It's All Rail-ative

In my last post, I mentioned a railing makeover.  All the stairs around the Handyverger house have lovely metal rails with some pretty grape and vine detail, all in a matte black.  This would be fine, except it's chipping away and rusting in many spots.  The paint on the railing leading to the front of our three-season porch has chipped away to reveal a red coat of paint beneath it.  Ugh!

I took matters into my own hands, starting with the rails that would be the least visible from the street.  This would, of course, be the railing on the steps that lead down to the patio.

Before:

After!

I used Rustoleum's Universal spray paint, in Hammered Black and Hammered Copper.  Before I painted anything, though, I used a coarse grit sanding sponge to even out the spots where paint had chipped away, as well as the spots that had some rust.   Once that was done, I wiped everything down with a damp cloth, being sure to get in the little crevices (like those in the grapes).  I couldn't believe the amount of pollen that I wiped off the railings.  Ugh!

I laid down drop cloths and taped more to the side of the house (though I wish I'd used plastic sheeting, because there are a few splatters of paint on the house now... oopsie).  I was originally going to just paint the grapes in copper, but I decided to go wild and paint the ornate vertical elements in copper.  After a few coats, I made myself wait for the copper to dry, then began taping things off to do the black parts.

And this is how it looks, a bit closer.  What do you think?

(Also, see the welcome mat?  I did that too!  More on that next time...)




Sharing at
Five Days, 5 Ways Feature Friday Free for All