Spray-Painted Kitchen-Sink Faucet One Year Later

Our kitchen renovation is a year old, and I'm still smitten! It is a pleasure to cook in. But more than this, I love that point on the backsplash where the arc of the veins in the bookended marble slabs seek each other out, like the reaching fingertips of Michelangelo's "Hands of God." You may recall that I took a risk in this renovation and spray-painted my drinking faucet to match the Delta Trinsic sink faucet in Champagne Bronze. (I did what?!) Wonder how that's holding up? No holds barred photos after the jump.

If you look back to my post, I knew at the time that I was taking a calculated risk. I just couldn't find a drinking faucet that was exactly the right shape in exactly the right color, so in the 11th hour I said "what the hay," and applied spray paint. I expected some wear on the faucet handle where it's touched the most. And that is where we're seeing it. So today I took a few minutes out of a busy Saturday to sand it down and do a touch up.

It turned out well. Photos here show the wear (before) and the effect of today's quickie touch up (after).

There was quite a bit of wear on the topside of the handle and just a tad on the underside.

The Area where the paint had eroded was so small that rather than using sand paper I got out one of the emery boards that I use to file my nails and gave the metal a rough up.

Then I cleaned both of the sanded surfaces with tack cloth, and I was ready to apply the paint.

I didn't feel like taping off the whole faucet and protecting the marble, so I set up cover using a paper shopping bag, and sprayed some of the paint on a bit of cardboard. Then, using a narrow brush from my watercolors set, I painted on some of the wet spray paint.

I touched up both the topside and the underside, let it dry, then gave it another coat.

It's looking good as new. Looking back, I definitely took a risk painting this faucet, and I half expected to be sorry. But one year later, after a minor touch up, it's back to looking good and I'm satisfied with the outcome.

If you're considering painting fixtures, definitely take into consideration how often they are touched by human hands. Light fixtures and overflow plates are probably no problem at all. Faucets will need to be touched up wherever they are most touched by hands. Light fixtures probably fare best of all. For me, this little DIY was worth the risk because different shaped faucets or same-shaped faucets in different metal finishes would have annoyed me far more than a faucet that requires a 10-minute touch up once a year.

Our kitchen renovation is a year old, and I'm still smitten! It is a pleasure to cook in. But more than this, I love that point on the backsplash where the arc of the veins in the bookended marble slabs seek each other out, like the reaching fingertips of Michelangelo's "Hands of God." You may recall that I took a risk in this renovation and spray-painted my drinking faucet to match the Delta Trinsic sink faucet in Champagne Bronze. (I did what?!) Wonder how that's holding up? No holds barred photos after the jump.

If you look back to my post, I knew at the time that I was taking a calculated risk. I just couldn't find a drinking faucet that was exactly the right shape in exactly the right color, so in the 11th hour I said "what the hay," and applied spray paint. I expected some wear on the faucet handle where it's touched the most. And that is where we're seeing it. So today I took a few minutes out of a busy Saturday to sand it down and do a touch up.

It turned out well. Photos here show the wear (before) and the effect of today's quickie touch up (after).

There was quite a bit of wear on the topside of the handle and just a tad on the underside.

The Area where the paint had eroded was so small that rather than using sand paper I got out one of the emery boards that I use to file my nails and gave the metal a rough up.

Then I cleaned both of the sanded surfaces with tack cloth, and I was ready to apply the paint.

I didn't feel like taping off the whole faucet and protecting the marble, so I set up cover using a paper shopping bag, and sprayed some of the paint on a bit of cardboard. Then, using a narrow brush from my watercolors set, I painted on some of the wet spray paint.

I touched up both the topside and the underside, let it dry, then gave it another coat.

It's looking good as new. Looking back, I definitely took a risk painting this faucet, and I half expected to be sorry. But one year later, after a minor touch up, it's back to looking good and I'm satisfied with the outcome.

If you're considering painting fixtures, definitely take into consideration how often they are touched by human hands. Light fixtures and overflow plates are probably no problem at all. Faucets will need to be touched up wherever they are most touched by hands. Light fixtures probably fare best of all. For me, this little DIY was worth the risk because different shaped faucets or same-shaped faucets in different metal finishes would have annoyed me far more than a faucet that requires a 10-minute touch up once a year.