Painting - Painting kitchen cabinets that have veneer to look distressed?

My kitchen cabinets have an ugly veneer on them & what looks like particle board under that. Is it possible to paint them to look distressed and how would I do that? I'd like to use a light green paint on them.

You should be able to -- but you'll want to test this first to make sure it works for your surface.

First clean the cabinets thoroughly (TSP substitute would work well). Make sure and remove grease if any. Then sand the surface to give the paint something to hold onto. Prime with a good quality primer and then it should be ready for the final coat of paint.

Are you wanting the cabinets to be 1 solid color or the type of distressing where it appears that the top coat of paint shows through to another color underneath at some of the edges (as if the top coat is wearing down)?

I'm interested in the distressed look where the top coat of paint shows through to another coat underneath.

What you will want to do then is

1. Clean the cabinets very well. TSP works great and when I use TSP I do it with a sanding sponge to give the surface a light sanding at the same time.

2. Prime them with a suitable primer. (Depends what is on them now, take a door into a good paint store and ask for advice)

3. Paint the cabinets with the color you want to show through (not the main color). Let that fully dry.

4. Paint the main cabniet color. Let that fully dry.

5. Sand the edges randomly through the top coat to expose the bottom coat but be carefull to not go through to the primer or even worse through the veneer. When sanding use a fine sand paper to not scratch up the finished surface, you want it to look like it is aged and distressed over a long period of time and not done with sandpaper....

I always adviced getting a scrap peice of wood or an old unneeded door and practice on it first to get your technique down...

I havent done this before but used to work in a paint store and have helped people out. Faux finishing is an art technique and the more practice you get the better the results. Someone at the paint store should be able to offer advice as well.....

good luck

Thanks. You've been most helpful.

ballymom
You need a heavy duty primer over your particle board/veneer cabinets
For this reason I'd recommend not cleaning with TSP, but with an ammonia mix or product
Then priming with a pigmented shellac (like Zinsser's BIN)
This will give you the best possible surface over your cabs (which you will be knocking about, roughing up, possible whacking with a chain, and sanding soon)

Then, proceed with the painting of the "show-through" and top coats

I'd recommend two coats of "show-through"

I'd also recommend waterborne enamels for the paint