fusion: paint it beautiful

Just recently the best coffee shop in town, the Sawmill, has considered bringing in a new paint line. Fusion mineral paints. Paint It Beautiful. And in all their awesomeness, they decided to hand out some paint samples to see what the community thought. Okay. That is just neat. They weren't thinking 'let's just sell this product and maybe make some extra money for the store', but instead 'let's see what the community thinks of this product'. 'Maybe that's something this town is missing'. 'Let's reach out and see what everyone thinks, and give them a chance to determine whether they like it first before we move forward'. And hand out they did! I picked out their most popular off white color called "Champlain", but it was so hard to decide. I get distracted by pretty things easily. And all the colors were just sooo pretty. They resembled a rustic farmhouse set, to me. Something I can definitely get on board with.

I decided before I got home with the paint that I was going to keep an open mind and do the review whether the paint was a good deal or a no go. So I will be sharing all my thoughts. The best and not so good. Here goes!

I knew exactly what I wanted to test these paints out on when I saw the Sawmill's post on Facebook. I have a pair of night tables in our room that were getting worn and wrecked. All the old paint was coming off, the kids had dumped water and nail polish remover on the top, and it was showing a lot of wear. These tables are so adorable, and chic, they needed to be brought back to life.

(The corners were lifting. They had soaked up a lot of moisture in the last 7 years)

I sanded down all the nicks, and bumps and soggy parts of the tables. It took me a good thirty minutes to complete the sanding, but the tables were looking a bit more representable.

It was a beautiful day out and I wanted to continue painting outside, but newish kittens and a puppy don't make good company when you're trying to keep the wet paint from being touched. So I moved the project back inside and up onto my dining room table so little fingers and hands wouldn't check out the tables in curiosity. Which is generally not a problem because I paint quite a bit and I tend not to make a mess, so I didn't bother putting a tarp down on the table. There starts the only problem I have with this paint.

Surprisingly, this paint is thin. You would never think a paint that covers this well would be so thin.

(One stroke of paint, and it was already covering the bits of red showing through!!)

I was so impressed with the coverage I was getting that I didn't notice all the flecks of paint splattering on my nice table top! It was literally everywhere. But now you guys can learn from my mistake and make sure you cover your area where you are going to paint! Also, you can skip using sponge rollers with this paint. I tried rolling the majority of the tables to save some time, but it left air bubbles everywhere. I had to spend a few extra minutes quickly going over everything with a paint brush again. And by quickly I mean, QUICKLY! This paint dries super fast! All paint is different, so now I know how to work with this paint. And I have to say those are the ONLY problems I had with it!

(Took a bit of scrubbing, but eventually it all came off)

I initially thought my work was done after the first coat. Though the paint is thin is covers miraculously well. I couldn't see through the first coat till it dried. You could see bits of the wood and red peeping through, so it did need a second coat. I was able to apply the second coat a little under two hours after the first coat. Which can definitely allow you to finish your projects in one day.

I rarely finish my projects in one day. And the following day I get bored of my current project so I move on to the next one. I wouldn't say I have an attention deficit disorder, but maybe a project deficit disorder ... PDD ...

This paint surely cured me of that!

(There she sits, all pretty with two coats of "Champlain")

Now comes the fun part. This paint claims it's good with distressing, like chalk paint. So far it had lived up to all it's claims, so I didn't doubt that it would work. And why not add some character to these tables.

I used my hand sander to help with the distressing if anyone was wondering. It saves a lot of time.

(Just like butter. This paint distressed so easily)

Now here they sit. Done in one day. Easily the fastest project I've ever done. And all I can do is praise this paint line. I was an avid chalk paint user, because I love the simplicity of it. Not having to do all the prep work before a project. The only thing about chalk paint is its matte finish that I'm not fond of. That also means you have to seal it. This paint has a closer to eggshell finish, which means a lot less stains or mark ups. And you don't have to seal it unless you're going for a different look. I went through their check list and agreed with everything.

So my overall view on Fusion Mineral Paint ... Buy it! Your projects need it. Sawmill, I hope you guys bring in this line because this refurbisher will be buying!