I am currently refinishing some under-sink bathroom cabinets.

The inside walls are MDF maybe with a coat of poly slapped
on during construction about 15 years ago.

They're ugly, dark and rough. And they harbor dust. When I
encountered the same problem with some identical kitchen
cabinets, I slapped on a few coats of poly. That helped
but I'm less than thrilled with the result. I'd like to
use a light color to help make the inside of these cabs
look a little less dark.

One simple option would be some white semi-gloss latex
which I happen to have. I also have some primer so that's
not a problem.

It may be a bit soft but the finish doesn't need to handle
a lot of knocks and scrapes -- these cabinets are only used
to store supplies of toilet tissue, soap, toothpaste and
some cleaning materials.

Do you think this will work, or am I creating a disaster?

Other suggestions welcomed although I don't want or need
to spend a lot of time or money on this.

--
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Malcolm Hoar "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
| Gary Player. |
| http://www.malch.com/ Shpx gur PQN. |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Malcolm Hoar" wrote in message
...
I am currently refinishing some under-sink bathroom cabinets.

The inside walls are MDF maybe with a coat of poly slapped
on during construction about 15 years ago.

They're ugly, dark and rough. And they harbor dust. When I
encountered the same problem with some identical kitchen
cabinets, I slapped on a few coats of poly. That helped
but I'm less than thrilled with the result. I'd like to
use a light color to help make the inside of these cabs
look a little less dark.

One simple option would be some white semi-gloss latex
which I happen to have. I also have some primer so that's
not a problem.

It may be a bit soft but the finish doesn't need to handle
a lot of knocks and scrapes -- these cabinets are only used
to store supplies of toilet tissue, soap, toothpaste and
some cleaning materials.

Do you think this will work, or am I creating a disaster?

Other suggestions welcomed although I don't want or need
to spend a lot of time or money on this.

Get ready to spend very little money, but more time than you want.

I'd go over the surface with some medium-fine sandpaper, vacuum the bejeezus
out of it to eliminate dust, spray on some primer, and them spray on a coat
of HIGH GLOSS ENAMEL. What you want is something smooth, snag-free and easy
to wipe with a sponge.

As I've said before in other discussions of painting, the drying time stated
on the cans is a lie. Multiply by 2, at least. Since you're talking about a
bathroom, multiply by 4. A week should be sufficient, with the cabinet doors
open.

Anything else will be a cob job.

In article , "JoeSpareBedroom" wrote:

Get ready to spend very little money, but more time than you want.

I'd go over the surface with some medium-fine sandpaper, vacuum the bejeezus
out of it to eliminate dust, spray on some primer, and them spray on a coat
of HIGH GLOSS ENAMEL. What you want is something smooth, snag-free and easy
to wipe with a sponge.

Yeah, I had a feeling folks would go for gloss enamel. I hoped to
avoid the 1-2 weeks smell of new enamel. I really don't want to
spray either but I can think about it. I'll have to make that
decision quickly -- if I'm going to spray, I had better do it
before I refinish the frames.

As for the sanding... I've refinished a stack of these cabinets,
taking off the old poly, sanding sealer (I think) and stain to
get back to clean wood. Lots of molding too. Taking care of the
MDF inside walls will be a walk in the park in comparison ;-)

--
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Malcolm Hoar "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
| Gary Player. |
| http://www.malch.com/ Shpx gur PQN. |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Malcolm Hoar" wrote in message
...
In article , "JoeSpareBedroom"
wrote:

Get ready to spend very little money, but more time than you want.

I'd go over the surface with some medium-fine sandpaper, vacuum the
bejeezus
out of it to eliminate dust, spray on some primer, and them spray on a
coat
of HIGH GLOSS ENAMEL. What you want is something smooth, snag-free and
easy
to wipe with a sponge.

Yeah, I had a feeling folks would go for gloss enamel. I hoped to
avoid the 1-2 weeks smell of new enamel. I really don't want to
spray either but I can think about it. I'll have to make that
decision quickly -- if I'm going to spray, I had better do it
before I refinish the frames.

As for the sanding... I've refinished a stack of these cabinets,
taking off the old poly, sanding sealer (I think) and stain to
get back to clean wood. Lots of molding too. Taking care of the
MDF inside walls will be a walk in the park in comparison ;-)

The only reason for the sanding is not to achieve perfection, but to
eliminate what I imagine to be a grainy surface that'll annoy you for the
next 20 years. I think you know what I mean.

As far as the smell, is this a bathroom that's used daily for showers? If
not, you should be beyond the smell in a few days. Certainly not the 24 hour
lie on the paint container, but not 2 weeks, either.

In article , "JoeSpareBedroom" wrote:

As far as the smell, is this a bathroom that's used daily for showers? If
not, you should be beyond the smell in a few days. Certainly not the 24 hour
lie on the paint container, but not 2 weeks, either.

It's a large bathroom, used daily, and open plan to the master
bedroom so the smell will be a pain. The refinishing of the
cabinet exteriors with poly won't be too much of a problem
because the doors, drawers and panels, have been taken to the
garage/shop for refinishing. The frames will need to be done in
situ but the surface area of the frames isn't very great.

I agree that the paint smells tend to last a lot longer
than advertised (unlike the paint!). Some brands and formulations
are more obnoxious than others.

--
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Malcolm Hoar "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
| Gary Player. |
| http://www.malch.com/ Shpx gur PQN. |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Malcolm Hoar" wrote in message
...
In article , "JoeSpareBedroom"
wrote:

As far as the smell, is this a bathroom that's used daily for showers? If
not, you should be beyond the smell in a few days. Certainly not the 24
hour
lie on the paint container, but not 2 weeks, either.

It's a large bathroom, used daily, and open plan to the master
bedroom so the smell will be a pain. The refinishing of the
cabinet exteriors with poly won't be too much of a problem
because the doors, drawers and panels, have been taken to the
garage/shop for refinishing. The frames will need to be done in
situ but the surface area of the frames isn't very great.

I agree that the paint smells tend to last a lot longer
than advertised (unlike the paint!). Some brands and formulations
are more obnoxious than others.

It's more than just the smell. If it doesn't cure long enough, things will
stick to it when it's humid, like the plastic wrapper for the 12 pack of
toilet paper.

Suck it up. You have to do this right.

Malcolm Hoar wrote:
I am currently refinishing some under-sink bathroom cabinets.

The inside walls are MDF maybe with a coat of poly slapped
on during construction about 15 years ago.

I'd like to
use a light color to help make the inside of these cabs
look a little less dark.

White melamine paint. Once dry, it's pretty tough.

Chris

Malcolm Hoar wrote:
I am currently refinishing some under-sink bathroom cabinets.


As long as you're in there, replace the bottom shelf. Damn things are made
of carboard and get all bendy with the least little water.

1/4" plywood with a brace underneath. Something.

In article , "HeyBub" wrote:
Malcolm Hoar wrote:
I am currently refinishing some under-sink bathroom cabinets.


As long as you're in there, replace the bottom shelf. Damn things are made
of carboard and get all bendy with the least little water.

1/4" plywood with a brace underneath. Something.

Well, the base is in pretty good shape although it is MDF. I'll
be pulling off the old stick-on liner and will replace that
with some vinyl flooring. I've installed vinyl in some of our
other cabinets and it works great. I was even able to chamfer
the front edge of the vinyl using a rasp so it looks neat.

--
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Malcolm Hoar "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
| Gary Player. |
| http://www.malch.com/ Shpx gur PQN. |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Malcolm Hoar wrote:
In article , "HeyBub"
wrote:
Malcolm Hoar wrote:
I am currently refinishing some under-sink bathroom cabinets.


As long as you're in there, replace the bottom shelf. Damn things
are made of carboard and get all bendy with the least little water.

1/4" plywood with a brace underneath. Something.

Well, the base is in pretty good shape although it is MDF. I'll
be pulling off the old stick-on liner and will replace that
with some vinyl flooring. I've installed vinyl in some of our
other cabinets and it works great. I was even able to chamfer
the front edge of the vinyl using a rasp so it looks neat.


Cool. That'll work. If you've got the flooring out, do put a brace under it
(I used a cut-off section of 4x4). Those particle-board shelves do get
bendy.