Rustoleum Countertop Coating?

[KenP]

Few more pics

[reinergirl]

Just curious, why did you not like it? Replacing would be a big job, so did it really come out that poorly? It looks nice...

[KenP]

I should have done a better job with sanding. It's not as smooth as it should be. Also some of the borders don't look clean. From 5 feet away you can't tell. I guess being OCD, all the imperfections bother me. It serves it's purpose but compared to what I have at work done by a professional, it doesn't compare.

[Everonica]

I think it looks nice, too. I am glad you posted pictures, as I have been thinking of updating my dingy yellow counters and painting the cabinets to update. As much as I am not fond of the color, the counters and cabinets are original and in very decent shape. I am torn over leaving them as is and loving the retro look or bringing them to what is currently fashionable. At some point I'm sure it will just scream "2013!" Does anybody have any opinions about resale? I don't plan on selling any time soon, but wondering if nicely done updates such as these will hurt the value? And just to add my two cents worth about the posts regarding wasting time and wandering topics: Is that not how a group conversation in any social setting proceeds? I don't feel any new knowledge is wasted time - even if it isn't useful at the present, it may be at some point in the future. So many threads in the forums have helped me, so thank you to all!

[rayandre]

In terms of resale: I would first consider two issues, what you can live with/what makes you happy and long term plans for your interior design. Deoending on your level of design and skill, how long you plan to keep and use your AS I would place these at the top of my personal priority list. That said, my wife and I are visual artists and are acutely aware of the ugliness that came with our unit when we purchased it so much so that we polished it prior to our cross-country trip because we couldn't take it anymore. Thus, the reason for my starting the thread about our counter tops which on our 69 are also corn cob yellow-one of my least favorite colors. Vintage colors and finishes: There's a few things to consider on this topic-similar to a classic car restoration or a century home restoration-one of which I've done twice. I always consider what seems appropriate while needing to update. In cars, you kill value the minute you choose a color that is not in the original color pallet but that's another topic. In houses, period houses, it's an issue to try to stick "high design" features that stand out like a sore thumb. I believe there is a balance you can find between updating and keeping some consistency within the original design of your unit so the updates don't look stuck on, out of place or absolutely hideous, although that is somewhat subjective of course. If you use you AS a lot and plan to keep it for a long time and these kinds of things bother you then I would opt for happiness over worrying about what a potential buyer might like to see-similar to your house. Make it the way you enjoy it, make yourself happy to be in the environment you helped create and don't worry about the future sale issue until you get there. I've known people to pull light fixtures out of there houses prior to putting their house on the market and swapping them out and repainting to more neutrals for the sale to make it more marketable. We couldn't take the yellow countertop and we certainly didn't want to live with it for 4 weeks on the road even though they were in perfect shape. Our solution wasn't the best solution and certainly isn't a permanent solution, in fact we will eventually change out the tops entirely but there are more pressing priorities, like replacing our fridge. Sometimes economics informs the design decisions. If you have an all wood interior I would suggest preserving it as much as you can. They are desirable-our 69 was the last year for the Ash interior so we opted to clean, sand and refinish the wood to get it looking decent. I would only paint cabinets if there are extreme condition issues that would prevent restoration. Another factor in all of this is your skill level and ability. If you have the various skills to do all or most of these cosmetics yourself they tend to be pretty inexpensive and rewarding. We could never afford to own a vintage AS if we couldn't do a lot of the mechanical and cosmetic work ourselves. Lastly, I will say, the painting of our bathroom and counters was something that made living in the AS for 4 weeks much more enjoyable-we didn't have to look at a color we didn't like or UV discoloring of our ugly bathroom and the polishing gave us a sense of pride of ownership that made us happy to be towing it 6300 miles. Good luck with your choices and decisions and try to have some fun updating-especially the counters and curtains!

[Tim A.]

Ray has made some very good points. I would add that, if you make changes you think might be only temporary, do them in such a fashion that they are either reversible or easily changed. That might mean leaving some things unchanged because you are not certain what you will want to do in the future.

We have made a number of visible changes in our 19' Bambi, including a larger sink and surrounding countertop, different range hood, redone upholstery, formica top for the stove cover, altered drawers, and shelves front and back. All those changes followed the basic decor of our trailer and required careful thought because we did not plan on changing them back to the original condition nor did we want to redo them a few years down the line.

As for the original question on this thread, if painting the countertops helps you see what you might want to change to in the future, do it. Expecting it to be a permanent, durable alteration might be overly optimistic.

Tim

[Everonica]

Thank you - excellent points made here. I will take to heart the suggestion for leaving the woodwork intact, but I am now leaning toward updating the countertops in the spring. Most likely I'll need to go the DIY route with paint and maybe as finances allow in the future swap them out for something nicer. As for the durability on painted counters, here's my thought: In my experience painting/ refinishing/ distressing many pieces of furniture over the years, I've always found that several coats of finishing wax tend to keep the pieces looking pristine. I would think along with solid prep, some wax would go a long way in keeping the painted counters durable and looking good.

[rayandre]

possibly but you're painting plastic which will eventually ship or scratch through the paint-already happened to ours after the first trip. Doesn't matter to us though-still looks better than the gleaming yellow we had!