Unappreciated Details: Cabinet Interior

After we finished making the outside of our bathroom cabinet beautiful the inside looked a little, well, gross.  The paint was yellow, there were stains, and the floor of the cabinet had some previous water damage.  So we decided to give the inside a makeover as well.  

Before:  Yellow, stained, and water damaged

After:  Clean and Bright

First we pulled up the water damaged floor of the cabinet, and discovered that the AC duct simply let out under the cabinet.  The air wasn’t shunted toward the vent at the front of the cabinet at all.    The floor of the cabinet also had VERY little support from underneath.  Firebeard fixed both of those problems by installing floor supports on either side of the open duct and vent, reducing the space that the air could fan out.

Removing the floor of the cabinet 

Discovering the open duct and lack of floor support

We decided to replace the very thin floor with slightly thicker plywood, but that gave us another problem.  The new thicker flooring didn’t bend.  We had to cut it into 3 pieces to fit it into the cabinet.  Fortunately we had already planned to cover up the plywood flooring with vinyl, click together “wood” flooring that would protect from future minor water leaks better than wood alone.  My parents had given us some or their left over vinyl flooring so this part was free.  Since the new plywood floor and vinyl flooring was thicker than the previous flooring the cabinet lip no longer covered it.  We installed some quarter round shoe molding to take up the additional space.  We also painted the inside of the cabinet to freshen it up, and cover a few stains.  

Installing the New Cabinet Floor

Since we don’t have a lot of floor space in this bathroom, I placed a small laundry basket inside the cabinet to collect clothes after bath time, and I still had enough room under the cabinet for extra towels and a few supplies.  I will admit I had to get rid of a lot of older towels to make everything fit, but it was worth it.   If you are looking for a place to donate your gently used towels, shelters (either human or animal) are often in need of them.

Stocked with Supplies

Completed Cabinet

I hope everyone had a wonderful July 4th, whether you celebrate American Independence or not.  I am happy to say that in my house we took a little break from the home remodeling projects and actually did a bit of relaxing.  We decided to stick with tradition this year, and did all of our normal 4th of July activities.  First was dinner - burgers/veggie burgers.  I make a cake that the kids refused to eat.  Then we moved on to the annual Nerf war, which, as dictated by tradition, only ends when the losing child begins to cry.  Finally the combined blood sacrifice to the mosquitoes (lest they suck out our souls), and fireworks.  It all ended at about 10pm with all of us literally dripping sweat (Florida), and smelling strongly of exploding gunpowder.  Good times.

I actually felt good about relaxing this 4th of July rather than guilty for slacking off because we are nearly at the finishing line in our mini bathroom remodel.  Today I finally get to reveal the last of the big items in the remodel, the bathroom cabinet. 

Before: Dated, dreary, and dirty looking

Now:  Brighter, and whiter yet more colorful

The bathroom cabinet has been nearly complete for quite a while, the only thing that was stopping us from completing it was the installation of a tip out drawer in the place of the cabinet’s false drawer front.  This sounds easy enough, but it was a complete nightmare.  I will go into the tilt out drawer a bit more next time, but for now, bask in the pretty completed cabinet.   

The color is Everglade Green by Clark + Kensington, color matched to Valspar’s Interior Satin wall and trim.  We wanted to match the dark blue of the shower curtain and actually took the curtain to several stores before we found Everglade Green.  Initially wasn’t completely sure of the color (while it was the closest I could find it still wasn't a perfect match) so I just got a small tester can.  I ended up painting the entire cabinet with just the tester (total cost $4).  I may eventually polyurethane over the paint if it starts to wear a little too fast, but for now it is holding up pretty well.

Franklin Brass P15510-SS-B European Steel Bar Style Cabinet Pull Handle, 3-inch (10 Pack)

We also changed out all of the cabinet’s hardware.  The old stuff was just a bit too frumpy for our sleek new look.  The hinges are super basic chrome hinges from home depot similar to these.  They were about $1.50 each, or $6 for entire cabinet.  The European Steel Bar Style handles, by Franklin Brass were another Amazon steel.  We got 10 for $16.99, about a $1.70 each (as of this writing they are currently $26.00 for 10, or $2.60 each).  I am pretty happy with the quality of these and would definitely get them again, however, they were not as shiny as I expected them to be.

Total exterior transformation cost $18.50, not too shabby.

This post contains affiliate links, all opinions are my own.

Adding a Pop of Color

Despite my love of a clean, refined white room I could never have a completely white room in my own house (even if I didn't have kids, and a dog tracking dirt in the house).  While white rooms can feel beautiful and serene, they too often feel drab and cold.  Colorful rooms on the other hand feel energetic and warm, but too colorful rooms can feel overwhelming and claustrophobic.  In my own house I like to marry the clean look of a white room with eclectic pieces and pops of color that give a room energy and personality.

Adding Color to the edge of a door  - inspiration from Apartment Therapy

I was looking for ways to add pops of color to my mostly white hall bathroom when I came across this article from Apartment Therapy.  It details several ways to add color by painting the edges of objects a color that contrasts with the color of the rest of the object.  When I saw the above picture of the edge of a door painted neon orange, I knew I had to do this to my own room.

Here is the result:

A subtle hint of color from the now dark hallway.

I painted the edge of the door  Seaside Villa, in Home Decor Chalk Paint by Folk Art because I had it on hand and it was the perfect color.  Chalk paint tends to be a bit softer and more prone to scratching than traditional acrylic paint, so I am a bit concerned that it will not hold up over time.  I used Folk Art Home Decor Clear Wax over the paint to protect the finish, and I have had good luck with the durability of this paint previously, but only time will tell how well it will do for this application.   The door (and the rest of the trim), is painted in Simply White by Benjamin Moore, a slightly warm white that contrasts nicely with the cooler Seaside Villa.

This mini project really gave me a lot of bang for my buck.  The only cost to me was a little time, but the impact of this small change is surprisingly big.  It is hard to describe the difference this small change made, but I can say that somehow the room now feels more playful, and complete, and like details are a priority.

If you have done any surprisingly impactful small projects, or know a clever way to add a pop of color to a room, let me know about it in the comments.

Quick Tip: Removing Chipping or Peeling Paint

We have had a lot of chipping and peeling paint to deal with in our new house, and as a result I have had many opportunities to experiment with the different ways to remove it.  My new favorite way to remove chipping or peeling paint is a real blast – of heat.  Ha, ha, ha!  (I know, I’m a dork).

What do you need?

• A heat gun if you have one, or a blow dryer with a high heat setting
• A scraper – Either stiff plastic or metal.  If you use metal remember that it can easily gouge soft wood.  I like to use a painter’s 5 in 1 tool.

How do you do it?

Heat Guns Soften the Paint

Using the heat gun or blow dryer warm up the paint until it is slightly soft.  It might take a little trial and error to figure out exactly how warm you need your paint to be.  Too little heat and it won’t be any easier to scrape, too much heat and the paint will get gummy and smear.  Make sure to keep the heat guns moving to spread out the heat (and prevent scorch marks).

The softened paint scrapes of easily.

Then scrape your paint – it should come off with significantly less effort than when the paint was cold.

We sand anything that we can’t scrape off, and then if possible scrub the crap out of the painted object with an abrasive pad and a vinegar and water solution.  Anything that is left after that just gets painted over (if it hasn’t come off after all of that it is probably going to stay attached).

So far this method has yielded the best results in the least time for us, which is important for a person with high standards and limited time. 

Do you know a better way?  Let me know about it in the comments.

DIY Countertop Refinishing

Regular Readers know that so far our mini bathroom remodel has not been as mini as we had anticipated.  Things have cost more than we planned, taken longer than we planned, or just not gone to plan.  But the way our bathroom countertop looks now makes me feel like it was all worthwhile.  It was the kind of project that I need every once in a while to restore my faith in DIY – a quick win. 

Before - Unattractive Laminate

After -  my Mom Thought we installed marble 

I really am incredibly happy with our new bathroom countertop, and really excited to share it with you all, so let’s get started, by taking it from the beginning;

One of the things that I knew I wanted to do when we started this mini bathroom remodel was update the countertop.  The old countertop was a sandy colored laminate.  It was in good shape, but it added nothing to the space.  Initially I had visions of granite and marble dancing in my head, but a limited budget put the cabash on that pretty quick.  I considered a lot of refinishing options, from using a countertop restoration kit, to building a new one out of planks, to covering the existing countertop in concrete.  I also considered faux marble, which looks beautiful when done correctly, and pretty terribly when done poorly, and decided that my artistic skills were not quite up for it.  I finally came across what looked like a pretty simple countertop painting and sealing technique on Designing Dawn.  The technique basically involved sponge painting a variety of colors in layers (true artistic talent not required), and pouring on a thick sealant called Envirotex Lite.  Her results looked pretty amazing, and she even had a follow up post showing how well it had held up over time (very well).  I was sold.

The entire process started by taping off the area that would be painted, and draping everything the Envirotev could drip on in plastic so I wouldn’t have a giant mess to clean up later (since I am messy and couldn’t drape the entire room in plastic I still had a bit to clean up – it doesn’t come off of things easily).  Then we sanded and primed the existing laminate countertop.  We started with a general purpose primer which was a complete disaster (you can read more about here), but the second primer we used (Zinnser Bin) worked like a charm.  For the record, my primer recommendation for this project is Zinnser Bin, but Primers should always be selected with the surface they are priming and the medium that will cover them in mind. I would also recommend sanding prior to taping, because the sanding dust gets caught in the tape.  This wasn’t a problem for us since we had to re-tape everything anyway (see priming post).  We also ended up removing the sink entirely even though we didn't originally intend to (again see the priming post).  I would remove the sink from the start if I was doing this over again.  The sink really isn't hard to remove (or put back on), and it makes the surface much easier to work on.

1st Disastrous Priming Attempt while the sink was still in place - Looking pretty sad

After the 2nd Primer Attempt and removal of the sink - Looking much Better

Next was the artistic painting which I was most nervous about.  Once the primer was fully cured I laid down 3 coats of my base color, Benjamin Moore Simply White in Satin.  I waited the recommended recoat time between coats, so this took a while. 

Three Layers of of Base Color Applied.

Then it was time to let my inner artist free.  I put a bit of each of my 3 paint colors in a plastic container and added a bit of water to thin them out.  Then I dampened my sponges before dunking them in my thinned out paint. 

Paint Colors Used to Create the Faux Stone Look.  Clockwise from the upper left BM Moonshine, BM Simply White, and Grey Craft Paint.

To make my pattern I started with my darkest color and basically dabbed it all over the countertop using the kitchen sponge.  Then I did the same with the medium paint, and the base color paint, letting some of the color that went before peek through each time.  I didn’t let the paint dry between the colors so they ran together a bit, which I felt made it look even more natural. 

The first of my 3 colors applied, and not looking super promising.

While the paint was still wet I sprinkled super fine glitter over the countertop to give the finished product a bit of depth, like real stone.  I was pretty reluctant to bring glitter into my house because, as my sister’s friend says “Glitter is the Herpes of the craft world – once you get it you can’t get rid of it,” but it made the finished product look so good that it was worth it (even if I keep finding glitter around the house for the next 3 months).  Then I let everything dry.

All three paint colors and glitter applied - starting to look pretty nice.

Confession time:  The next morning after painting I decided that the left side of the countertop was too lite and I did a bit of touch up painting.  This was a mistake.  The newly applied paint just didn’t blend well with the previously applied paint.  I should have left it the way it was, and now I regret touching it up.  If you do this yourself reconsider touch up painting.  Maybe wait a day or sleep on your touch up painting decision.  If you do decide to do some touch up painting keep in mind that the newly applied paint probably won’t blend perfectly with the initially applied paint and make sure you are ok with that.

Environmental Technology 16-Ounce Kit Lite Pour-On, High Gloss Finish

Ok, so everything is taped, draped in plastic, and artistically painted – now it is time for the magic sealing ingrediant - Envirotex Lite.  Envirotex Lite is a two part reactive polymer compound (a resin and a hardener) that is mixed in two stages, then poured on top of whatever you are sealing.  Basically you pour equal amounts of the resin and hardener in a mixing container, mix for the prescribed period of time, pour it into a new mixing container, and mix it again for the prescribed period of time, then pour it on whatever you are sealing and spread it out so that it covers the whole surface.  We found some of the directions for this product kind of insane, but we followed them to the letter, including timing the mixing, switching containers, the whole nine yards, and we had absolutely no issues with the product hardening properly and found it relatively easy to apply, so at least they work. 

To use the Envirotex Lite, you mix it up per the directions, pour it on, then spread it out (we used cheap plastic putty knives which we have been able to reuse).  It was pretty easy to spread out with the putty knives, but it doesn't easily flow over the surface you are covering.  It is more like moving corn syrup than water.  You also have to work pretty fast because the mix starts setting up pretty fast, and once it starts to set you shouldn't move it any more (more on that below).

Amazingly Smooth Glassy Horizontal Surface actually reflecting!

Since Envirotex lite is really made for horizontal surfaces, the vertical surfaces we needed to cover were a bit more of a challenge.  When we poured the mix onto the countertop we poured a bit extra near the vertical surfaces then used our putty knives to lift and spread the mix onto the vertical surfaces like we were icing a cake with really thin sticky icing.  The result was very well covered vertical surfaces, but unlike the perfectly smooth glassy horizontal surfaces the vertical surfaces are a bit textured.  This really isn't a big deal.  I had to try very hard to get this texture to show up in a picture as it is pretty hard to see.  The pic below shows the texture in literally the worst possible light.

Vertical Surfaces are textured.

When the Envirotex starts to set up bubbles will form that need to be popped.  According to the  directions you can use a blow torch to pop the bubbles or blow on them.  We got a blow torch for this purpose, but ended up just blowing on them and it worked fine on our relatively small application.  If I were using the Envirotex on something larger I would go the blow torch route.

One thing that we learned while attempting to pop bubbles is that you should not touch them - AT ALL.  This is what happens if you do;

Be warned - DON'T TOUCH THE BUBBLES or THIS will happen!

Our bubble touching mess was so bad that we ended up putting on a second coat of the Envirotex the next day right on top of the first.  The second coat looks fantastic.

The Finished Countertop!

Want to know exactly what we used to make this happen?  Here are the details;

• Paint:
  • Primer:  Zinnser Bin
  • Base Color:  Benjamin More Simply White
  • Medium Grey:  Benjamin Moore Moonshine (similar to, but slightly darker than our wall color)
  • Dark Grey: Anita's All Purpose Acrylic Craft Paint in Grey
• Painting Supplies:
  • Paint Brush- To Lay down the base coat and primer
  • 3 Clean kitchen sponges – To Layer my paint colors (in retrospect natural sea sponges would have probably been easier to work with)
  • 3 Disposable plastic containers to hold paint (something clean from the recycling bin works great)
  • Water to thin the paint
  • Painters Tape
  • Plastic Tarps (we used cut up garbage bags)
• Finishing Touches:
  • Tree House Studios Extra Fine glitter:  Super small glitter used to add a bit of depth and sparkle like you see in real stone
• Sealing Supplies:
  • 2 4 oz boxes of Envirotex Lite (we ending up doing 2 coats – 1 box per coat)
  • 4 flat bottomed cylinder plastic containers (2 per coat for mixing the Envirotex)
  • 4 wooden stiring sticks (2 per coat for mixing the Envirotex)
  • Cheap Plastic putty knives (for spreading the Envirotex over the countertop)
  • Hot Breath for popping bubbles

Let me know what you think, and if you would consider doing it yourself in the comments.

(This post contains affiliate links, but I was not paid to review or use any of the products mentioned.)

Primer on Primer

This weekend we started refinishing our bathroom countertop, and like nearly every other aspect of this Mini Bathroom Remodel, things didn't go quite to plan.  This is the story of how we discovered that not all primers are created equal, and I discovered the primer that I will be using on all shiny surfaces from now on.

The current countertop in our bathroom is a sandy beige laminate, that is very likely original to the house.  While it is not the worst looking laminate countertop I have ever seen (our Master Bathroom Countertop is significantly worse), it doesn't match with the rest of our updated bathroom, so we decised to refinish it, since it was an inexpensive alternative to replacing the countertop.  Initially we considered overlaying the countertop with concrete, as was done here, but eventually we settled on painting and sealing the countertop, because it was (at least theoretically) faster and less messy than concrete.

The ORIGINAL countertop - sandy beige.

Since laminate is a hard, slick surface, paint has difficulty sticking to it, so we made sure to prepare the surface for the paint by roughing it up and thoroughly cleaning it.  I started with a 150 grit sandpaper, and finished with a 220 grit.  There really wasn't much visible difference after the sanding, but the countertop felt subtly less slick.  After removing all of the sanding dust I thoroughly cleaned the counter top, first with my normal all purpose cleaner, then with a calcium, lime and rust remover.  I have seen a lot of people use TSP to clean countertops and cabinets prior to painting.  Personally I wouldn't use TSP to clean any interior surfaces because it needs to be really thoroughly rinsed off with water, and generally I don't want to be using that much water on an interior surface.  And because anything that is worth doing is worth overdoing, as a last step before paint I used a de-glosser, also known as liquid sandpaper, to further remove the shine from the countertop.  Oh, and we also lifted the sink out a bit so I could paint under the lip – no shortcuts here.  Then it was go time. 

Sanded, cleaned, sink elevated, taped and ready to be painted.

I had a giant container of Kilz Hide-All Primer (similar here) left over from another project so I decided to use that.  It was after all primer, and it had worked perfectly fine on other projects, and as they say waste not want not (foreshadowing anyone?).  This is what it looked like after the first coat – not too shabby.

After one coat of kilz hide-all primer

After waiting the prescribed recoat time I went back in for a second coat, and that is when things went wrong.  As I began painting I accidently scraped the dry surface with a fingernail.  The paint didn’t scratch – it completely came off.  I tried to simply fill in the hole with more paint, but as I did so additional paint began to bubble up.  I decided that perhaps I hadn’t waited long enough – paint drying times are not exact after all.  So I carefully scraped off the bubbling paint, and still more carefully patched the hole I had made with more paint. Then I left the mess to dry ever longer.

Several hours later (around 10 o’clock at night), I went back to the bathroom to put on the second coat of paint before I went to bed so that it would be ready for its 3rd coat in the morning.  Before I got started I gently touched the dry paint and it came off in my hand.  Tired and frustrated at a day wasted, I began scraping off the paint.  It was so poorly adhered that it came off in wide swaths, and only 10 minutes later I was done.  The countertop looked exactly as it had before I had started painting.

Kilz hide-all primer coming off in strips.

After ten minutes of scraping the countertop is back to it's previous state.

To ward off nightmares of endless repetitions of painting and scraping and repainting, I began my research into primer types and their applications that night.  I had seen examples online where countertops had been successfully painted so I knew it could be done, but most of the time the bloggers that had done the painting didn’t specify the type of primer used.  I had to go a bit deeper and ended up searching on the major Primer Manufacturer’s websites.  On the Zinsser website I found a likely candidate, Zinsser Bin, which was touted as ideal for hard slick surfaces.  Zinsser Bin is a shellac formula primer with an alcohol base.  This primer cures in about 45 minutes (once all of the alcohol evaporates), and water based paints can be used on top of it.  I decided that I would go straight to the hardware store the next morning to pick some up, and had mercifully paint free dreams that night.

The next morning Firebeard helped me remove the sink completely (it was a pain to work around) and I sanded and cleaned the countertop again before we headed to the hardware store.  I was able to pick up a quart of the primer for $13, and had it shaken at the store (apparently alcohol based paint separates pretty easily).   I also picked up some cheap foam brushes to apply the primer because it does not clean up with soap and water.  When we got home I set to work.

Re-sanded, Re-cleaned, re-taped and sink removed - Ready for round two

The Zinsser primer was much thinner than I expected but went on pretty easily.  The whole bathroom smelled like alcohol for about an hour after painting, but it was by no means the worst smell we have encountered in this mini remodel.    Below is what it looked like after application.   It seemed about the same as the Kilz primer after its first coat, so I wasn’t holding my breath expecting success.  I was in fact expecting another failure, and wondering if home depot would take it back as defective. 

After a coat of Zinsser Bin.

After an hour I nervously came back into the bathroom and gently scratched the countertop – nothing happened.  I couldn’t believe my eyes, surely this was a fluke, so I scratched a bit harder – still no damage.  The primer stuck!  It worked!  Finally something had gone to plan!  I was so excited I think I might have danced a little jig.  We were back in business.

So I have officially found my go to shiny, hard surface primer – Zinsser Bin.  And until it fails me, or I find something better, I am going to preach it to the masses in blog land.  Zinsser Bin is, as far as I know, the best primer out there for shiny hard surfaces.  If you are planning to paint your laminate countertop, save yourself a headache and a day of wasted work, and start with this stuff.

Zinsser B-I-N Shellac-Base Primer, 1-Gallon, White

Next time I hope to show you the finished, refinished countertop in all of its shiny glory.  Until then, please let me, and fellow readers, know about your favorite primers and their ideal applications in the comments.

This post contains affiliate links.  All opinions are my own.

Tile Time

Last time I told you about the self-induced nightmare of prepping our tub surround tile to be painted.  It was an activity that should have taken hours, but took us over a week.  We went so far beyond the manufacture’s recommendations for surface prep that by the end we were questioning our own sanity, and wondering if it was all worthwhile.

Near the End of our Tile Prep Nightmare.

The painting portion of this project didn’t take that long, but it wasn’t a lot of fun.  With our Rust-oleum Tub and Tile Refinishing kit Firebeard was able to do 3 coats of paint on the tile during the course of several hours while I was at work, and I am still thanking him for saving me from this.  The paint smelled so badly and so strongly that when I got home I could smell it feet from our front door.  Even with windows open and fans on It was truly, overwhelmingly bad.  Firebeard had been wearing a pretty high quality respirator while painting all day, and was still feeling pretty sick from the fumes when I got home.  We actually left the house for several hours that evening to give the paint smell a bit more time to dissipate, and it was JUST bearable by the time we got home.  Fortunately The Boy and The Girl were on a sleepover, so they were not subjected to the worst of the smell, but it took an additional 2 days for the lingering paint smell to leave the house, and even now, about a week later, the bathroom still smells unpleasantly odd.

Rust-Oleum 7860519 Tub And Tile Refinishing 2-Part Kit, White Buy on Amazon

Per Firebeard the actual painting was not as easy as a typical painting project.  The epoxy paint dried quickly, so there was very little time to fix mistakes.  The paint also seemed to eat the foam paint brushes and rollers he was using, and a new one had to be used for each coat, or he risked pieces of foam being embedded in the paint.  Combine that with the brain killing fumes, and this was not one of his favorite projects.  However, even given all of the brilliance of hindsight, he is considering getting another kit and doing one more round of painting before we caulk because a few spots did not get as thoroughly covered as he would have liked.  I guess it couldn’t have been that bad if he is willing to do it again.

Before - Pink Tile

After - Bright White Tile

There is no denying that the overall look of the tile now is a tremendous improvement.  It looks clean and fresh, and surprisingly shinny.  It does have a slightly odd texture now though, a bit like orange peel texture but more subtle.  We also have a few spots that are a less perfect than others as is pretty typical when painting by hand rather than with a sprayer.  This doesn’t really bother me, but it is worth knowing if you decide to do it yourself.  The paint also perfectly covered the patched holes left behind after removing the sliding shower doors which was a big plus (I will tell you how I patched those next time).

Close up of the tile's new texture.

One of the less perfect Spots.

So was all of the prep work worth it?  At this point it is hard to tell.  Bad prep work usually doesn’t become obvious until something has been used for a while and all of the paint suddenly starts peeling off, and good prep work usually goes unnoticed.  What I can say for sure is that we did not experience the peeling or puckering paint that some Amazon reviewers said they experienced.  So far our paint seems VERY securely attached, whether that is from our obsessive prep work or not, I don’t know.

Bottom Line, Knowing what we know now would we do it over again?

I think we probably would.  The improvement in the tile’s appearance was worth the effort we put in, but if we were going to do it again, I think we would put in less effort.    The instructions on the box are there for a reason.  They have been tested, and if they didn’t work they wouldn’t be on the box.  We went totally overboard on the prep work, making this project much harder than it should have been, and I think we have learned our lesson. 

In conclusion, painting the tile was worth it, follow the directions on the box, and for god’s sake ventilate, ventilate, ventilate. 

Tile doesn't sand

If you have ever watched Supernatural, you know that the beginning of every show starts with backstory.  So much happens in each show that missing a couple of shows would leave you completely lost.  The backstory provides the context for the current insanity and makes it seem like the logical progression of events rather than a complete plot twist.  I feel like this post deserves backstory, so that you will know what brought us to this point.  We got to the current insanity through a logical progression of events.

We started out just a few weeks ago with the dream of a quick bathroom refresh.  A little paint here, some accessories there, and voila, a brand new bathroom.  Sure we wanted to fix a few small things along the way and remove those disgusting shower doors, but those were quick projects that wouldn’t take any time at all, right? 

Wrong!  We were wrong.  So far everything has taken about twice as long as we expected it to.  Well that was until we tried to deal with the tub surround tiles that looked pink after painting the bathroom.  This project was supposed to take a day of work, and 3 days of dry time.  So far  it has already taken 2 weeks, and we are all feeling a bit crazed.

So, what brought us to this point?  Here is the back story;

Sickly Beige Tile.

Next to our swatch of Paper White paint, our tiles looked sickly beige.  While I am not a fan of sickly beige, I felt like it wouldn’t stand out, and I could pretend that they were just slightly off white and I could live with it until we were able to do a full bathroom remodel in a couple of years. 

Tile looks pink after painting.

Once the Paper White covered the entire wall the tile no longer looked sickly beige.... it looked pink.  I will admit, I had been hoping that the slightly cool Paper White would tone down the yellow in the tile a little bit, but it worked a little too well.  The yellow undertones in the tile were nearly eliminated, but the red undertones were accentuated. 

After about a day of trying to convince myself that the pink tile didn’t bother me (and failing miserably), I started looking for a solution.  I had a couple of options;

• Living with the pink tile until we could do a complete remodel, the pink grating on my aesthetic sensibilities every time I walked by the bathroom.
• Getting one of those drop in plastic bathtub surrounds (I would rather live with the pink tile)
• Tiling the bathtub surround (I seriously considered this option, but it was so far out of the budget that this really wasn’t a viable possibility)
• Painting the tile

Painting the tile is not something I would have EVER considered prior to this, but suddenly it was an option that seemed filled with possibly.  Since we had already removed all of the caulk there wouldn't be that much prep work.  It would only take a couple of days from start to finish.  I wouldn't have to spend a fortune on new tile, and I could get the white tile I had wanted in the first place.  I could have my cake and eat it too.  In retrospect, painting the tile was too good to be true, and I should have seen this as a warning sign from the beginning.  

We decided to go with the Rust-oleum Tub and Tile refinishing kit.  It is a 2 part epoxy acrylic paint that can be rolled on like standard wall paint, but should hold up well under high humidity.  It was only $25 on Amazon when we bought it, and it had pretty great reviews.  The only warning we repeatedly saw from the Amazon reviewers was that the tile needed to be well prepared.  "No problem," we thought.  The kit would be delivered in two days (thanks Prime!), and we would do the prep while we were waiting on the kit and dive right into the painting when it arrived.  

What did the prep entail you ask?

1. Removing all of the caulk from the tile that would be painted
2. Sanding the tile. 

We had this in the bag.  We had already removed the caulk - step one done.  All we had left to do was sand the tile.  The Amazon reviewers really stressed this part.  The most knowledgeable (sounding) among them recommended that the shine be removed from the tile so that the paint would be able to grip the tile.  This made perfect sense (its what you do when you refinish wood), so this is what we set out to do.  

Our tub spout just twisted off.

About 40 years worth of hard water deposits.

First we had to remove our newly installed tub faucets, and the tub spout.  The tub spout just twisted off.  We were shocked to find what we think is nearly 40 years of hard water deposits.  It was pretty gross.  The good news is that when everything goes back on we will have a shiny new tub spout to match the new faucets.

We started sanding the tile with the 220 grit sandpaper that the kit recommended.  It didn't seem to do anything at all.

Then we switches to 60 grit (super course) sandpaper.  It made the tile shinier.  

I went to the web searching for a tile sanding solution and found Emery paper, a sandpaper made from silicon carbide.  We grabbed the only kind they had at Home Depot (which did not fit on any of our electric sanders) and went to town on the tile.  It worked, but sanding the tile by hand was maddenly slow.

After the belt sander.

Then finally one day while I was at work Firebeard took out the big guns - the belt sander.  While still at work I texted to ask how it was going, and the above picture was the response.  All of the flat tile surfaces had been throughly sanded and were ready to be painted, but the curved edges of the tiles were as shiny as ever.  

At this point we were starting to get a bit desperate, and I opted for some chemical warfare.  Muriatic acid is a fairly strong acid that when pretty heavily diluted is sometimes used as a hail Mary bathroom cleaner.  It is used heavily diluted and as a last resort because it has the tendency to remove the shine/finish from tile, porcelain, etc.  Fortunately this generally negative tendency of muriatic acid was exactly what we needed.  We strapped on the safety gear, and allowed the muriatic acid to eat as much of the remaining finish off the tiles as we dared (while keeping it off of everything else).

After this we did one last round of hand sanding, and then very through cleaning, and we were finally ready to paint.

Next time on, "This is taking significantly longer than we thought it would Mini Bathroom Remodeling Project,"  the painted tile.

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Painting and Magical Color Changing Tile

The last I left you we had just finished removing all of the caulk in our hall bathroom, scrubbing the left over grout and tile clean, and we were waiting for everything to dry completely before we applied the new caulk.  After doing everything we could to remove the insidious mold that grew up under and around the old caulk, we were not about to take any chances caulking over damp crevices, and determined that we would wait at least a day to let everything dry before applying the new caulk.   But not being ones to sit on our laurels watching grout dry, we decided to paint in the meantime.

We had already picked out a few front runners in the paint department that are consistent with the rest of the house’s updated color scheme, and had painted a few swatches on the walls.  The front runners were Edgebomb Gray by Benjamin Moore, Moonshine by Benjamin Moore, and Paper White by Benjamin Moore. 

As soon as it dried it became clear that Edgecomb Gray was not for us.  It looked brown rather than greige in our windowless bathroom, and that was exactly what we were trying to get away from.  So far this has been something of a theme in this under lit house of ours.  The pretty, warm inviting greiges I see all over Pinterest look dirty and muddy when I get them on my walls.  At least it makes picking a paint color a bit easier.

Moonshine and Paper White  were the final contenders, and deciding between the two of them was not easy.  Moonshine and Paper White are pretty similar.  They are both light neutral to slightly cool grays that look a bit silvery or shimmery and change color slightly depending on the lighting.  We liked them both, so we lived with the colors for a few days to see if one of them grew on us. 

I waffled back and forth, leaning more toward one, then more toward the other.  I looked at them during the day, at night, with the lights on, with the lights off, and stole quick glances at them every time I passed the door (as if I might catch the paint off guard while it was revealing its true nature).    I  was not really able to make up by mind until the shower curtain we ordered for the bathroom came in (I’m not showing it just yet – it’s a surprise, and it’s awesome).  When we held the shower curtain up to our paint swatches the choice became clear.  The Moonshine looked perfectly fine, but the Paper White really popped.  We decided to go with Paper White, which is a bit lighter and brighter than Moonshine and looked great with our new shower curtain. 

Money Saving Tip:

If you are planning a painting project and have an Ace Hardware nearby check to see if they are having one of their 2 for 1 paint sales before heading out to buy paint.  A couple of times a year, Ace Hardware has a paint sale in which they sell 2 gallons of paint for the cost of one gallon.  The brand and line of paint that is on sale generally changes each time, so if you are particular about the brand you paint with this may not be the sale for you, but if you are like me, and price trumps brand loyalty, it is a great way to get paint cheap – just make sure you buy enough to finish your project or are willing to pay full price if you run out.

We were lucky enough to buy the paint for this project during one of Ace Hardware’s 2 for 1 sales, so we got two gallons of BM Paper White color matched in Valspar Optimus for $40 .  This should be enough to finish this project, and another we have planned (stayed tuned).

The ceiling paint is BM Simply White color matched to BEHR Premium Plus Ceiling Paint.  It was leftover from painting the ceiling in our office and dining room.  I love this color for a ceiling because it is definitely white, without being stark white.  I feel like it makes the room feel a bit more welcoming than a true pure white.  

We hadn't realized just how yellow the ceiling was until we started painting it.  Just look at the before and after.  It is like night and day!  Next to the Simply White the old color looked like the teeth of a 3-pack-a-day smoker. The really troubling part is that we have no reason to suspect that the prior owner of 30+ years ever smoked in the house - we think they actually CHOOSE that color....   

So here is what it looked like after 2 coats of Paper white on the walls and 2 coats of Simply White on the ceiling.  The trim still needs to be painted and we need to do some touching up on both the walls and the ceiling.  So far I am very happy with the paint color we chose, but there is a problem.  The tile in the bathtub surround now looks pink!

Next time, figuring out what to do about the pink tile.

Former formal living room turned office

I promised pictures of our new house when we moved in months ago, and I did not follow through.  I had forgotten just how long it takes to move in, and when you are doing some redecorating/remodeling on top of that, it takes even longer.  So my house has been looking a bit post apocalyptic, and I haven't been super keen on showing that off.  However, I've realized that is part of the process.  The house is going to look worse before it looks better, and it is a tad misleading to show the before and after and not the days/weeks/months of work that it took to get to the after, and say, "It was easy, you can do it!"  So, without further ado, the office/craft room/guest space; a work in progress.

Former Formal Dining Room

Our office is the former owner's formal dining room, which went nicely with their formal living room (to be seen later).  We are not that formal, and an office is a much more useful space for my family than a formal living space would be, so the former formal living room will be our very large dining room, and the former formal dining room will make a nice cozy office.

Office in the Making: To the Left

Office in the Making: To the Right

Carpet and baseboards have been removed, bad paint has been stripped, holes have been patched, and priming is complete.  We are finally just about ready to begin painting.  It has taken us a really long time to get to this point.  Why?  This...

And This...

Peeling Paint.  LAYERS of Peeling paint.

Being a good little worker that doesn't cut corners, I stripped the paint.  And stripped the paint.  And stripped the paint.  And stripped the paint.  

About 7 layers of paint (and many hours) later I was left with this:

And I realized that I had been an idiot, and learned a lesson.  I have no intention of staining that door, and the door is nothing special.  I simply need to make sure that my new paint adheres correctly.  So from now on, I will not strip when sanding will do, and I will not sand when liquid sanding will do, and I will not spend more time and money repairing an object than it would cost to simply replace it.

Next time painting, and figuring out what to do about this;

Mysteriously Missing Crown Moulding