Bathroom cabinet color help

[Night Elf]

I currently have white builders cabinets in my bathrooms. It's like a hard enamel white paint on what is similar to MDF board, though it's not as heavy as that. My tile floor is stark white. My laminate countertop is a grayish white. These people LOVED white! The cabinet paint is all chipped and I've always hated the whole white look. I would like to paint the cabinet a color, but leave the countertop and floor alone.

 

So what color do I choose? DH suggests staining since I love the look of natural wood, but there is no grain in the wood. Would a stain still look okay? My walls are a light sage green and I love them. I'd rather stick to a neutral cabinet color. DH suggested a dark brown to mimic wood color but that seems too drastic. It would look like a reverse oreo cookie: white floor, dark brown cabinet, light grayish/white counter. :tongue_smilie:

 

If I go with a stain, I'd have to put a sealer on top of it, right?

 

So, what would you do?

[Tap]

Stain won't work on mdf (or whatever it is made of). You would need to replace the cabinet with real wood first.

 

If, indeed, it is real wood, you would have to strip all the paint off first, sand and see what you have. It is very hard to go back to natural wood once paint has been put on it as it fills the pores of the wood. You have to sand down past that point to get to raw wood again, and then stain. There are a few hard woods that make this easier, but most soft woods are near impossible without some serious sanding.

 

There are painting techniques designed to look like real wood but they do take a bit of an artist's eye/touch to look decent. They will still look like painted wood though.

 

I would pick a color that you want to use for an accent. Maybe look at towels or artwork to find a color you really like and then paint the cabinet to coordinate (either lighter/darker) with that.

 

If you decide to paint the mdf, you will need to do some specific steps to make the paint stick. A good sanding, primer and a very high quality paint, possibly even an oil based paint (more clean up/better results). The chips in the underlying paint will show unless you fill, sand, prime them as well.

 

You may be able to get a faux white wash look, with an accent color to stick the best and still give it a 'wood-like-look'.

 

I had the best luck getting ideas by spending a lot of time looking at design books at store like home depot or the library.

 

While you are at it, you may look into painting the laminate countertop as well. There are some pretty amzing results that can be achieved with the right products.

Edited June 18, 2010 by Tap, tap, tap

[Teachin'Mine]

I'd consider working with the beat up look and take a sage paint - or stain - and paint it on and rub it off kind of thing. It would add some color without making a stark contrast and could look very cool. Leave more on, which will naturally happen when you use the rag to remove what you painted on, in the crevaces of the molding and the worn areas too. If you like the look, you may even want to distress it further to get more "character" out of it. :) You can do the same treatment with any color you like. Even a brown would create an antique look.

[Hoggirl]

I currently have white builders cabinets in my bathrooms. It's like a hard enamel white paint on what is similar to MDF board, though it's not as heavy as that. My tile floor is stark white. My laminate countertop is a grayish white. These people LOVED white! The cabinet paint is all chipped and I've always hated the whole white look. I would like to paint the cabinet a color, but leave the countertop and floor alone.

 

So what color do I choose? DH suggests staining since I love the look of natural wood, but there is no grain in the wood. Would a stain still look okay? My walls are a light sage green and I love them. I'd rather stick to a neutral cabinet color. DH suggested a dark brown to mimic wood color but that seems too drastic. It would look like a reverse oreo cookie: white floor, dark brown cabinet, light grayish/white counter. :tongue_smilie:

 

If I go with a stain, I'd have to put a sealer on top of it, right?

 

So, what would you do?

 

We have dark brown cabinets, white tile floors, and white-ish/greyish counters. I have to say that "reverse Oreo cookie" has never crossed my mind! :lol:

 

We are about to redo some of our bathroom b/c of a drip pan needing to be replaced. I am going to do a sage green on my walls as well! The first thing that came to my mind was doing the cabinets in a darker sage green. The dark brown might not be as bad as you think. What kind of mirrors do you have? If they are framed, you could paint the frames the same color as the cabinets.