Last Updated on September 3, 2024
Discover the gorgeous transformation of brown cabinets to hale navy cabinets in this navy blue cabinet makeover.
Our small basement has built in cabinets on either side. In the back of the basement are floor to ceiling cabinets with center drawers. The opposite side has a large counter with lower drawers and cabinets. I love all the storage they offered. What I didn’t love when we bought this house was that they were an outdated brown color.
I originally told our contractor I wanted to have them ripped out. I just didn’t have the vision for how to make them work with the coastal style I was going for. But, at the last minute I told him just to leave them and we’d figure out what to do with them later. This was mainly because we had just moved in and had already loaded the cabinets up with stuff! I am SO glad we decided to keep them because they offer a ton of storage.
Fast forward one year and I was finally ready to tackle this project.
Benjamin Moore Hale Navy Cabinets
Faux Plant (similar) | Decorative Glass Bowl | Coastal Rope Decorative Balls | Decorative Sphere
Even though our basement cabinets were older, they were actually in pretty good shape. All they needed was a fresh makeover, so I decided to paint them. I had painted a console table Benjamin Moore Hale Navy in our last house and fell in love with this color. It has a slight gray undertone which keeps it from pulling too bright. It’s the perfect shade of navy: sophisticated, classic, and gorgeous! I knew it would look amazing on our basement cabinets and complement our coastal style.
For all of the other cabinets in our house (kitchen, wet bar, and one bathroom), we hired professional painters. This cost us thousands of dollars. Painting cabinets is very tedious work, especially if you want them to look flawless (which I did!). But since these cabinets were in our basement and hale navy is dark, we felt a little more comfortable tacking this project ourselves.
How to DIY Navy Blue Cabinets
When you visit your paint store, be sure to ask for tips and tricks from the experts. Depending on your project, they may have specific recommendations to make the process easier and turn out better! Below are my tips for painting cabinets.
Clean Cabinets
Clean your cabinets. This step is really important! You want to make sure your cabinets are really clean before you paint them. We used a degreaser with a microfiber cloth to make sure all of the cabinets were super clean.
Sand and Fill Cabinets
If you are painting over existing paint, use fine grain 220 grit sandpaper to smooth out the wood. If there are any cracks or blemishes, you may need to use wood filler as well. Be sure to choose one you can paint over. We were lucky that our cabinets were unpainted and smooth. Between coats, I sanded out any drips we missed (although I am the officially drip spotter! It’s better to catch them while they’re wet and smooth them out).
Option 1: Use a Paint Sprayer
For the best results, I recommend removing everything and using a paint sprayer for a custom finish. Take out all the drawers and remove the cabinets. Then, set them up in a safe zone where they won’t be subjected to dust or debris and secure off the area to protect other items from getting paint on them.
Most paint has to be diluted before the spray gun will work but it should come with instructions. We are not ultra handy people and have done this for several different projects.
Pro tip: keep all of your hardware together and label everything so you know what hardware goes to what and which drawers or cabinets go where. This is really important!
Option 2: Use a Foam Roller
An alternative to removing everything is to leave it all in place (tape off any existing hardware) and use a high-quality foam roller brush and small brushes for the detail work.
For this project, we went the easy way and left the drawers and doors in tact. Mainly because I wanted to get this done quickly! There was no hardware to tape off, and we painted around the hinges. We used a high-density foam roller for 95% of the painting and small detail brushes to get into the cracks, creases, and around the hinges.
They turned out absolutely perfect! You can’t even tell these cabinets weren’t sprayed professionally.
Note: We used Benjamin Moore Advance Interior Paint in satin.
Painting our cabinets hale navy completely transformed our basement – like night and day difference! We added polished nickel hardware to complete the project, and this added a modern touch to our classic coastal cabinets.
If you are considering Hale Navy cabinets, I highly recommend them. Our basement is truly one my favorite spaces in our home, because those cabinets are just so gorgeous. I hope this post is helpful for your next cabinet painting project! To see the full basement renovation, click HERE.
This post is about a navy blue cabinet makeover with Benjamin Moore Hale Navy.
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