Extreme Stovetop Makeover

When we first went to see Tilley, although we were all dewy eyed and in love with her, we noticed she was looking a little rough around the edges, showing her age, like an weary courtesan early the morning after a rough working weekend.

One of the reasons for this was her stovetop.  Tilley still has her original stovetop and the previous owners had painted it white...but not very well...the paint was peeling and we could easily pick it off with a finger nail.  But no worries, we have found that, with all the old things we own, the previous owners never gave them the attention and respect they deserved and would do a slap dash job of any repair or "beautification".  We have many times had to scrape back the debris to find the diamond in the rough and do the hard work of making it shine.  You could say we are old hats at restoration.  So the scraping began....

Does the poor thing not look sad and begging to be saved from it's peeling, caked on makeup.

Pat and I took turns first using a wire wheel on the drill and then a scraper, then some steel wool and finally some light sandpaper to smooth it.  We, as well as the picnic table, were covered in white flecks of paint. 

 

Finally clean and ready for phase two. 

We had decided not to use just your regular heat resistant barbeque paint (it is only available in boring black, white or silver) but to use engine paint.  It comes in a rainbow of colours!  We bought antique gold and charcoal.  After four light coats of the gold, I layered in some charcoal to age it....and here is the result

The photo is a little bright so it is hard to appreciate the aged look, but it will look wonderful when finally part of our steampunk decor.