If you’ve been thinking about painting your kitchen cabinets or bathroom vanity, the biggest unknown usually isn’t the color. It’s this: What is this going to be like in my house for a week?
At Not Too Shabby Lady, the process is straightforward, organized, and designed to keep your home as functional as possible while the work is happening. Here’s what you can realistically expect.
First, You Choose Your Paint Color and Get on the Schedule
Before anything starts, you’ll:
Pick your paint color and finish
Pay your deposit
Lock in your start date
This part is simple, but important. Once your date is booked, everything else runs on a clear timeline.
Day 1 of Cabinet Painting: Doors Come Off, Prep Begins
On the first day, the team shows up and gets right to work.
All cabinet doors and hardware are carefully removed
The cabinet frames (the parts attached to the wall) are cleaned and prepped
Everything is primed
Your kitchen will look a little “in progress” at this stage, but this is where the foundation is set. The prep and priming are what make the final result actually last.
At the end of Day 1, your cabinet doors leave with the team.
What Happens to Your Cabinet Doors
This is one of the biggest differences in the process. Instead of painting everything inside your home, your cabinet doors are taken offsite to a warehouse where they are sprayed.
Why that matters:
The finish is smoother and more even
There’s no dust or debris landing in the paint
It looks more like a factory finish than something done by hand
This is the part that gives cabinets that “brand new” look instead of just “freshly painted.”
Day 2 of Cabinet Painting: Painting the Cabinet Frames
On the second day, the team comes back to your home to paint the cabinet frames.
Since the doors are already offsite, the focus is just on:
Clean lines
Even coverage
A consistent finish throughout your kitchen or bathroom
At this point, you can really start to see the color come to life.
Day 3 of Cabinet Painting: Everything Comes Back Together
The final day is when it all clicks.
Your cabinet doors return, fully finished
Everything is reinstalled
Final adjustments and touch-ups are done
This is the moment where your kitchen or bathroom goes from “project” back to fully usable space, but now it looks completely different.
How Long Does It All Take?
Most kitchens and bathroom vanities take about:
4–5 days total
Around 3 days with work happening in your home
Because part of the work is done offsite, you’re not living in a construction zone the entire time.
The End Result
What most people notice right away isn’t just the color. It’s how smooth everything looks. There are no heavy brush strokes, no uneven spots, no “this was painted” feeling. Instead, it looks like the cabinets were made that way from the start.
At Not Too Shabby Lady, we take great pride in our work (and it shows in our client reviews!).
If You’re Thinking About Getting Your Cabinets Painted
Painting your cabinets is one of the highest-impact changes you can make to a kitchen or bathroom without doing a full renovation. But the process matters. When it’s done right, it feels less like a messy home project and more like a short, well-managed upgrade with a clear start and finish. That’s exactly how Not Too Shabby Lady approaches it.
If you’d like to learn more about who we are, since we’ll be in your home for a few days, you can learn more about our founder and primary operator, Antoinette.