A spray painted bathroom faucet

This post has been quite a while in the making! I've been thinking about painting my bathroom sink faucet for some time. I've seen many bloggers do it, and really liked the results. Our silver faucet didn't really fit in our bathroom decor, and it was kind of beat up. But I didn't want to replace it - it's not in the budget right now, and it's kind of a pain.

 

So I finally bit the bullet and did it! I taped around the faucet and covered the surrounding surfaces with newspaper.

 

Faucets are shiny, slick surfaces, so I gave it a coat of primer. Then I did several light coats of oil rubbed bronze spray paint. When I removed the newspaper (a couple days later), there was a bit of spray paint on the counter. A little nail polish remover took it right off without damaging the counter (but test your counter in a hidden area first, if you try this). It came out great! But it didn't stay great : ( One handle, just ONE handle, started chipping. I have no idea why.

 

So I started over. I primed the chipped area. Then gave it a coat of orb. I finished up with another coat of orb on the whole faucet. This time I added several light coats of a matte finish clear coat, for more protection. It was a pain to do it once, and really a pain to do it twice, but it seems to be holding up well this time. And I really do love the way it looks.