After people do a do-it-yourself project, I find it interesting when they do an update to tell how it’s holding up. 

Consider this a six-month update.

See, six months ago, I painted my kitchen cabinets.  I really didn’t know what I was doing, so I did a lot of reading from others who had painted their kitchen cabinets.  Everyone did not agree on the necessity of all the steps.  Some people did this job an easier way, but I decided not to skip any steps.

I spent days on this project.  I washed everything down with a TSP substitute.  I found out why they said to wear gloves when I felt my fingers sting right through the gloves I was wearing!  For hours I scrubbed and scrubbed every section.

I filled the holes where the old hardware had been.  I sanded by hand to give everything a bit of a grit, or teeth, for the paint to adhere to.  Then I borrowed an electric sander from a man in the church.  I sanded more.  I rinsed the whole thing off.  I took doors off.  I taped, put up plastic, labeled items taken down, spread all the cabinet doors out, primed, sanded, painted, and painted again.

Maybe it wasn’t all necessary.

The urethane enamel paint that I got from Sherwin Williams was expensive!  I got it because I had read that it would dry harder and give more protection, and I knew that my kitchen gets a lot of abuse!  There are six of us…and that’s not including company who come sometimes.

Painting my kitchen cabinets ended up being so time consuming and expensive!  But painting kitchen cabinets is not something that I wanted to do again for a long time.  Frankly, I wanted this job to last!

So, I did each time-consuming step…bought what I heard was the best primer and the best paint.  I’m not very handy.  I’m not very knowledgeable.  But I was trying my best!

When I finished back in February, I wrote a post about my disappointment about the crooked doors and impossibility for someone with my lack of ability to be able to get this perfect. But quite honestly, this was such an improvement!  The particle-board cabinets should have been protected years before I did it!

So now the test…how did it hold up with six months of heavy use (and sometimes abuse)?

Well, there are a few areas that I would like to touch up.  This is especially true where the drawers don’t shut silky smooth.  The slamming has taken its toll, and I plan to touch up.  But overall, I’m pleased!

I clean at a house where the cabinets have been painted also.  They are covered in nicks and scratches.  It seems to me that all the cabinets will need to be cleaned, sanded, and redone!

I wonder what kind of paint they used?  Did they scrub all the grease and dirt off before they started?  Did they sand?  Did they do all the unpleasant prep work?  Or did they think it was unnecessary?

There are things that I have done spiritually that many might think were unnecessary.  I remember seeking God, laying things aside.  I wanted to give my spiritual cabinets a good cleaning.  I didn’t want to try to cover up grime that was there.  I laid it all bare before God. 

I wanted to strip aside my excuses, my justifications.  I invited God to make the darkness light.  To sand the areas that needed sanded.  I really wanted to do a thorough job of repenting…of dying out…of giving my all.

Unnecessary?  Absolutely not!

It wasn’t something I wanted to redo in two months.  Yes, it did cost me!

Sometimes I think I have areas that have gotten nicked.  The cares of life come in.  My focus needs sharpened.

I want God to touch up anything that needs touched up.

But am I glad my cabinets got painted?  Yes!  But I’m especially glad for everything that has been done in my heart.  I’d do it all over again.

 I’d do it all over again

Walk on with Jesus

‘Till my journey ends

I’d never give up this blessed living

For what the world’s giving

I’d do it all over again

-Jerry Thompson