Design is in the Details

One of the major challenges in remodeling our master bathroom was the tub!  It is a wonderful Kohler soaking tub, worth about $3000, cast iron, placed in concrete so it is almost impossible to remove, and the most comfortable tub I have ever been in.  Needless to say everything on this bathroom was planned around the tub. 

But when I went to replace the hand rests, pictured above, and the drain mechanism I ran into a huge road block.  Kohler did not make the pieces in an Oil Rubbed Bronze finish and they still don’t.  They make them in the bright brass, but I already had those.  And I had already replaced all the other plumbing and light fixtures in the bathroom so there was no going back.
So now what?  My husband says I will paint anything that stands still long enough so it was no surprise to him when I said I was going to paint these brass big boys.
Unfortunately I have misplaced one of my camera cards and all the pictures of the process where on that card.  So I will just list the steps I used.
The Steps
1) Of course I started with a good washing and sanding.  Brass usually has a lacquer coating so I made sure to sand down to the actual metal.  This is have a picture of.

2) I sprayed them with a metal primer and sanded lightly.
3) Then  I sprayed them with two to three light coats of Oil Rubbed Bronze, sanding very lightly in between coats.

4) Then I repeated the process I used on the mirror frame and the half  bath faucet, dry brushing a mixture of copper craft paint and glaze to each piece.  I kept a piece of the new oil rubbed bronze fixtures handy for reference as well as a damp rag so I could wipe off the copper if it was not looking like I wanted.  Which happened quite a few times.  This is also the same technique I used on my vanity bench but while it looks great in person it just doesn’t show up in the pictures.

5) I finished it off with three light coats of spray polyand let them dry completely before I reinstalled them.   I stress the “completely” part of the drying process because that is always a weak spot for me.  I can’t tell you how many pieces I have ruined because of my lack of patience.

But not these beauties, they turned out perfect.


6)  Enjoy the tub!

I will be partying at:

Link Here

Thanks for reading,
Traci