Nothing like some paint to treat seasonal depression.

I despise my kitchen cabinets, they are outdated, worn out and a horrid orangey pine colour. I know I won’t be able to do a full kitchen renovation in quite some time but I needed to refresh them somehow.

I’m starting from the most worn out doors under the sink, sanding the varnish off and filling some big dents. I’m honestly not being too precise because it would be a waste of time in this case. I also decided not to even remove the handles because 1. some of them have glue on the screws and 2. I know I would be even more tempted to replace them with brass handles, and my budget for this is 0€.

I don’t wanna make this a huge project so I’m only working on a couple doors at a time and putting them back before moving to the next ones.

Now for the colour, this paint gave me so much grief I almost took to a sledgehammer. I had mixed this muted green linseed oil paint earlier and really liked the colour, but when I started to paint it turned into a bright tealy petrol-ish green. First I thought it was from the brush I had previously used on a bright blue colour, and even after an hour (no joke) of washing it, the paint still changed colour. Then I got a white brush and the paint still kept changing colour, I was baffled!

I finally figured out what was happening when I dip my finger in the paint and rubbed it, and like magic it turned into blue-green. I remembered that when I mixed the paint I used mainly green umbra, a bit of white, maybe some ochre and finally a hint of Ftalon green, which is bright and very staining. My paint looked completely smooth but apparently there are tiny pigment particles that burst and mix only when I rub the paint with a brush. I even used an immersion blender and while that did something, the final mixing seems to only happen when I actually paint with it. Safe to say I’m never using that green pigment mixed with anything else ever again.

In this picture you can see the difference of the paint when just from the can and then after I have mixed the paint by brushing over and over again until the colour is smooth. Luckily the linseed oil paint can be worked for a really long time before it starts to cure.

Since I already have over a litre of this paint, and not enough materials to mix a completely new batch, I’m just gonna go for it. Though I’m thinking I’m only gonna do the lower cabinets with the bright-ish tealy green, and revisit the project later with the actual colour I want. The aim was for a light muted green, and this is far from it.

Linseed oil paint is done in thin layers and can be easily painted over again so I can definitely just go over everything when ever I feel like it.

Stay tuned for the reveal in a couple weeks. And in the meantime, tell me how you feel about the colour I ”chose”!