/protectant to use? I'm looking for something that will give a satiny finish (not super shiny), and can be wiped down without leaving water marks.
Any ideas? I'll post some pics of the finished product tomorrow night.
:D :D ....can i plead the 5th on that one?
I was going to say no to the stripping but I am sure some here have right Jen ;)
Jenjen, I am shocked and surprised.... :rolleyes:
Puddlejumper, that stain looks like it's going to work really nicely. As for spray painting, not in the basement. I used to do a lot of it, always was taught stuff like that was to be done in the basement until I saw that show and how the fumes travel to the flames. When I think of the clouds of paint I have painted through, now I think it's just not worth the risk.
Even in my last house that had a huge rec room, wall and doors between the furnace and room. I figured I'd be fine to paint until my mom came over and pointed to the vent in the wall (3 feet from me) that happened to be a direct air intake for the furnace. So no more painting anywhere in any basement for me anymore.
ok well...title like that...my mind went straight into the gutter!
Thanks for the advice DBD - I like the milk jug idea! I guess it's time to start chugging :laugh: I'm glad I didn't decide to do it in my crawlspace (pretty much a basement, just only 7' ceiling) - I didn't even think about the potential pilot light + fumes disaster. I was actually going to go down there and do some spray painting in the next few weeks.....guess that's not such a good idea!
It shouldn't be a big deal to do vertical surfaces. Most strippers are pretty gelatinous so they will stick to verticals. The biggest issues are the fumes and the drips. Fumes are very bad and you do need to make sure you have fresh air or you can get really woozie and even pass out. So no messing around there. Basements are often a bad idea because the fumes can build and chances are you have a furnace and hot water heater that have pilot lights....boom! I saw a show on how that happens and I haven't used the basement for painting or stripping since. Better to be upstairs, windows open and no pilot lights around.
Anyway, the drips. Most strippers are caustic so when putting it on and getting it off the drips can damage other surfaces. So you have to be sure to really protect everything around. Shower curtains and such are good for that since they are big and pretty thick. It's also easier to stay neat as you go rather than clean up after so instead of just letting the old paint and stripper drop when it's being scraped someone showed me a better trick. They took a 4lt milk jug and cut the front top off. So all that remained was the handle, bottom, and bottom sides. That way it's easy to hold the jug under the area being worked and scrape the stuff right into the jug.
there are some really good strippers out. I bet if you are just doing the oak part of the doors you can do them in place since ther isn't a huge amount of wood involved (not like doing the whole door, all the doors). Just protect the stuff around them and open the windows.
Well, I did up a test patch on the back of one of my drawers . I think I like it! I only used stripper on a patch in the middle of the back of the oak strip, 'cause it didn't look like there was any laquer or stain on it, but when I put the stain over the whole strip, it sank in to the middle (stripped) part much better.
Here is the colour, compared to how the cabinets are now. The other pic is my "inspiration" colour - some small Ikea mirrors I've got hanging between my living & eating areas.