Do you have an old table, chair or other piece of furniture that needs an update? What about kitchen cabinets...are you tired of golden oak cabinets or are they looking worn out? Well, if you have a little bit of time and a ton of patience you can coat them with gel stain to change the color or for an antique look you can paint them and gel stain over the paint for a tea stained effect. This technique is not hard to do, but it is a multi-step process with lots of dry time in between steps so you must be patient. I recently did my kitchen table and chairs. Here are the steps I followed:
1. Cleaned with TSP (available at paint & hardware stores), don't forget to rinse and wear gloves.
2. Primed with oil base Cover Stain by Zinsser. Use plenty of ventilation, very stinky!
3. Painted with water based Satin Impervo (from Benjamin Moore) in Navajo White.
4. Wiped on (with a rag) Old Masters Gel Stain in American Walnut. Then wiped off and let dry at least 24 hours. Wear gloves for this stage, it's fun, but very messy!!!!
5. Applied 2 coats of satin Varnish, letting dry at least 24 hours between coats. Proper ventilation recommended for this stage as well.
** I used a 4" velour roller on the primer and paint.
If I had it to do over again I would probably use oil base Satin Impervo because it gives a much smoother finish. Even though it is harder to clean up, it dries harder and does look better because it doesn't show brush strokes. I've heard it described like painting with butter! I would definitely use oil base on cabinets.
