Two coppers worth
In case this blog gives you any ideas for your own home projects, I'll try to start listing the various tools or products I use (either within the entry or at the end).
Yesterday's project was improving the appearance of the metal ventilation grate in the foyer, which covers the intake vent for the house's air flow.
It's large (a little over 18" x 24"), which makes it fairly obvious to visitors. In color, it was a dingy gray (like a metal pan or cookie tray with years of use). At some time in the past, it had been painted what seems to have been a dark gold or bronze, though most of it was gone.
(Next time I'll have to remember to take a 'before' picture as well.)
I scrubbed at it with a wet SOS scouring pad for several minutes, which helped remove some of the grime. Unfortunately, the number of crevices meant that elbow grease (even with the blue gunk that comes in the pad) was taking far too long. I wetted it down, shook a liberal dose of Barkeeper's Friend cleaning powder over it, and let it sit for only a couple of minutes before scrubbing it again. That took almost all the grime off (enough for my purposes).
Next, I took it outside, put it on a painter's tarp, and gave it a few coats of spray paint (Rust-oleum 'hammered copper'). According to the can, it only takes roughly 15 minutes to dry and 90 minutes before you can really handle it properly, but I still waited almost the full time between the main two coats on the top. After those were done, I waited another 90 minutes, then leaned it up against a support and sprayed a couple of coats onto the underside, from various angles, to really make sure I covered all those hard-to-reach crevices.
Voila!
Sadly, I thought the ugly light gray metal duct beneath really stood out, so I threw a quick coat of the remaining hammered copper paint over it. Since it's just a vent duct, I just gave it a quick cleaning and didn't both to 'spit and polish' it like the grate itself. I think it helped quite a bit.
Yesterday's project was improving the appearance of the metal ventilation grate in the foyer, which covers the intake vent for the house's air flow.
It's large (a little over 18" x 24"), which makes it fairly obvious to visitors. In color, it was a dingy gray (like a metal pan or cookie tray with years of use). At some time in the past, it had been painted what seems to have been a dark gold or bronze, though most of it was gone.
(Next time I'll have to remember to take a 'before' picture as well.)
I scrubbed at it with a wet SOS scouring pad for several minutes, which helped remove some of the grime. Unfortunately, the number of crevices meant that elbow grease (even with the blue gunk that comes in the pad) was taking far too long. I wetted it down, shook a liberal dose of Barkeeper's Friend cleaning powder over it, and let it sit for only a couple of minutes before scrubbing it again. That took almost all the grime off (enough for my purposes).
Next, I took it outside, put it on a painter's tarp, and gave it a few coats of spray paint (Rust-oleum 'hammered copper'). According to the can, it only takes roughly 15 minutes to dry and 90 minutes before you can really handle it properly, but I still waited almost the full time between the main two coats on the top. After those were done, I waited another 90 minutes, then leaned it up against a support and sprayed a couple of coats onto the underside, from various angles, to really make sure I covered all those hard-to-reach crevices.
Voila!
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| (click any of the pictures to enlarge) |
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