How to Antique a Dark Cabinet
- 1). Remove the cabinet doors from the hinges, and remove all hardware from the doors. Use a screwdriver. Set the hardware and screws to the side.
- 2). Clean the doors and all surfaces you plan to glaze with soapy water and a wet rag. Allow wet surfaces to dry before proceeding.
- 3). Mix the glaze for the cabinet with the paint you plan to use as your stain. For a dark-brown cabinet, a dark-brown stain will be appropriate. For charcoal-gray cabinets, a darker gray stain is appropriate. For warm-colored kitchen cabinets, such as red, yellow or orange, use a warm brown stain. For cool-colored kitchen cabinets. such as blue, green or purple, use a black or gray stain. Since the cabinets are already a dark color, use 2 or 3 parts paint to 1 part glaze, so the glaze will show up. You might want to practice rubbing the stain on a piece of scrap board before putting the glaze on your cabinets to be sure that the glaze is as dark as you want it to be.
- 4). Dip a clean rag into the paint/glaze mixture, and rub the glaze into the surface of the cabinet. Rub hard to get the glaze down into the deep crevices and corners. Concentrate on the carved and molded areas. You may do this on both the doors and other visible surfaces of the cabinets or only the doors. This is your preference.
- 5). Wipe off the glaze from the flat parts of the cabinet using a clean rag, leaving glaze in the crevices only. You should see that the areas with the glaze remaining are faintly darker. If you wish the antiquing effect to be more extreme, you may either wait until the glaze dries before applying another coat, or you may mix more paint into the glaze mixture and then reapply before it dries.
- 6). Leave everything to dry before reattaching the hardware on the doors and putting the doors back on the hinges.
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