We understand that any construction project causes unwanted smells, dust and noise. In order to protect our and our client’s health, we have invested in a platoon of specialty tools. Whenever sanding is involved, whether we’re sanding walls, trim or cabinets, all our sanders attach to a Festool dust extractor. The combination of these Festool machines eliminates about 90% of airborne dust, keeping your house clean during construction. In order to keep the paint fumes to a minimum, we opt for waterborne, low VOC products. Unfortunately, those products don’t always perform up to our standards in all situation. For example, we only use solvent based lacquer for any cabinet work. To keep that smell out of your home, we use a powerful exhaust fan coupled with a flexible duct that sucks up the fumes and sends them outside. On top of our sanders, dust extractors and exhaust fans, we always put up plastic walls blocking our work area from the rest of the house. And in order to keep your floors clean, we lay down construction paper before any work begins.

Call us today to learn how we can help keep your home clean and habitable during
any construction project.

Here are a couple of behind the scenes photos of just how much preparation it took before we were able to refinish these cabinets in Chicago.

When it comes to cabinet refinishing, achieving an ideal finish is a combination of surface preparation and materials. We refinish our work with solvent lacquer. While lacquer may not be the most environmentally friendly material, we feel that it is beneficial for everyone to do the job once, and do it right the first time. We have been refinishing on average 30 kitchens a year, and each time our clients are amazed at the results.

Here’s a little rundown of how the process of cabinet refinishing works at Venetian Designs.

Day 1

• remove all doors, drawer faces and hardware
• mask off the floors, cabinet insides, appliances, countertops, backsplash and separate the kitchen from the rest of the house with a plastic wall
• clean and sand the cabinet frames
• patch any cracks, holes or dents with Bondo wood filler
• we set up an explosion proof fan with a duct to expell the fumes from the kitchen outside
• apply 1 coat of lacquer undercoater primer, sand smooth when dry
• vacuum up the sanding dust and wipe down with a tack cloth
• apply 2 coats of white, satin lacquer
• remove all masking
• touch up cabinet adjacent walls with existing paint
• clean up

Day 2 and 3

• we take your doors and drawers and refinish them at our shop

Day 4

• we deliver your finished, wrapped up doors and reinstall
• we adjust the hinges to level the doors and install new hardware if the customer desires

This process works for most of the cabinets we refinish. Some wood types (oak) require additional steps for an ideal and durable finish. Contact us today for a quote to refinish your kitchen

Yes we do.
Oak is generally considered a non-paintable wood. The reason is the open grain which sucks up paint and swells up making is more visible. The open grain also expands and contracts with weather and humidity changes, making is very unstable for paint. We have found systems that allow us to paint oak and if desired, make it as smooth as maple. When painting oak cabinets, we first sand them and then reseal the wood. Once the wood is sealed, we follow with 2 coats of lacquer undercoater, sanding in between in order to fill in the grain. We then apply 2 coats of lacquer. This method still allows the grain texture to be slightly visible. For an additional cost, we brush on a grain filler after sealing the wood, we sand the filler and then continue with the undercoater and lacquer. Both systems seal the wood on all sides making is less prone to humidity based movement.

Below are a few shots of finished oak cabinets we recently did in Naperville. (Please excuse the unfinished backsplash)

We primarily use paints from Benjamin Moore. They have a great line of products and their high end paints as the best on the U.S. market. Our go to wall paint is Regal Select. It comes in a variety of sheens, gets great coverage and durability, allowing us to be productive and saving our clients money.

We also use specialty products from Fine Paints of Europe and lacquers from Lenmar.

Our health, our customers’ health and the well being of the environment are our priority.
We use low VOC waterborne products almost exclusively, whether it’s for walls, trim, woodwork or exterior siding and decks. Our only exception is cabinet refinishing where we use solvent based lacquer. It is our opinion that doing the job once is safer for the environment that using waterbased products and having to redo the project every few years.

Common Paint Finishes:

Flat – generally used for ceilings, closets, walls that never get touched. Flat paint has a chalky feel, doesn’t have any sheen, which makes it great for hiding imperfections and makes touch ups very easy. It is not washable and should not be touched.

Matte – this finish is great for walls that get medium traffic. It has a bit more sheen than flat, it resists dirt when touched and can be wiped down.

Eggshell – this is the shiniest finish we recommend for walls. It’s great for tight hallways where the walls may get touched a lot, bathrooms, kitchens and kids’ rooms. The finish is slick, making it easy to wash. However, since the surface will have a sheen, touch ups and imperfections will most likely be visible at certain angles.

Satin – we recommend satin finish for cabinets and trim work. Satin is slick, easy to maintain and has a beautiful, rich, low sheen appearance.

Semi-Gloss – one step above satin, we recommend this for commercial spaces where the trim work might get bumped and scuffed regularly.

High-Gloss – this is a specialty finish, very rarely used. We have used in on Euro Cabinets, furniture and industrial applications.

Most painting projects should not interfere with your daily life.
We try our best to work on one area at a time. When we finish that area, we clean up and move to the next area. Cabinet refinishing is one exception where we will take over your kitchen for 1 full day and you will not be able to enter the area. When painting ceilings, walls or trim, we use waterborne, low VOC paints that do not have harmful health effects for most people. The smell is barely there and goes away quickly. The paint also dries in minutes, so no need to worry about wet walls or doors after we leave the jobsite.

We have been in the construction industry for over a decade and we have seen the hassles homeowners have to go through.
Our goal is to provide exceptional, no hassle service to our clients. We take care of the materials, samples, moving furniture and daily clean up. We also keep in touch with our clients after the work is done and happily come back if there are any rare issues to take care of. We aim to be every client’s contractor for life.

Our crew is comprised of full time employees and the owner.
The company owner, Luke Zabiegala is at every job working along side the crew. This makes communication between the crew, owner and client quick and easy. We do not hire subcontractors and we do not hire day laborers. You will get to know the crew when we first arrive and they will be the same guys finishing the job on the last day. We have a rigourous hiring process based on skills, personality and a background check.