How to Stencil Kitchen Cabinets

If you are looking for just the right touch to make your kitchen stand out from other kitchens, or offer just the right touch of personality and visual comfort, stenciling you cupboards may add the perfect element to your layout or design. The process is not difficult, although depending on how intricate your design is, it may be time-consuming, it is very inexpensive, and it offers a very unique prospective to your home.

To begin stenciling you first want to gather your supplies. You will need the following:

Stencils that fit well on your cabinets

Sharpened Pencil

Painters Tape

Stenciling Brush

Paint in colors you want to use for the stencil

Wet Rag

Now it is time to begin. The first thing you want to do is decide if you are going to paint with the cabinet doors on, or if you are going to take them off to make the job easier. Depending on how large of a stenciling project you are tackling, the job could be done either way. Use your best judgment.

Two: You want to do a dry run with your stencils before you start filling them in. Simply hold them in place where you will be doing the actual stenciling and see if they are a proper fit. If they are not, you may want to downsize the stencils or take the ones back to the store you purchased, and trade them for smaller ones that will fit properly. The same is true if they are too small. You want to do the dry run to ensure you will achieve a balanced look with the finished work.

Three: Tape your stencils in place with the painters tape. This kind of tape will ensure that you do accidentally remove existing paint when you remove your stencils. The tape is necessary because no matter how careful you are, even if your cupboard doors are removed, you will shift the stencil out of place without it.

Four: Use your brush to dab color inside of your stencil lines. Use firm strokes and light strokes if you want to have variations in color. If you want to practice on wood before painting, it will help you when you get to this step, to know how your brush works and how the end result will look once dry. It is worth the effort to do a practice run or two. If you use the same type and color of wood (or cabinet material) you will be stenciling on, it will also show you how the colors will look once the paint is applied. Use your wet rag to immediately dab away any mishaps. Be very careful because sometimes stray paint is too hard to remove without marring an existing application of paint that you do want to keep.

Five: Wait an hour or so for the paint to dry. If you are not in a hurry, you can allow it to dry even longer before proceeding to the next step. Just make sure you do not wait too long (read the manufacturers instructions for the tape) because the elements in the tape that make it non-stick are temporary. You want to get the tape off before the properties have diminished.

Six: Remove the tape on the stencil, holding the stencil in place and not allowing it to slide.

Seven: With a quick and straight motion outwards, remove the stencil. Again, be careful not to let it slide or you could risk smearing the paint, even if you have allowed it to dry.

Eight: If you are painting a repetitive pattern or stenciling an area that requires stencils to overlap, make sure the previously painted stenciling is completely dry before proceeding to a new one.

Once you have finished stenciling, allow your work to dry. Wash your paintbrush and dry it off. Lay your paintbrush flat to dry. Once the brush is dry, store it in the plastic sleeve that came with it, if possible, and allow it to hang vertically so it will remain good as new and ready to stencil at a later date. You now have unique and gorgeous kitchen cabinets you can be proud of. You can do the sides, the doors, add borders, etc. The look you make is gloriously, entirely up to you. Happy stenciling.