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Painting Cabinets
With our RV Renovation, we wanted to do something to lift the darkness that was the interior of our RV. For some reason, RV manufacturers have chosen to use colors that make the small interior space seem even smaller. Our interior was brown and dark. We wanted to change that. One of the best and most cost effective ways to change the interior space of an RV is to paint it.
It’s definitely easier than it sounds. A lot of the cabinetry is not solid wood. It has paper or other types of gloss on them. We decided to dismantle as much of the cabinets that we could (mainly doors and hardware off). Then we took an orbital sander to the cabinets and walls. We used 120 and 220 grit sandpaper and sanded everything.
We have tried documenting everything on our remodel on our YouTube channel. Be sure to go check it out and subscribe!
Get the Right Primer
We did a lot of research on primers. We chose PPG Gripper for the cabinets. It supposed to create a good bonding surface for your paint. It’s designed to work on slick and glossy surfaces.
In our experience, it seemed to work pretty well. We have only had a couple of spots peel. And, really, those are from the wall surface coming apart. Not necessarily because the primer is letting go of the surface.
Mold Blocker
We also used Kilz Primer with their mold blocker. The mold blocking primer was reserved for high risk areas. We painted walls and the subfloor with the Kilz Primer. The hope is that it will create a little bit more of a barrier and help keep mold out. We also coasted the inside of the sink cabinets in both the bathroom and kitchen and on the inside of the nightstand in the bedroom.
We spent about a week priming everything inside. Then, we spent another 2-3 days priming all of the cabinet doors. Ultimately, we really wanted to get this part right.
Final Color
We chose a couple of sample colors for our final cabinet color. The final color choice came down to two different colors from Home Depot.
In the end, we chose the color Watery for the lower cabinets. Everything above the countertops got painted with Bright White from Home Depot. We knew that we wanted white to help brighten everything up. But we didn’t want only white. We wanted some color.
The Watery has gone great with our other interior choices, especially our floors. But all that is to come.