painting kitchen doors and drawers in a rented property

[jennyCee]

I am permanently renting and pleased with it all except the kitchen which is dark. The doors/drawers are a dark BEIGE!!. Would like to paint them gloss white or yellow gloss. Can I do this without cleaning, sanding, priming etc?

[Iworrymyselftosleep]

Does your lease allow you to do this? Do you have landlord permission?

[MsIngaFewmarbles]

Yes. Annie Sloan chalk paint and wax. Best check with your landlord first though.

[LEMmingaround]

The answer is no and also does your landlord agree?

If you don't clean (at the very least!), sand to provide a key, use a specific primer, use one deesigned for melamine even if they are wood, undercoat and decent quality paint then the paint will peel off (worse case) or get chipped very easily (best case) and look shabby as hell.

I recently did this for DP for a client (hes a carpenter and was fitting wooden worktops) - I charged the client £600 plus paint costs and they snapped our hands off. Now admittedly the finish had to be spot on so i may have been a bit less fussy if 'd been doing this myself but i have said that if i have to do th is job again i am doubling the price! Quite frankly if i ever see another kitchen door/drawer again it will be too soon! Yes you can do a quick job on it but to get a decent finish you'll need to sand (use an electric sander or you will be sanding for a YEAR) then prime, then sand with fine paper, undercoat, sand, first coat, sand, final coat - finished! I used acrylic eggshell - much nicer finish than gloss and still wipeable and a million times easier than gloss which runs like fuck - i wouldnt have done this in gloss as i dont trust my gloss skills enough - use a roller to apply the final coats and it will look better.

Sorry, that probably wasn't the answer you were looking for - had you asked me a month ago i would have said ah yeah, go for it, it'l be a piece of cake but no, its a shit job :)

[LEMmingaround]

Goes off to google annie sloan paint and wax - sounds interesting

[LEMmingaround]

Blimey - that paint looks good - i am going to order some samples! if it delivers what it promises i am going to use it on future projects. Looks expensive though!

[LEMmingaround]

it is very matte though!

[MsIngaFewmarbles]

It is very matte but it meant I repainted a dining table and 6 chairs and a dresser in a couple of weeks. Just gave them a good clean first.

[jennyCee]

hi everyone and many thanks for replying so quickly. The quick answer is "Yes" my landlord (lovely landlord) will allow me to paint the doors etc.
A friend has used the Annie Sloane paint and we discover it is not gloss,
but thanks for trying. If however, you know of another type she does, I
would be pleased to hear. Oh, and I do know I will have to give them all a real good clean.
thankyou again

[LEMmingaround]

We used crown primer and crown trade eggshell acrylic and undercoat - it was expensive but worth it. If you go to brewers paint store and open a "trade" account - you can open a cash account so just need a letter heading - make one up! you will get a significant discount - we saved about £30! The client was really pleased with the result - you can get acrylic gloss too if you want really shiney, much much easier to work with than oil based gloss.

[AnythingNotEverything]

Sorry to gatecrash ... MsInga have you actually done a kitchen with AS paint? I've done a few bits and want to do my kitchen but am a bit worried about sealing it. I'm not sure the wax will cope in a wet area. Some people suggest a water based sealant?

OP - I suspect for a gloss finish you'll be in for a lot of work. Are the units flat? I once made over a drab old fashioned kitchen with sheets of sticky back plastic. That was easy and effective but would only work on flat doors.

[happylittlevegemites]

AnythingNotEveryhing - would you mind telling me a little more about your sticky backed plastic? We have moved into a house that has a brand new kitchen ... but I hate the kitchen cupboards! They're flat vinyl wrapped MDF numbers (I'm assuming ...) and we also want a gloss finish which I think rules out the Annie sloane paints.

[AnythingNotEverything]

Of course Happy.

It was very like this stuff

www.wilko.com/sticky-back-plastic/d-c-fix-original-self-adhesive-film-matt-white/invt/0309580

It was 12 years ago though. You basically cut it to size with a Stanley knife and smooth it on. A bit like a screen protector for your phone. There's all kinds of exciting patterns (and hideous retro styles) but I used the plain white to cover the grubby shade of our council fitted kitchen.

[MsIngaFewmarbles]

I haven't done a kitchen with it, my LL is not as cool as yours :(

There was a thread about AS paint on here a little while ago where people talked about a lot of different projects they'd done. There might be info on there about kitchens.

[AnythingNotEverything]

Thanks Ms - I'll do a search.

[happylittlevegemites]

AnythingNotEverything - thank you for the link, much appreciated. Can you remember, does it mould around corners, so I can do the sides of the doors?

[AnythingNotEverything]

Yes - it's like a big sheet of Sellotape. I imagine it would mould around a corner.

[happylittlevegemites]

Great, thank you for the tip!

[catwithflowers]

By the time you fork out for sandpaper, undercoat and topcoat you may find its cheaper to go for budget replacement doors

[jennyCee]

Hi everyone
Thanks for all the information and the time you have taken to send it.
AnythingNotEverything, thanks especially as I think I will go that route
There are just so many doors and drawers and only so much time!!
thanks everyone again
Regards
JennyCee