Could it be?! Could I really paint a counter? Seriously, this sounded too good to be
true. Something that I find interesting
on Pinterest and other sites is that there seems to be 1000 different ways to
do things, and every way is SOO easy, and usually turns out SOOO great. They can’t all work can they? So here is a big failed project….with a somewhat
happy ending.
This is how the bathroom was when we bought the house:
This is our guest bathroom. It has been a total pain in the rear. This was actually the first room that I
painted. I chose to paint the walls “Sea
Salt” by Sherwin Williams. I also, right
away painted the door, trim and vanity white (after sanding and prep, of
course). This was all done about two
days after we officially bought the house which was before we even moved in.
The room clashed.
Ugh.
I knew it was the color of
the counter top throwing everything off but who wants to buy a new counter top? So, since the 90’s beige
counter top and white did not look good, I sanded the vanity back down, made a
quick gray chalk paint Homemade Chalk Paint and painted the vanity gray. Yuck.
Still, this did not work.
A week or so
later, after doing our master bath and
seeing how much I liked how my black vanity came out, Master Bath Surprise, I sanded the vanity down
again and spray painted it black. I
actually like how the black looked most, but still, against the beige sink, it
did not work. Yes, I recognize that the
fact that this sink bothered me so much makes me slightly OCD. But really. Look at it! Ugly, right?
OK, I give. The counter has to go.
I started looking
all over Pinterest trying to discover the best way to do this. As previously mentioned, there were tons of
different ways to get this done. So, I
just picked one and went for it. J
I went to Home Depot. (I love Home Depot, they should
make candles that smell like Home Depot.
You know wood and dirt and…I am not sure what else but I love the smell
of hardware stores!)
I found a can of Rustoleum Spray Paint that was a
shimmery white (so pretty) and a can of Super Glaze. Super Glaze. Basically, in the blogs that I read, I should
have been able to paint the vanity however I wanted and then use the Super
Glaze to make it counter like. Uh huh.
My Supplies:
I got home, put the kids down and sealed up their rooms
from the inside, opened their windows and turned their fans on (in case any fumes escaped my
blockades). I am super crazy about keeping them away from any fumes.
I then taped all around the sink. Napkins got in there too. You know how spray paint gets on everything
around where you spray. I had to get
creative.
I first, gave the sink a really good cleaning and then sanded it down
with some sand paper. (I didn’t want to
wake the kids with an electric sander) I
then gave it another wipe down and started spraying.
Guess what….it came out beige. Are you kidding me?! I feel like since we moved I have been in a
war against beige. (PS some beige is
really nice…that nice beige is not what I am taking about)
I gave it a quick coat just to make sure that it wasn’t
the beige sink coming through and sure enough the spray was a beige. I did love
the shimmer in it so I got some white paint from the garage and painted it over
the spray. This came out perfect with a little shimmer but a fresh white color.
I also dabbed it all over with a cloth to give it a really cool
texture. I was very happy with how it
came out and watched a movie while it dried.
Super Glaze Time!
There are very specific instructions with this
glaze. I was such a good girl and
actually followed the directions.
As I started to spread it, it seemed to melt the paint or
maybe it wasn’t as dry as it seemed? It came out this gloppy mess. So much for my awesome texture. I pressed on and got it looking decent enough, but it was not great.
The next day, the glaze took on a bizarre color and
looked chunky in spots. It was not
good. I began peeling . Some parts where
I must have painted a little thick peeled right off, the rest I scrapped, and
sanded, and scrapped some more.
Back to Home Depot
I decided to try another way that I found online and
picked up a box of this stuff.
Following the directions, I gave the sink a clean using
the cleaner provided, scrubbed with steel wool (also in the box) and did this
about 4 times to get it as good as possible. After drying the sink off, I
started painting with the paint provided.
Ahhhhh. Much better. This stuff
works well. It is strong though so if
you use it please use a ventilator and do it when kids are not around! I am
glad that I read about this ahead of time so I was prepared.
This stuff was so easy to use and came out looking
just like tile. There are still some issues from
where I couldn’t get all the last stuff off but I am pretty happy with how this came
out. It would have been perfect if I tried the Tough as Tile stuff first. This will be used more in the future. It does take a long time to dry. Like 3 days long! I kept touching it too
early so there are a few spots from that J I am very patient.
Can you tell?
At least through my adventure of painting my sink I can
share with you all how not to do it so I am OK that my sink is less than
perfect. Character right? It sure looks a heck of a lot better than it
did!! I will be switching this out for a new counter eventually but this will
work for now J
What I
Would do Different
-Buy a better paint brush. I cannot get myself to buy the more expensive
paint brushes. I always buy the cheapest
that I can find. I am sure that it would
have helped to have nicer ones. With the "Tough as Tile", I noticed after buying the
foam painter thing that the instructions said to only use a paint brush to make
sure that you keep the coats as thin as possible. I made sure I did super thin coats so I do
not think this made a difference but maybe I would have gotten a nicer finish?
-I wish I kept my gloves (also provided in the box) on
when I washed my paintbrush! Without
even thinking I ran my brush under water and squeezed it out with my hand like
I always do, forgetting that this was counter top, oil based paint! My hands were completely white and I had my
wedding ring on! I had to soak my hands in mineral spirits to get all of it
off. Luckily, my ring is mostly clean now
but my hands are still pretty covered even as I am typing this.
-Be extra careful not to dip your hair in Super Glaze or
anything like it. I had to cut some of
my hair off to get it out J
- I wish I just got the easy stuff first. But then again this blog post would be super boring and just say “buy this and follow the directions” …..so you’re welcome ;)
-The “Tough as Tile” refinishing kit comes in a spray
paint version instead of the paint on.
It was more expensive so I chose the paint on but I am certain it would
have been nicer to work with.
-I just saw a way to make a vanity out of old
pallets! I think that I will probably be
ripping this whole thing out and building a vanity and buying a little bowl
sink to go on top. I am not sure when
this will happen so I might have just wasted a heck of a lot of effort? At
least my OCD is under control for a while having a white sink and not a beige
one that clashes. J
I know now that you can successfully paint your counter
tops but not all ways work well.
Good luck with all your projects and experiments and
thanks for reading!
-
Erica
