How to Make Over a Vintage Metal Table with Rust-Oleum Pearl Paint

 
Do you remember that little metal table that used to reside in the townhouse guestroom? It was a wedding gift my Mummu received in the 1950s, and she gave it to me.  It was originally black but then, with her permission, I painted it mint green: 

I didn't fully love the colour - it was bordering on sage green - but it looked nice with the mint and aqua upholstered chair and so I left it as-is.

Once we moved to the lakehouse, and lost a guest bedroom, it migrated to our bedroom and it looked good until I added the teal back tab curtains.

The teal made the mint look super dull and drab - and its buddy, the Mingo chair, was displaced anyway.  The paint had also seen some wear in the move, so a fresh coat of paint was in order.  Because this little table will get the boot soon (our dresser dilemma has been solved!), I opted for a neutral colour so I can move it from room to room with ease.

I decided white would be perfect for such a transient little table but then, on impulse, I decided a pearlized white would be even better - Rustoleum Pearl Mist looked nice on the cap.  I hauled it over to the super awesome spray paint booth my in-laws have (winter spray painting!) and - ta da!

The pearlized paint is really pretty, but it seemed to take forever to achieve this coverage.




It went on really, really sheer and the green continued to peek through, coat after coat.  It still does, a little, but I don't mind that slight green tint.  If I wanted a true pearl white, a white base coat would definitely be necessary because this paint is like a clear finish with some metallic sparkles in it.  I Googled around, curious if the "mist" in the name indicates its sheerness and I'm just a total goof, but it seems other people have had issues with coverage too.  On the plus side, this could add a really pretty shimmer to furniture without masking the colour - or it could help tone down a too-bright paint job.  If you're tempted to try this paint, buy double what you would normally need for your project, or start with a white or cream base.

Even though it took a little extra spray paint huffing, I'm happy with the result.  This might end up a plant stand in the office, a side table if we turn the guesthouse into a proper bedroom...I'm not sure.  What I do know is that there are more bedroom changes happening soon.  But did I mention that I painted this table three months ago?   "Soon".  You keep using that word, but I don't think it means what you think it means. 

Product for this project was provided by the folks at Rustoleum, who have been kindly indulging many of my DIY project fantasies for awhile now.  Any comments, opinions and projects chosen are all my own! 

How to Paint Baseboard Heaters

I don't know why I put off painting our baseboard heaters.  It was on my to-do list for four years but didn't get done until just days before we listed the townhouse for sale.  Why did we live with the drab griege metal for so long? Why did none of you stage an intervention?  In the end it was a really simple project, although it was as tedious a job as I imagined:

1. Turn off the heat
2. Pin up any curtains with giant safety pins to keep them out of the way
3. Tape off the wall and floor with painter's tape
4. Lightly sand the metal with fine grit sandpaper
5. Wipe down the heaters with a damp cloth to remove any dust, let dry
6. Apply a thin coat of Tremclad Metal Primer (I used white), using a small paintbrush.
7. Let the primer dry overnight
8. Applied two thin coats of Tremclad Metal Paint (I used semi-gloss white).

Our baseboard heater covers were incredibly difficult to remove and some parts were fixed so I opted to paint them in place with a brush instead of using spray paint.  I had to be careful about painting the parts we flip open when they are in use and this took some extra time and fussing.  With heaters that are easily removed, a metal spray paint could make light work of this job.

I tried a different method for the half bathroom heater: metal primer followed by the same latex paint we used for the walls and that seemed to work just as well, although the semi-gloss paint proved easier to clean and dust.

I painted the heaters in the office, guest bedroom, master bedroom, master ensuite, hallway, dining room, and living room.  My before & after photos are sloppy, and in some cases non-existent, because I was hurrying to get the house ready for sale in only a few days.  Hopefully you can get the idea from these glimpses.  It will be fun, like a spot-the-difference game.  Or maybe more like Where's Waldo.  Ready?

Remember when I showed you photographs of the framed enamel art?  You could see the beige heaters behind the teak and tweed chair.

Now they blend right in, mostly hiding behind the sheers but the piece that always peeked out is no longer an eyesore!

When I showed off my newly minted table, the baseboard heaters ruined the shot.

But now . . .

I even photographed the velvet chair in the same spot, because I didn't think twice about the heaters.

The guest bedroom photos were always ruined by a long row of beige, to the right.

Happily, when I photographed the bedroom swap, the heaters were already white.

The photos from the listing show just how long the baseboard heaters are.  They were terribly noticeable when they were beige.

The office (with no sheers to hide them), showed off the heaters rather clearly.

But in the real estate listing photos, you can barely see them!

My post about the townhouse being sold has many more real estate photos that plainly show off the freshly painted baseboard heaters.  I'm so happy I finally painted them - I only wish I had done it years ago!

Note: we do not have electric baseboard heaters.  Our heating system was converted to radiant heat from electric heat.  Our baseboard heaters are never hot to the touch.  We have only one remaining electric baseboard heater, in the main bathroom.  It was painted before we moved in and we've experienced no problems so far - even though, unlike the others, it does get very hot to the touch.  I'm pretty sure electric baseboard heaters can be painted, but I really can't speak from much experience.

Anyone care to weigh in?

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Painted Fireplace Doors and Vents

Yup, I painted the fireplace.  I'm so excited to show you because it completely transformed the living room!  But first: here's how I updated the gold fireplace doors, and the vents that are part of the system to circulate heat that would otherwise be lost up the chimney.   The vents, in particular, were awfully ugly.  And cemented in place.  

 
Painting the Fireplace Doors and Vents

Painting the fireplace doors was easy-peasy.  I removed the screws holding them in place and lugged them out to the garage where I first gave them a thorough clean (the glass was so dirty, you couldn't see through it).  Once they were dry, I taped off the glass and gave the metal frames and wood handles a light sand.  I wiped everything down with a damp cloth (just to get the sanding dust off) and let the doors dry a few moments.  Then I sprayed on a few thin coats of Rustoleum high heat enamel spray paint.  Following the manufacturer's instructions, I applied a few thin coats within the span of a few minutes.  The surface was dry to the touch in 1/2 an hour and was ready to be handled within 2 hours.

What it doesn't say on the can is that this paint is magic.  At one point the newspapers I had laid down to protect the garage floor blew up with a gust of wind and smudged the paint.  Panicked, I applied more paint but that only made it looked worse.  Discouraged, I decided to let it dry and figured I'd sand it down the next day and start fresh.  Overnight though, the paint leveled itself into a super smooth finish.  It didn't do this when I sprayed on a vertical surface but on any horizontal surface, no matter how much I bunged it up, it came out super smooth and even.  I've since gone spray paint crazy and painted a ton of other things around the townhouse with this paint (details soon).

Before

And now:

Painting the fireplace vents was another story.  They had been cemented in place by the former owner and refused to budge, no matter how much we chipped at them.

I could have brushed on paint, but I didn't want the look of brush marks or drips on the louvers.  Undeterred (and buoyed by the magic paint), my Mom and I rigged up a spray painting booth with a cardboard box and some plastic drop cloths that she held in place while I shimmied under and spray painted the vents in place.  I didn't cover the faux stone to protect it from overspray because the next step was painting it a dark grey anyway (yay).

I didn't take any photos of the process because I just can't, in good conscience, show anyone how to do it at home.  Even using a mask and eye protection, it was not a good idea for me to spray paint in an unventilated area (I was cleaning paint out of my ears for days).  I hope that anyone else who is making over their fireplace and has these same vents can just remove the screws, as I should have been able to, and avoid the problem altogether.  Despite my trials, the vents look smashing.  Good-bye gold.

Check back Monday to see the full reveal of the fireplace.  I'm just finishing up a couple of details.  In the meantime, take a peek here to see if you're the winner of my First Alert giveaway. 

I partnered with Rustoleum to update the fireplace vents and doors but was not prompted or encouraged to provide a positive review of Rustoleum high heat enamel spray paint.  It will be a surprise for them, too, to see what else I spray painted in my spray paint frenzy, but we have partnered for a couple of other projects (you saw a sneak peek here), so stay tuned.

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