HOME STYLE WATCH: Painting Cabinets in our Retro or Historic Homes ~ Beware of Cheap Paint!

Using the right product is key to a professional, smooth finish, especially when you are painting cabinets or trim. I can’t tell you how many homes I have seen where the owner has slapped white paint on their old dingy kitchen cabinets or chipped trim. Guess what? It looks bad! It can get goopy, you see the imperfections, brush strokes, and it chips or get dirty easily. Trust me, I have seen it all.

Lately, I have been suggesting that my clients have their cabinets sprayed by a professional. The finish is perfect, smooth, hard and durable, however, some are unable to afford the cost and would rather do it themselves. For the DIYers out there, I just had a client turn me on to a fantastic product. Benjamin Moore’s ADVANCE® Waterborne Interior Alkyd Paint. It boasts an “extended open-time required to achieve high-end finishes”. My client painted her stair rail and wall trim with this paint, and it looked fantastic. When applied with a paint brush, the strokes are nearly undetectable. This is because it is “open” long enough to level out and create that smooth finish that we all want. It’s these types of little details that make a BIG difference!