Kitchen Makeover - Phase 1

Hello all!

First off, let me say that I have a whole new respect for anyone who has survived lived through a kitchen remodel.  Having the contents of my kitchen strewn around my house is already stressing me out, and I suspect that any Trick or Treaters we had last night thought that we were hoarders if they caught a glimpse.  It was definitely the scariest house on the street.
 
I'm very excited that this project is finally getting off the ground, as it is one that I have wanted to do since we bought the house almost a year ago.  But man, do I loathe the prep work that is involved.  Have you ever tried taping the inside of a cabinet?  Unless you have a small child or a secret elf helper that can sit inside the cabinet and tape it off (and not request to come out), it's pretty much an impossible task.  Or at least impossible to do well.

And no, the dog didn't pee on the contractor paper - I think my daughter got a glass of water from the fridge dispenser and spilled it.  At least I hope that's what happened...

I have googled just about every combination of "taping off kitchen cabinets" that you can fathom, and have come up with zilch.  I found some pictures of cabinets that are taped off, but no good instructions on how to do it (well).  So, if you have any suggestions (or a small elf I could borrow), I'm all ears.

I did get to some of the fun stuff - painting - which was a much needed break from the tedios taping exercise.  The cabinets are primed on both sides and I got the first coat of paint on the back of the cabinets.  I was swooning over the color of the tinted primer and am even more thrilled with the paint.  It's a beautiful, creamy white that I had color matched to my cabinet sample piece.

Let me just say that I'm in love with my new HVLP conversion spray gun.  If you ever decide to do a project like this, I can't say enough about this thing.  You NEED one.  It has made fast work out of my 50+ cabinets and drawers, and at least makes the prep work worthwhile.  I kid you not.  I can knock out a door in 1-2 minutes with this puppy.

I set up a little "staging area" for spraying the doors.  Although my husband asked if it was an "alien abduction area" and my son asked if I had ET back there.  I used a folding table and put a piece of MDF on with with four nails to balance the door.  This way it's easier to pick up and put it back out in the "cabinet farm" to dry with the others.

See what I'm saying about how precise this thing is?  I can dial it down to spray a really fine line around the sides of the cabinets.

And then go on to spray the rest of the cabinet.  The finish is like buttah.

I have to tell you, all of this work has made me feel like an old mare.  My back - oh my aching back!

So, there you have it.  Phase 1 of I-don't-know-how-many phases in this project. :-)