How I Turned our Boring Honey Cabinets into Gorgeous Espresso

Last year we were blessed to purchase our first home. I still can’t believe how well God brought it all together! It was a hectic rushed time. (Lumpy was born between the time we signed papers and the day we moved in.)

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The house is laid out perfectly for us. But it needs I want to upgrade the majority of it. But money was extremely tight (like, maybe we should look into food stamps tight.) So most everything was out of budget.

I really disliked the honey cabinets you could find in practically every room of the house, but I thought it would take a major project and lots of moolah to fix.

Then I saw a pin from “Monica Wants It“. She completely transformed her honey cabinets to a gorgeous espresso color. I was intrigued because her cabinets looks so similar to mine (not all of it is real wood, though some is).

In her awesome tutorial she insists that you must use General Finishes Java Gel Stain
to get these great results. And when I saw the price, I decided I had to try.

I’m so glad I did.

Wanna learn how to do this easy makeover?

1. First, prep.

Take off any hardware, take off the doors and tape around the edges.

2. Next you’ll want to do a QUICK sanding.

Seriously. Don’t waste time. Just get ‘er done.

Wipe it clear. (You don’t want any dust.)

3. Put on a plastic glove, pull a sock over that, and smear the gel stain everywhere. DON’T wipe off. But do try and avoid globby corners.

Don’t cry when you look at the first coat results. You’ll think that the world has ended.

Yuck.

4. Let dry for 12 hours. Then reapply gel stain.

Alright. Maybe there’s hope.

5. Let dry 24 hours. Apply the final coat of stain. Woot!

6. Let dry for five days and then apply a poly coat or two.

7. Reattach everything, sit back and admire.

This was my first real home DIY. I’ve never changed something that is actually attached to the house before. It was super easy. I’m not a perfectionist but it still turned out great! Other than the dry time, it was a rather quick project.

And did I mention that I am able to cover all THREE of my bathroom vanities with just the one pint of gel stain! Crazy pants.

Incredible bang for not a lot of bucks.

So go get some General Finishes Java Gel Stain and beautify your house!