Cabinets September 14, 2020, 10:39:05 am Hi everyone. We are about to place our order for a Mid Bath, and I would love to have the option for painted cabinets.Does anyone know who the cabinet manufacturer is for Lazy Daze? I am doubtful that this will happen, but I wanted to contact the cabinet builder directly to pick their brain a little. Thanks so much!
Re: Cabinets Reply #1 – September 14, 2020, 10:47:22 am Lazy Daze manufactures the cabinets for their coaches in-house. As others have said, Lazy Daze uses hardwood (Cherry and Maple) for their cabinet frames and Luan with a veneer for flat pieces. For some the veneer eventually deteriorates leading to the decision to paint. Personally, I enjoy the natural wood esthetic and wax the cabinetry to ensure the fine appearance for as long as possible. YMMV of course. 2 Likes
Re: Cabinets Reply #2 – September 14, 2020, 11:44:40 am Thanks for that info Warren. I had a 2010 with Cherry cabinets, and although I did love that the cabinets were so sturdy and well built, I found that it made the interior a little dark. I may go with the Maple this time, just waiting on the packet to arrive with the samples of fabrics and wood finishes.
Re: Cabinets Reply #3 – September 14, 2020, 11:59:41 am Please let us know Steve Newton’s answer when you ask him. 😉 1 Likes
Re: Cabinets Reply #4 – September 14, 2020, 12:14:58 pm Slight but notable update on the cabinetry per a trusted and seasoned advisor who shall remain nameless: The cabinet frames are advertised by Lazy Daze as "Real Wood" but unlikely to be Maple or Cherry. More likely, they are a less expensive hardwood like Birch or even a softwood like Pine.No intent to mislead, of course...Warren 1 Likes
Re: Cabinets Reply #6 – September 14, 2020, 01:25:34 pm Hi Warren; The framework of the inside furniture is pine, and douglas fir. Faced by a plywood of luan. You can see that by pulling out drawers and sliding out the 'gaucho' bed platforms. It is 'real' wood. (even sawdust is real wood) The veneer you see is a very thin layer of woodgrain printed vinyl over luan faced plywood. Better than some of the other furniture available in stores. The door frames in my 21 year old TK are hardwood. Alder is a commonly used hardwood used by furniture builders, and I'm not sure what wood is used for mine. (probably alder) I have a custom made coffee table built for me by a friend out of oak, and oak veneer plywood. Just the coffee table weighs 250 pounds. These are motorhomes, not heirloom future antiques. The quality of construction is excellent, and attention to detail, at least in my motorhome, was very good. Lazy Daze will not alter these details. After purchase you are welcome to strip the vinyl or paint over it what ever color you wish. Some people have done this. Painting over vinyl requires good preparation. alder wood used to build furniture - Google Search RonB 1 Likes
Re: Cabinets Reply #7 – September 14, 2020, 04:19:30 pm One of my hobbies is woodworking. After 11 years of fulltiming, I had damage to the finish on the drawer face below my kitchen sink counter. I stripped off the old finish and put a new one on. Based on other stuff I have done, including making a movable dovetailed shelf, a spice rack, a wine glass holder and two book cases, all except the wine glass holder done in maple, I would bet $$ that the wood I worked on was maple. The frames behind the finished surfaces are some sort of common frame wood, possibly fir, pine or similar, but the finished frames and drawer faces, at least on my rig, seem to be maple with a sprayed varnish that has a slight tint. FWIW, before I began the drawer, I checked with Vince, asking if it was sprayed, tinted varnish on maple. He said it was. As others have indicated, the paneling and the door panels set into the hardwood frames are made of thin luan plywood with a paper or vinyl face. Ken F in WY 1 Likes
Re: Cabinets Reply #8 – September 14, 2020, 04:54:21 pm Ken, I looked very closely at the wood facing trim on the cabinets and drawer fronts in my 2003, and the wood looks like red alder to me, stained with what was called a "maple" finish. (This finish is still called "maple", but I think now it's a slightly different color, i.e., less "yellow", from older model LDs.) http://www.wood-database.com/wp-content/uploads/red-alder.jpgThe LD spec sheet for current models (and states "Real wood interior cabinetry. Not pressed wood." I would think that if the wood trim is actually maple or cherry, the factory would state the specific wood type as a selling point instead of just listing it as "real wood"? All speculation aside, you are an experienced woodworker, so you would know! 2 Likes
Re: Cabinets Reply #9 – September 14, 2020, 09:51:17 pm Quote from: HiLola - September 14, 2020, 11:59:41 amPlease let us know Steve Newton’s answer when you ask him. 😉LOL... I was hoping to find a loophole in the RV cabinetry color scheme. After following this forum for a while now, I am pretty sure of the answer. Oh well, it is what it is. I am pretty excited to finally place this order, brown cabinets and all! 1 Likes
Re: Cabinets Reply #10 – September 15, 2020, 01:31:26 am Quote from: Sue - September 14, 2020, 09:51:17 pmLOL... I was hoping to find a loophole in the RV cabinetry color scheme. Painting some or all of the interior after you buy it is an option. I like some white in the interior to brighten it up, the newer rigs are darker inside, especially models with the cherry wood and off-white paneling. It's definitely a personal taste thing. Years ago a woman came to the March Morro Bay event whose LD's interior was covered with colorful mosaics, pretty and a bit heavy. There are lots of options.The cabinet door's panels are coated in a wood-grain plastic that is bonded to the luan. If you take care of it, it can last a couple of decades before the coating starts to peel. Paint will never hold up that long when applied over the plastic veneer.Larry 2 Likes
Re: Cabinets Reply #11 – September 15, 2020, 07:52:02 am For what ir is worth - here is a pic of my drawer face. The top drawer is the one I refinished. the bottom is stock, untouched. I believe them to be maple, but I have never worked with alder, so I cannot rule that out.Ken F iin WY 4 Likes
Re: Cabinets Reply #12 – September 18, 2020, 04:27:44 pm Nice job with the refinish. Looks like a perfect match.
Re: Cabinets Reply #13 – September 18, 2020, 05:15:08 pm We have debated over the aparent darkness created by our dark cherry wood cabnets and walls and door in the kitchen/main room of our 98~MB. We have decided to paint the upper and lower cabinets in the Main room, probably white uppers and a light color for the lowers. Karen has already installed mat white subway tile for around the counter walls. We will wait to see it all before we select the vinyl plank flooring for.that room. We will remove the microwave and the brown leather-like padding and put in a small cabinet. We will need two doors to close in those two spaces. We am thinking that to get an exact match we may remove the two cabinet doors from the bathroom and resize them to fit over the microwave space and padded area. Since they will be painted we think it will all look good. I can then build or order two replacement doors for the bathroom that do not have to match up with the rest of the LD, we will also paint in the bathroon, most of the photo coating is off now anyway. I talked with Todd at the Mothership, he said that the doors and drawer fronts are made for the factory by a local shop and finding that old pattern for our 98 ~ MB is not possible. We will leave the dressing area and rear lounge the same. Has anyone dissassembled an older door? I only need the rails and styles from the ones I have and can recut them and reassemble them for paint grade with new plywood. We also plan to s 1 Likes
Re: Cabinets Reply #14 – September 18, 2020, 05:20:19 pm Oops1We also plan to sand the serfaces that are the photo wood to get possibly to the Luann under to so we can get the paint to adhere better. Has anyone had success with this? Thanks Karen~Liam 98 ~ MB NinA
Re: Cabinets Reply #15 – September 18, 2020, 07:02:26 pm Karen, Liam, my knee jerk reaction to sanding the photo wood was not only "no", it was "Oh hell, NO!" You might make it work, but here is why I reacted like that.1. You will be going from a smooth surface to a porous surface.2. Getting into the many corners will be a real headache.3. There is likely an adhesive base under the photo wood. It may clog up yopur sandpaper as soon as you get to it. If it is there, that adhesive will have to be totally removed.4. Once you start with one, you are committed to all, no matter how it looks. It could turn into a nightmare.My thinking then became, how could you best achieve your goal of painting the cabinets? 1. I think I would do some testing on some inconspicuous spot. There are liquids that you can rub onto painted or varnished surfaces that achieve a similar function to sanding, getting the surface ready for paint. I am sure they would work well on the solid wood, but I don't know about the photo wood. It might cause the photo surface to bubble, wrinkle or come loose. 2. Many tapes with a firm adhesive bond will peel off some of the photo wood surface, leaving what looks like white paper, when removed. That weak bond of the photo wood to the paper, then to the luan suggests that removing the photo wood makes some sense. If the goal is removal, again on a tiny remote spot, try a paste type paint remover. I do not suggest a liquid. If it penetrates the luan it may loosen the glue between the luan layers.3. On a remote spot, try a dab of paint on the surface as is. Give it several days to dry, then try to remove it with tape. If it peels off, then painting on the existing surface will not do well. While you are at it, try a good primer, then paint, on that surface and, again, see if tape peels it off. If it does not peel off, there may be no need for any surface prep. Wouldn't it be a joy to learn that a good primer followed by paint yielded good results, eliminating the need for any surface prep beyond cleaning?I don't envy you doing this task. Good luck.Ken F in WY 2 Likes
Re: Cabinets Reply #16 – September 18, 2020, 09:57:15 pm I agree with everything Ken said. The "photo wood" is printed vinyl. It's a lot thicker than paint, so sanding it entirely off is going to take a long time and be very messy... and you will be left with a very porous lauan surface with adhesive residue that I suspect will be nearly impossible to remove.But I know what you mean about the darkness of the cherry interior. Personally, I love cherry, but I've been in cherry-finished Lazy Dazes, and the look is just too gloomy for me. Some owners have repainted the existing cabinetry, as you plan to do. You can find posts about it in this forum, and one couple even posted a YouTube video showing the process in detail. Proper preparation is important, but as far as I know nobody has tried to remove the wood-grain vinyl. It isn't necessary.Here's an easier alternative that you might want to consider. My first Lazy Daze was a 1985 twin/king with a dark fake barn-sawed woodgrain interior (complete with fake nail holes and saw marks--it was just awful). I took a simpler route to lightening it up: I put light-colored inserts cut from self-adhesive Con-Tact film in each cabinet door, drawer, and the refrigerator door. (I also repainted the walls, which had a bamboo-patterned wallpaper, and changed all the cabinet knobs and handles from fake Mission-style to simple off-white ones.) The before and after photos below show what a difference it made.The Con-tact film inserts were a snap to make. Total cost was less than ten bucks, and time spent was perhaps two hours with nothing more than a ruler and a pair of scissors. You may still choose to go ahead and repaint everything, but it's worth considering whether a quick fix such as I did would be good enough... and a whole lot less work. 5 Likes
Re: Cabinets Reply #17 – September 18, 2020, 10:17:16 pm Sanding the plastic covering isn't going to work, the heat generated will cause the plastic coating to start ripping apart.You probably already have spots where the plastic veneer is debonding, sanding will make it worse.If peeling or wrinkling of the veneer is an issue, cut that section of the veneer off and then smooth the porous surface with spackle.Andy's contact paper upgrade is the fastest path to lightening up the interior and the easiest to keep clean. If you decide you don't like the look, peel it off and try something else. Painting the doors is permanent.Larry 1 Likes
Re: Cabinets Reply #18 – September 19, 2020, 10:32:16 am OK, Andy, I'm just going to say it. I don't like the white contact paper on the cabinets. From a design perspective, it draws your attention to the cabinets. Kinda like painting the garage door on your house white when the house is a different color.Then again, this is coming from someone that liked the fake barn-sawed woodgrain look on my TK. I do agree with you on the cherry, though; like the look but too dark.
Re: Cabinets Reply #19 – September 19, 2020, 11:12:25 am HiLola, I understand what you are saying about the high contrast from the darker wood to the stark white panels, but I think the CONCEPT is what really matters here. For example, what if the cabinet solid wood was painted, then the panels were covered with contact paper? Or, what if the contact paper was of a much lighter wood appearance but not stark white? I think what Andy was after was to show that there are viable alternatives to trying to sand off the panel coverings, then painting.Ken F in WY 1 Likes
Re: Cabinets Reply #20 – September 19, 2020, 11:31:55 am Hi Greg. About those new fangled Lazy Dazes. My '99 has the white ceiling and wall, textured, white vinyl coating. I like it, it can be washed, and offsets the darker wood grain cabinetry, (I'll call it Oak). I don't mind that in about 2003 the wood grain pattern turned lighter, (I'll call it Maple). But in about 2006 the ceiling turned to a not so light pattern of 'wall paper', a touch of darkness to me. I always feel like I need to wash the ceiling, just a little disconcerting. To me it darkens the whole interior, and along with the darker cherry finished cabinetry, again kind of 'gloomy'. My parents had three Born Free motorhomes, the last, they wanted me to take, but I declined. My wife and I didn't like the small, few windows, and confined feeling inside. The Large and tinted windows especially the rear lounge area of the TK is still the winner. Andy's white cabinets are ok, but I'm not a fan of the all white paint job that the 'couple' posted a video of. Like Larry said "an RV from IKEA". RonB 3 Likes
Re: Cabinets Reply #21 – September 19, 2020, 11:51:22 am Quote from: RonB - September 19, 2020, 11:31:55 amAndy's white cabinets are ok, but I'm not a fan of the all white paint job that the 'couple' posted a video of. Like Larry said "an RV from IKEA". When the plastic veneer lets go and start peeling, there are not many practical solutions other than painting or recovering the door panels, pick your poison. White is a common color, used to brighten up the interior but other colors or wood-grain contact paper will work too.I have thought about disassembling the doors and replacing the veneered panels but the doors are well glued, in LD fashion, and do not come apart without excessive damaged.While I personally do not like the cabinets painted white, especially when everything is painted, it can be a necessity in older rigs with failing interiors.To add to the problems of refinishing the door's wood frames, the commercial paint strippers once common at hardware stores are no longer available, being removed from the market for safety reasons. Methylene chloride-based strippers, the most common type, had serious health issues.Larry
Re: Cabinets Reply #22 – September 19, 2020, 01:10:54 pm Hey guys Thanks for the insight! Another downside to sanding is the dust created in a small space in which we live. Karen has been looking at contact papers as a possibility and we have done that with good success in the past. We won't start anything till we get back to home base on the island, it's a lot to think about! Karen~Liam 98 ~ MB NinA
Re: Cabinets Reply #23 – September 19, 2020, 01:26:02 pm "I think what Andy was after was to show that there are viable alternatives to trying to sand off the panel coverings, then painting."Right. My inserts were "almond" (off-white with a slight yellowish/tan tint), but they could have been any color as long as it was lighter than the fake wood vinyl panels. And as others have pointed out, Con-Tact film, unlike paint, can be removed and replaced anytime you decide you don't like the color scheme."I'm not a fan of the all white paint job that the 'couple' posted a video of. Like Larry said 'an RV from IKEA'."I generally like the simple, functional "Scandinavian modern" look as exemplified by IKEA, but I agree that the stark-white interior shown in that video was a bit much even for me. However, the video is well worth watching, in that it gives a good idea of what's involved in painting an LD's interior and suggests mistakes to avoid. 1 Likes
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