Kitchen Cabinet Update

Did you think chalk paint was the only fool-proof way to paint your cabinets & furniture? I know I did! Continue reading for my full review of Sherwin Willams Showcase paint, & why I chose to use it instead of chalk paint.

Our kitchen cabinets didn’t match after the renovations on our barn/home were complete. The sink base cabinet was an unfinished, one of the cheap ones. The doors made to look similar to our other cabinets, but it was an unfinished cabinet, painting was a necessity.

Ohhh those floors , I should mention that our home is a barn (a post in the works for the future). Thats how the name littlebarnlittlefarm was born. Tap here- @littlebarnlittlefarm to see some renovation, transformation & home decor photos.

I had a turquoise blue Valspar chalk paint on hand left over from painting a dresser for my daughter’s room. Naturally I decided that would be the color to use on our cabinets, because it’s my favorite color. I cleaned the cabinets with soap and water, making sure there wasn’t any thing stuck on that would show under the paint. After 3 coats of chalk paint and 3 coats of polycrylic (FYI don’t use polyurethane over paint. It will yellow). This project took me about 5 days to complete. I am lucky we only have lower cabinets! The cabinets turned out nice, with only a few mistakes where I hadn’t noticed the paint was drippy in a couple of spots, but it wasn’t too noticable.

While I didn’t dislike the color, it just didn’t match the look and feel of our kitchen with the rustic shelving.

So I went to Lowe’s in Hopkinsville, Kentucky with the intentions of buying chalk paint. I spoke with Joanna at the paint department. I told her I wanted the color Retreat, by Sherwin Williams. I asked if she could do a color-match with the Valspar chalk paint. She said that chalk paint only comes in certain colors, then asked me if I had ever tried Sherwin Williams Showcase. I had never even heard of it. So of course I played 21 questions, because chalk paint was the only thing I had heard of that was able to be used with minimal prep work. She told me that I wouldn’t need to prime, that its one-coat coverage, & that many people have been using it on cabinets. Sold, Sold, & Sold. It gets better though, one quart of this Showcase paint is significantly cheaper than chalk paint, say what?! Yes almost half the cost!! I knew I would only need a quart, but she also informed me that buying one gallon is like buy 3 get 1 free of the quart size so honestly the value of buying a larger quantity of paint, for those of you that have a lot of cabinets, is totally there compared to chalk paint. I chose an eggshell finish, because I prefer the matte look. I bought a little foam roller brush that came with a rolling tray, that cost about $3 and an angled brush. I went to town that night I made sure I wiped off any dirty spots I could & just started painting. Can I just say enthusiastically, I got my cabinets painted in one night!!! They looked amazing!!!

*Grocery Sign can be found here- @violetraedesigns she is offering 10% off the purchase of one of her signs with the code “Julie10” just send her a DM.

I wanted to add that Joanna also mentioned I shouldn’t need to sand before using the paint & that its durable enough that shouldn’t need to use any polycrylic, but could use if I wanted to or felt it was necessary! Obviously polycrylic is going to make the paint stronger, but I like change and I like saving time so I left them with just their one coat of paint, after two months, I’ve not had any issues cleaning spills.

This post is not sponsored by Lowe’s, Sherwin Williams, or Joanna.

Let me know if you’ve tried using the Sherwin Willams Showcase paint in your home! Also if you have any questions at all about my open shelving let me know. I have had so much fun going through & working to get to the point of complete satisfaction with how it looks, its only taken me a full year to do it.

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— Just Julie