I showed you the full reveal of our guest bathroom on Monday and today I’m sharing how I took the laminate cabinets from blah to bold. One of my 2014 Home Goals resolutions was to update all of our builder-grade beige bathrooms. The “white” laminate cabinets {which were really a weird cream color} were painted the same color as all of our trim and I knew it wouldn’t work for any plans I had to update the room. And you all know how much I love my “white” trim 😉 So, I knew the starting point would be changing the cabinets.

Could this space look any more boring and builder-generic? Beige walls, stock cabinets, frameless mirror… Something definitely needed to be changed. Here’s a close-up of the cabinets so you can see the laminate texture I was working with.

I decided to go bold and selected Country Chic Paint’s Midnight Sky as part of my 2014 Blog Squad status. I could tell immediately this color would play well off of the bedding in the adjoining guest room and it was nearly a dead ringer for the headboard. I will say that when I initially ordered the color, I expected it to be more navy. I was a little concerned at first that it was a little too “blue” but I think it actually works well in the space now that everything is finished.

I began by removing all the hardware, doors and removable drawers {two were permanently attached}. Since I was dealing with a laminate-like surface, I closely followed the instructions provided by Country Chic Paints, washing everything down, sanding all the surfaces, and then washing everything off again. This helps the paint to adhere to this tricky surface. There were places I missed sanding and it was very noticeable with the first coat, so be sure NOT to skip the sanding step. It will save you a lot of time in the long run! If I had to do it again, I would also prime first just to help the adhesion process as much as possible. I’ll likely try the paint again in a few other rooms, and I will plan to prime those first.

Since the paint is VOC free, I was easily able to paint everything right in the bathroom without having to open windows during the frigid temperatures outside – a huge plus this winter 😉 The paint dries so quickly that I could almost reapply by the time I had applied the first coat to all of the surfaces.

After only one coat, the cabinets looked really streaky but I could tell the paint was adhering. Don’t panic if this is how your surface looks after only one coat. You can see the intensity of the color is different as well, especially with all the “white” peaking through.

After I had applied two coats and allowed for them to fully dry, I lightly sanded everything down again to smooth out the surface. I then applied a top coat of the Midnight Sky over everything again. Here is a shot with only one coat on the frame and two coats on the faux drawers. You can see how the color intensified significantly with that second coat. This is a night shot, so it definitely reads more navy here.

Once all the paint was ready and smooth, I finished everything off with a coat of Country Chic Paint Natural Wax. I love the durability it added in addition to the beautiful, subtle sheen it added to the surface. You can see the difference the wax makes below. The color also darkened slightly, which I loved!

I couldn’t be happier with the end result. The blue adds the perfect amount of personality to an otherwise rather bland bathroom and it ties in perfectly with the adjoining guest bedroom. And if you missed my tutorial on making the no-sew shower curtains, you can check it out here.

A huge thank you to Country Chic Paint for kicking off this bathroom makeover! They provided me with the paint and wax for this project but as always, all opinions are my own. One bathroom down, three to go!