I was tired of looking at my dirty beat up cabinets and wondered how I could improve them rather than pay $10K to replace them (not worth it in my case whether we end up staying here another 6 years or get to move next year). Anyhow, it turns out a lot of older folks are totally into oak cabinets. Who knew.
I bought 22 cabinet pulls, laid out my tools, held my breath, and started drilling the first set. I used my templates to mark the holes, drilled pilot holes, drilled final holes, and then screwed in the handles. It turned out great! I did most of the work on the first day and it took me about two hours.
The door template. (I heart geometry!)
The drawer template.
Luckily there were only 2 doors and 2 drawers that needed to be removed, sanded, and restained. This is how I did it: sand it, stain it, sand it, stain it, sand it, polyurethane it. Whew!
Original condition of the one door. So sad.
A sad, scratched up drawer.
Cabinets with drilled holes.
A drawer with the pull installed.
The restored cabinets with the pulls.
Ta-da!
After the cabinets were finished, I made a pair of little curtains to give us some color and privacy. They actually look good!
