Monday, October 17, 2011

An epic fail followed by success...I think...

It all started two Thursday nights ago while I was lounging on the internet. I was going through some of the Fall Outdoor Spaces Party over at Thrifty Decor Chick. I saw a few things that caught my eye and I ended up spending some time on the Creative Juices for Decor site...

I nearly fell out of my chair when I saw the pictures of what Selina had done to her brother's kitchen cabinet pulls!! Go ahead, click here and check it out...I'll wait. Told you it was AWESOME!!!!

Wondering why I nearly fell out of my chair?? I have those same pulls, minus the rose. But I have that porcelain part...plus a little sassy brassy but the same pulls!!!!! Here are mine:
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I have a bunch of them!! Re-purposing would same me literally, a couple hundred dollars!!
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Notice the missing one? Wait for the fail. :)

I left a comment for Selina, the author of Creative Juices for Decor telling her how much I loved her idea to paint the pulls. Her re-do was ahwile ago so I was wondering how the pulls were holding up. She said brother's reports are good for ware. I thought what the heck! We don't like the sassy brassy so if I can paint them, the project will be free, if I ruin them well...they are on the replace list anyway.

I started with priming...Just grabbed the first primer I saw in my stash...happened to be Kilz. Here's where my epic fail came in. The primer went on thick and nasty and clearly was not going to work.
Look: told you it was bad!
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Oops. Good thing they were on the replace list but really? I would rather buy cool rugs or some cool fabric for curtains or pillows.

SECOND TRY! (Is that like radio edit? Just kidding)

Jj suggested a different primer...turned out he was correct! First though, I sanded the metal part with 220 grit sandpaper (that's fairly fine) but it too like 60 (really rough) to get the shiny surface off the porcelain. Anyway, I sanded them down really well, and applied 2 coats of Krylon primer for metal.
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To paint them, I knew I didn't want them lying on their sides for paint to drip and pool and such. I did a quick scan around the garage and stopped at the trash can. Enter cabinet pull holder:
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It actually worked very, very well! I added 2 coats of primer followed by 2 coats of Oil-Rubbed Bronze (pretty sure it was Rustoleum) spray paint. I followed it up with a clear coat made by Rustoleum too.

I let them dry overnight and installed them!
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I love the way they look; now we will see how well they wear!

**As this post publishes, it's been one week and all is well.**

***Edited to include that I liked up to Trifty Decor Chick's November Before & After Party, here.***

****And as of 11/7, I think the pulls have been up for about a month. All is well!! I am about halfway through the rest of the billion, just over 30, pulls in my kitchen.

But think of all the money we have saved!!!!!

7 comments:

  1. I'm so happy that worked out for you! Personally? I really liked them as they originally were, lol! BUT...that's what's so great about being a home owner - you can do what YOU want!!

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  2. Hi Laura -
    It sounds like you just bought a new house recently too? Your house is much cuter than mine...my kitchen has red counters (that are all different shades of red) and brown carpet (yep, I said carpet)...and the cabinet hardware is smack-dab in the middle of the cabinet....don't ask me why. So, unfortunately, I don't think any amount of spray paint could scratch the surface of what needs to be done to my kitchen. I do love how your pulls turned out though. I'm a new follower of your blog and I appreciate you stopping by mine to check out my chest.
    Take care-
    Erin

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  3. Hey those pulls look great! I have painted MANY different pieces of hardware and it's always held up really well! :)
    You asked me about the paint sprayer. I did strain my paint, then I diluted a little with some water. The clean up wasn't too hard..I washed it immediately after I used it. I just took it apart and washed it in warm soapy water. It looked good as new when I finished it. If I could afford it, I would get an electric one so I don't have to mess with the settings on my compressor, but this one works pretty good to be $14.99. The settings on my compressor were a little persnickety, but after I got that fixed, it worked really well.
    :)
    TTYL!
    Missy

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  4. Hey!! Those looks SO good!!! I love getting people's creative juices going because I have had so many others get mine going. I once read a post where she changed all her faucets to ORB spray paint. That looked like a crazy tedious job and I think I'll just stick with the knobs! Knobs can get so pricy and I think they now look totally up to date and great. Thanks for the nice "blog love" too.

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  5. GORGEOUS, darling! Just gorgeous! :)

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  6. I'm from Mexico and I would like to know if I can use another product similar istead of the Oil-Rubbed Bronze. I'm pretty sure I won't find it. Actually I'm not sure if is paint, oil, a type of color paint. Thanks...the result was great!.

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    1. Hi Adrian,

      Thank you for visiting my blog. Oil-rubbed bronze is a color of spray paint. This particular kind is made by Rustoleum. I'm not sure how spray paint goes in Mexico so I'm afraid I'm of limited assistance. However, check the hardware store or the home improvement store. I'm hoping you will find something similar.

      Good luck. I'd love to see you before and afters if you end up painting your pulls.

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