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Kitchen & Bath Cabinet Door Make-Over
Fabulous Look/Fraction of the Price with Plaster Stencils

also see related category: House Remodeling

If you can put frosting on a cake, you can apply plaster stencils!

Re-doing your bathroom or kitchen cabinet doors doesn't have to cost you a lot of time or money... simply because of the newest trend in stencils called Plaster Stencils.

You may have heard them called Raised Plaster Stencils. These stencils are made of a thicker plastic that gives an awesome "raise" to designs when used with joint compound instead of paint. They are also very durable—so they can be used over and over. You can choose from a very simple single "overlay" design (meaning it takes only one stencil to complete the design) or a very intricate and elaborate design that takes two or more overlays to complete the design. You can also choose a design that covers the majority of your cabinet doors or a design that fits in special location you like—corners, center, a border along the top of the door, etc. You can pick the design and unique placement that fits the designer... you!

Some do-it-yourselfers may be afraid of trying plaster stenciling because it's relatively new and involves using Joint Compound—a media that has primarily been used in construction by "The Pros."

I've discovered that stenciling with plaster is even easier than stenciling with paint in most cases. It's just as easy as smoothing icing on your favorite cake. Imagine...

Step by step instructions for Plaster Stenciling cabinet doors:

1. Prime cabinet door with primer or your base coat color. We like to use acrylic wall paint. Let dry.
2. Use stencil spray adhesive or masking tape to place your stencil on the cabinet door.
3. Using your putty knife; spread a thin layer of joint compound in all of the stencil openings.
4. Lift one corner of the stencil and slowly peel the stencil away from the cabinet door. If overlays are used, let dry and repeat steps 2-4 with each additional overlay. (overlays are easy to use because they come with "registration marks" to aid you with proper overlay placement) Let joint compound dry completely.
5. Sealing — Dried joint compound is very soft and will wash off if not sealed properly so you always want to seal your design. You can use a clear sealer or even acrylic water-based wall paint to seal the design sufficiently.
6. Finishing — You can call the design "finished" after the clear sealer is applied for a white design. If you'd like to make your design look more intricate; paint your design with your base coat acrylic paint, let dry, then go back over the design with a stencil brush with very little paint on it (in a contrasting color) to highlight the edges and high spots on the design. Either way — you now have a stunning cabinet door that you spent very little time or money on!