Paint fumes and layers

 Soooooo…..like I mentioned I have been giving-it-a-trying around my house.  To put it mildly I was super freaked out to buy the kits to cover the formica, or whatever you have for counter tops in the bathroom.  In a moment of sheer bravado I made the cocksure purchase of the kit you can see in the pics. This fancy little, and reasonably priced, box contains a plethora of instructions in written and video form and 5 lil cans of paint that are labelled in order that you use them. So essentially fool proof right?  

So I taped everything up and went to town.  Starting with the black base coat…sweet baby Jesus this made me nervous but I pushed through.  Partially because after one stroke of the roller you’re pretty committed to the task and the fumes are cray strong and I hadn’t learned that just yet or increased the proper ventilation at this point.  Note to self:  do that next time before you start huffing.  

Each layer requires dry time varying between 4-8ish hours, so this is a lengthy process.  Next I got to get creative with the three complimentary colours.  My kit was called Sand or something soothing and awesome so you can see the tan, chocolate and brown shades I was working with.  If this isn’t your style there are other variations, ya dig?  

Best part of this step besides the fun little spongy thing you get to use for each can is that they encourage irregularity.  The smart little box tells you it actually looks better.  So thank you box and fumes for taking any lingering concerns away.  I embraced the recommendation and smashed around those little sponges (dry time in between each can)…here is where I was actually getting pretty psyched to see how well this turned out.  So after the third drying time I was checking out my almost finished counter top and decided to go back with some extra little touches of the black base or other colours to correct what was bumming me out, or perhaps just feeling more comfortable with the whole process and really enjoying doing it. 

WARNING: when you first start this with one colour you may hate it….keep going.  I wasn’t happy with the first run at all but as I kept at it I began to enjoy the colour development.

Almost last step a super sheer top coat to seal and protect.  Clean up required the usual tape-peeling-touch ups but aside from that it was relatively painless.  And when all was said and done,  I took at fume-induced dizzy step back and gazed upon my counter top of awesomeness.

Until next time  #wink