The before and after on this 1980s oak kitchen I refaced last month was crazy

I stripped the old honey stain and went with a matte white conversion varnish and it completely changed the whole feel of the room. Has anyone else had luck updating dated oak without just painting over it?

3 comments

3 Comments

morgan_bailey9317d ago

Started sanding my own 80s oak cabinets last weekend and realized halfway through that "stripping" was way more work than I thought, lol. Ended up with sawdust in every crevice of my kitchen and somehow in my coffee cup too. That matte white conversion varnish sounds like a dream though - I bet yours came out looking like a whole new kitchen. I just went with a basic white paint and now I'm wondering if I should have put in the extra effort for a proper conversion varnish instead of a cheap shortcut. The oak grain still shows through mine which is cool but not as smooth as I wanted.

felix_williams7116d ago

Agree completely - I did the same thing with my own kitchen a few years back and ended up with a fine layer of sawdust on everything including the cat. That conversion varnish stuff is no joke though, a buddy of mine used it on his place and it came out glass smooth compared to my roller marks and brush strokes. You might still be able to throw a coat of something like General Finishes high performance topcoat over what you've got, just test a small spot first to make sure it sticks.

williamm8216d ago

Wait wait wait, hold up - you had sawdust in your COFFEE CUP? That's wild, man. I thought I had it bad when I found some in my hair three days later, but that's a whole other level.

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