Sunday, September 15, 2013

Surface Protector and Bling

I decided to coat my newly painted pantry with an acrylic protective coating. I heard there is a paint especially made for pantries, but the paint I used was free so not quite as durable. I really wanted the shelves and drawers to be able to withstand all kinds of abuse since it was so much work to get them to look nice. I use Miniwax Polycrylic Protective Finish on all the furniture I paint with low VOC paint and it seems to work very well.




It goes on smelly, REALLY smelly, so for those who are extra sensitive this might not work for you or you might need to get someone else to do it. Within a couple hours, however, I find the smell is totally gone.

I decided to do some tests to see if this extra work, extra expense, and extra toxicity would be worth it. I painted half of this wood piece with turquoise and the other half with white. I used white as the trim in the pantry and I wanted to make sure the polycrylic wouldn't turn yellow which happens with so many products. It hasn't turned my furniture yellow, but this was a different kind of paint so I felt safer doing tests. In the middle I coated both colors with the polycrylic leaving the ends untreated and let it cure for about a week...


 
 
 
...then I took a hammer to it! I wasn't dainty with the swinging either!  You can see on the top of the white and the bottom of the turquoise the marks and discoloration caused by the hammer. In the middle where the polycrylic was used, the blows left indentations, but didn't affect the paint job. Excellent! In addition to protecting the paint, I was hoping this finish would also seal the toxic paint and get it to stop offgassing. It stunk.
 
I used the polycrylic on the shelves, drawers, cupboard doors, walls, and ceiling. I didn't use it on the white window frame nor some of the white trim around the upper shelves. I waited a few hours and did a cautious sniff test. It took a lot of the stink away, but not all. I was hoping it would miraculously seal it. Oh well!
 
BLING! 
 
I love shiny!


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