Phew, the second week of the One Room Challenge is over! Did you see my mood board last week? The weather was so hot in Ireland this week, to be honest we did more work in the garden than on the utility room! But it’s starting to slowly come together now. In fact as I write, the plumber is installing the washing machine. It will be the first time the washing machine will be hooked up since January!!! AAAAHHH, beyond excited!!!!!!
Removing Laminate
We are reusing the storage from our last utility room but giving it a bit of a makeover! After removing the doors and handles, I realised how poor the condition of the laminate on the cabinets was. Some of it was cracked, dented or even just falling off, so I decided, removing the laminate entirely was the way to go. And how did I do this you ask? Surprisingly, it was by using a hair dryer! And it was so easy!! I just heated the laminate and eventually, it pulled away from the door. I filmed a short timelapse to give you an idea.
My top tip, is not to pull off the laminate with any force. Keep the hairdryer hovering over the laminate until it falls away itself. Otherwise, you’ll pull off tiny pieces of MDF – not the smooth look we’re going for!
Time To Paint
Now before you paint, don’t forget to prime!!! It’s the most important step, as otherwise the paint will start chipping in a few months. Because I removed the laminate, the MDF was raw, so I applied two coats of primer. Because MDF is so porous, I had to make sure I used a primer specifically for this. I’m a fan of the brand Zinsser for primers.
I then applied a coat of Coffee Cake by Fleetwood which I had leftover from a previous project. If you need more info, I wrote a more detailed post on how to paint laminate cabinets here. My plan was to do two coats but I ran out of paint! Thankfully, paint shops are back open Monday, so I’ll get that finished next week.
Finally, I spray painted the old door and handles black. Don’t forget, we are keeping this project under a tight budget, so everything is going to get reused!
I also bought this rug in H&M. It arrived today and it’s perfect. I love the pattern and the colours go perfectly with both the lightshade and the new cabinet doors. Woo Hoo!!
Don’t forget to check out the other designers and guest participants who are also joining in on the One Room Challenge!
