Mini Kitchen Revamp for Spring - Matte Black Everything.

Happy Monday my lovelies! Anyone else hoping this weekend’s snow storm will be the last one? I’m too eager for spring. Last week, I spoke about spring as a symbol of starting fresh, and bringing things back to life after winter, and I’m here to do just that.

To my loyal readers who have been following my journey of slowly changing a few accents to matte black, I’m making these changes in an effort to revamp a few spaces in my home. I started slowly with my kitchen, changing a few countertop pieces to matte black before I swap out my cabinet handles and kitchen faucet. My husband has yet to approve of this project. I’ve been working at it gradually to see if he notices anything. I’ll keep you posted on how this experiment goes. 

When I first purchased my home, I was ecstatic to have a white kitchen. I grew up in a home that always had darker kitchen cabinets, and this was a nice change for me. It felt so bright, inviting and way larger. It was adorned with a chrome faucet and chrome hardware handles. Because my appliances were all stainless steel, too, I decided to match a lot of my countertop items to be stainless steel. Now that I’m really into the matte black look, I wanted to find an affordable way to change up my countertop items to match my (future) black kitchen hardware and faucet. My kitchen truly is my happy place, so it’s important for me to have it exactly the way I envision it. 

I completed my first DIY project restoring a family relic (read more about this in my blog post HERE) using nothing but Rustoleum’s Farmhouse Black spray paint and was so happy with the way it turned out, I just had to DIY a bunch of other items. After experimenting with a few kitchen countertop items, here are my DIY projects with tips for success to help you avoid my mistakes.

My spice rack lives next to my oven, so it’s normal that it may have been splashed with some oil or grease from cooking. I thought I cleaned it thoroughly enough but it turns out I didn’t. I could tell right away when after spray painting it, a perfect circle of paint chipped off the bottom part. Luckily I was able to fix this up in a jiffy!

AVOID MY MISTAKE - Cleaning the items you are painting is probably the most important (and most neglected) first step. Many people don’t realize that painting over surfaces that are not clean can leave an uneven finish, result in chipped paint and overall decrease the quality of the way the item looks after painting. Not only should items be cleaned before sanding, but it should also be cleaned AFTER sanding to prevent dust or debris from getting stuck under the paint. Cleaning the surfaces of your items is an easy way to avoid the above-mentioned poor results.

My banana holder has definitely taught me to sand properly. I didn’t have a fresh sanding block and was stuck using my DeWalt Sander, which was extremely difficult to handle on this. It would have been 1000 times easier with a sanding block to hit every crevice and make sure it’s being properly sanded for the paint to stick well. I’m not surprised that the curved edge part holding the bananas has chipped, because I couldn’t get to it with the electric sander. Once I get my new sanding block, I’ll be going back in to touch this one up!

AVOID MY MISTAKE - You cannot get lazy with the sanding. I did, and the spray paint chips off easily when something is not properly sanded. Thankfully, this is something that I can still correct, so no permanent damages here! I recommend also getting a sanding block of minimum 240 grit to start, since it needs to be pretty abrasive for the paint to stick well. Lastly, I always recommend sanding blocks because they’re easier to sand around oddly shaped items, especially when there are curves or cylindrical shapes involved. Remember that when sanding, lots of particles are going into the air so it is wise to wear a mask or do it in an open area where there is ventilation. Small particles can enter your lungs and cause difficulty breathing, with detrimental damages over time. Safety first!

Last but not least, here is the first ever stainless steel kitchen item I tried painting, my paper towel holder, followed by my napkin holder. For these two items, I sprayed painted on too thick, and held the bottle way too close, resulting in drip marks on both of them. Lucky for me, the drips only show when a light is shining on them, so as you can see in the above photo, it’s pretty unnoticeable. I can also still fix this if I wanted to, by re-sanding them and properly spray painting them again in thinner layers of paint. For now, I’ll leave them as is since it’s not super visible.

AVOID MY MISTAKE - Try to save yourself the headache (literally) and spray paint in an open and well-ventilated area. I strongly recommend going outside to do this. I sprayed a few of these items on my balcony with the patio door open and it left a lingering smell of paint in my house. These smells can get to you, so it’s best to be careful with this. Also making sure not to overspray the paint. Again, don’t get lazy and try to get the paint all over the item in one sitting. I noticed when I did this that the spray paint dripped and left visible marks. It’s best to lightly spray the item from at least 6 inches away, and let it dry for a few hours before applying the next layer lightly. These projects really require a lot of patience in order to be done right. 

TEST IT - Ideally, before we start to make big, permanent, irreversible changes to our items, you want to make sure you have a safety net. You should make a habit of testing a small spot to see how it turns out. Most cleaning products heed the same kind of warnings to “test on a small inconspicuous spot”, and this concept is no different here. I first tried it on one item and let it sit for 1 month before I did any other ones. I was willing to try it because even if I had to replace it, it wouldn’t be as expensive. But if it worked, I’d ultimately save myself a couple of hundred dollars while still revamping my space, so why not?! 

My next project will be in my main washroom, which I’m really looking forward to. I haven’t decided if I’ll spray paint everything because there is a lot more wear and tear where there is water involved, but I'm definitely looking to add the matte black touch this spring!

If you feel somewhat inspired to do your own DIY project, share it down here with me! I’d love to hear about it. Until next time…

Love, Annamaria

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