I am renting an older home and the kitchen cabinets are dark. Short of painting what can I do to brighten them
Question:I dont think my landlord will allow us to paint the dark wooden cabinets. Are there any other temporary finishes?
Thanks!
Answers:
Trick the eye. Take the focus off the cabinets with good lighting, some art, maybe change the hardware. Basically change things that you can. But painting is the best way to go about it, unfortunately. You wouldn't want a temporary finish on something like cabinets... it'll begin to wear, and peel and essentially end up in your food. Not to mention that it'll look a hundred times worse than before, once it does start to wear.
Hang some mirrors and add some lamps. Raise the blinds,
add some sheer or very thin white curtains to reflect as much light as possible.
You could take the doors off the cabinets if it is light colored inside. If it is not light colored inside, you can line the shelves and possibly the back wall with light colored shelf paper or contact paper. You will have to arrange the contents to be attractive or put them in decorative containers though, since veryone can see them.
There are also decorative products called "wallies" or wall stickers that are totally removable. They are intended to accent walls, but I have used them on interior doors with great success. It won't lighten the entire cabinetry of course, but it can lighten it up some.
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