Once again, spray paint to the rescue. A couple of items on our front porch had a distressed finish, a Welcome sign and a pair of wall trough planters. This was fine for the look I was going for before, but now I wanted a cleaner look.
What I love about spray paint is that if I decide to go back to a distressed look at a later date, I can do that with spray paint, too. But for today, I decided I wanted the three items painted black.
The Welcome sign was easy. I simply took it down and sprayed it on a sheet of cardboard. Once dried, I rehung it, moving it up on the wall about 6 inches, so it wasn't part on white, part on gray.
The wall troughs were a bit more involved. I could only unscrew one out of four screws. My husband wasn't home, and I wanted to get this done that morning.
So I decided to spray paint them while still attached to the wall.
I used paper, cardboard and duct tape to cover all of the wall and floor that could get sprayed. And I used another large sheet of cardboard to deflect paint from the wall and floor beyond the taped paper/cardboard. I held the deflecting cardboard in one hand while spraying with the other. This worked out really well. The more difficult part of painting the troughs was ensuring there were no gaps in paper/cardboard coverage. The spraying itself went quickly. After I pulled the paper off the wall, I found one small smudge of black paint on the white brick. I used some white acrylic paint to cover that bit.
So here are the end results.
the Welcome sign
the wall troughs
I used the Rustoleum 2 X spray paint in Canyon Black, satin finish on all three. I finished and cleaned everything up before lunchtime on Friday. So this was a quick project, in my opinion.
I'm super happy with how they turned out. They're not perfect. But my new saying is this -- good enough is downright fabulous. Love the look.
I need to get some coir trough liners for both of the planters, then fill them. I'm getting close to finishing this project.
I like the fresh, clean look that you gave your porch items. They stand out better now than with your distressed look (don't get me wrong--I love that look--I just prefer your updated look for that particular space). I wish I could figure out a method to paint our doorknobs. We have some that are not great looking, but they are old and next to impossible to get out of the doors without damaging either the knobs or the doors, so I've just been living with it. I've read that you get much better coverage with spray paint (I've considered hand painting them). I guess we just have the "lived-in" look right now.
ReplyDeleteHi Kris,
DeleteThank you.
Hmm, painting door knobs. I can see where that would be tricky, as door knobs are high-touch objects. I think it may be worthwhile to try spray paint, though.
Check out this blog for tips on painting door hardware:
https://renovatedfaith.com/spray-paint-door-knobs/
She says she used automotive spray primer before painting.
If you do this, please let us know how it turns out!
Thanks! I've never heard of using automotive spray primer with this project. Good to know. The problem for us is that removing the doorknobs, which I think are original to the house, is a bear of a job. We have replaced a few and the style of doorknob that came with the house is super hard to remove and often the job ends up in the door getting chipped around where the doorknob is attached. Hence my wanting to be able to paint them while they are on the door. I've never located a satisfactory answer for this. I tried Rub And Buff, but that eventually wears off, since doorknobs are a high-touch surface.
DeleteHi Kris,
DeleteI think you should be able to spray paint the knobs while still on the door. If you took the doors off the hinges, you could spray paint the knobs outdoors and not have to worry about ventilation and walls/carpets getting sprayed inadvertently. Then you'd only need to tape, paper, and/or tarp the doors.
I think it's worth a try. A lot more affordable than replacing entire doors just so you can have new-looking hardware.
You are much braver than I am to spray paint the planters in place, but they turned out well. You have done quite a transformation to your porch.It looks great. Are you happy with it?
ReplyDeleteLive and Learn
Hi Live and Learn,
DeleteWith the decision to spray paint the planters in place, when the screws did not come out easily, I worried I would damage the masonry by taking the planters off the wall. If you ever spray paint something that is attached to a surface that you most definitely don't want over-sprayed, paper and tape way more area than you think you would need. It's surprising how far from your target the bits of paint will spray and splatter.
I love the way our front porch looks now. I no longer have that slight embarrassment when someone comes to the door. It looks clean, cohesive, welcoming and attractive, I think.