Paint an oak kitchen in Acton in Suffolk
When asked to paint an oak kitchen in Acton in Suffolk, Traditional Painter Richard Willott had to colour match the finish to newly installed dining room furniture. All in a day’s work.
Oak Painted kitchen – After
Oak kitchen – Before
First, a trip down memory lane
The village of Acton has quite a history dating back to 1086, when its population numbered just 83, and in its time it has been home to some interesting characters. The Acton Miser who lent money to gamblers had such a good business he died the richest man in England. There was an unintended consequence of reaching the ripe old age of 97, however. He outlived all the executors of his will, and 117 years of court proceedings working out who was entitled to his estate, finally consumed every last penny of his estate!
The last woman to be hanged at Bury St Edmunds in 1847 was a 17 year-old resident of Acton who poisoned her husband by putting arsenic in his dumplings. Not a recommended seasoning.
In more recent times, the Reliant Robin was produced for a year or so in the village’s industrial estate.
And in September 2015, Mrs C contacted Richard Willott about having her oak kitchen painted!
Recommended client
The enquiry came via a recommendation from a previous client whose kitchen Richard had hand painted several years earlier.
In this case, they’d built an extension to add a dining area off the kitchen to open up the space considerably. The new dining room units were in a light blue and this was to be the colour of choice for the old fluted oak kitchen.
Accurate colour matching is not a problem Richard took a light blue drawer front to Paint and Paper in Norwich who scanned it and formulated a perfect match for the kitchen paint.
It is all in the preparation
It is not always practical, but wherever possible, to reduce upheaval in the client’s kitchen, Richard removes all doors and drawers and prepares them in his workshop. Meanwhile, the frames and cabinets are prepared and painted to a final coat in situ.
1 – Degrease
Richard degreases all the surfaces first with a 50/50 mix of Fluxaf Pro Clean and the help of a coarse green scourer.
2 – Sand
The Festool RTS 400 sander coupled to this style of dust extraction system keeps mess to a minimum and leaves a surface extremely flat and keyed in readiness for a base coat.
3 – Priming and painting
The first of two coats of adhesion primer are applied. Any imperfections are filled and sanded smooth and the surface left clean with a wipe over with a tack cloth, an essential part of a kitchen painter’s kit.
Back at the workshop the same process applies to all the doors, drawers and kick boards. It is a very detail-oriented job, but one Richard loves and has perfected over the years.
Finishing touches
When Richard returns to the kitchen, the doors are all ready for a top coat. All the static components are completed, before every door and drawer is rehung and positioned in its place.
Good labelling and an experienced head definitely pay off when putting kitchens back together, particularly older kitchens which invariably need more adjustments and a little more patience than when reassembling a new installation.)
A final top coat is then applied to the doors etc and once this has dried, all the new handles are fitted.
Another reminder of the kitchen before
and after, showing what a complete transformation this job was and how the two rooms now flow together with a “new kitchen” matching the new dining room.
As always his paint of choice is Alcro’s Servalac Aqua 10 (Alcro are a subsidiary of the Tikkurila corporation) and this particular colour was named Mrs C’s blue.
Richard has documented many projects, some of which you can read through here.
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