Ugly kitchen cabinets need $40 fix?

Want new look to limp along with for another couple of years until we can get new cabinets. In old farmhouse. Cabinets are painted ivory and I free handed pothos across the upper cabinets. Bought some bronze colored metal knobs recently and installed . Ivory paint still looks good from a distance. Green pothos still looks really good. Since I'd have to sand to get rid of the paint texture I'd rather go with a glaze. Something that will highlight the new bronze color introduction without fighting the pothos leaves would be nice. Please be specific about technique you'd use as well as glaze color(s) if you can. Thank you, Flat panels that have years of dents and dings. Pothos was painted with exterior acrylic and not sealed. Not worried about changing the color green as long as the end product has colors that work well together.

Public Comments

1. I think antiquing would look very nice. I am working on my last 3 cabinets doing this. The bronze knobs will look nice. If you don't want to repaint the base color(the ivory is perfect anyway) then use tea stain glaze over for the effect. Just brush on one cabinet at a time. Wipe off with a rag leaving bits of the glaze behind. It will get in crevices if you have that indenting in your cabinets. This is real easy! It takes an hour to dry. I used polyerethyne over mine because I have boys and a husband that owns a construction business. The glaze is under $10 at both Home Depot and Lowes. I think yours will look great without repainting and just adding the glaze. I love mine! I had walnut laminate cabinets with original hardware from the seventies. This will great in your farmhouse!
2. You can use a pre-mixed antiquing glaze. Problem is, we don't know if you have raised, inset, or flat panel doors on the cabinetry. For raised or inset panels, you can use a small paint brush, paint the glaze on the inside portion of the panel (the inset part where it meets the frame) and wipe it off, leaving most of the glaze in the crevice. The other option is to glaze the entire door and wipe it down, but since you have hand painted pothos (which it sounds like are actually on the doors, if not, you have no problem). If the pothos were sealed after painting, you're also fine, problem being is that the glaze will be soaked into the pothos, unless they were painted in oils. If they were painted in acrylic and not sealed, you can varnish the cabinets before glazing to protect the color of the pothos. So, I hope you have raised or inset panel doors, it'll make glazing a snap:)