Why Ideal

Because We Love Refinishing!

We upgraded our 1960’s bathrooms on a budget, and so can you!

Just like you, we own an older home. We fell in love with our home the moment we saw it – in all its 1960’s splendor! Mustard yellow shag carpet, colored bathrooms and all. We could envision the future, the many wonderful years of raising our children in our new home. We did do a remodel, but we were on a tight budget. We wanted to update and upgrade our house while keeping its historic character and charm. For a young family on a tight budget, we sure had our work cut out for us!

Painting and refinishing runs in the family

Lucky for me, we had a painter in the family! It’s what we do – so why was I skeptical? My better half has spent his entire career, over 10 years,  painting. Painting bathtubs, bathrooms, cars and trucks – you name it, he can paint it. So can his father, and uncles, and grandfather – whoa, it’s a family affair! Now, I knew this of course, but I would take a little prodding to get started. Our bathrooms were in good shape, but they were over 50 years old.

I wanted something fresh and new for my family. I wanted to do a complete remodel. Which, as I soon discovered, was going to cost me more than $7,500 PER bathroom. Uff! I agreed to let him paint the bathrooms. I was skeptical. I mean, paint the bathtub and surround? Really? How is that the same thing as new and fresh? I agreed to it though. I figured I’d let him do his thing, prove my point and then do my remodel. Boy was I surprised- it was like brand new! I really couldn’t get over it.

Pink and Blue? Ah!

Not only did we remodel our bathrooms but we saved thousands of dollars! We did end up completely remodeling our bathrooms, but for thousands of dollars less than I expected. I bought new hardware for the tubs. I replaced the toilets and the sinks, and I laid down new floor tile myself.

I saved more money than I had thought possible – I saved A LOT of money and the huge headache of trying to rip out the old tubs and chip off the old tile.

(I had started to try to do this and gave up, disgusted with the process, within 3 hours.) Steven was, of course, quite satisfied with himself. It was one of those rare occasions when I had to admit that I had been wrong.

Are you ready to update your bathroom too? Click here for a FREE estimate.

I just had to share this with my friends and family.

I couldn’t keep it to myself. This was just waaaaay to cool! I had to share my before and after pictures with my friends and family. Look! Look what I did! (And yes, I gave Steven his due credit too.)

I was so excited. The funny part was, everyone I shared this with could empathize with me. They too had older homes with “interesting” bathrooms. They said, can you do that to my bathroom too? How much does it cost? When can you and Steven come over to my house?

Before I knew it, we were painting bathtubs, bathrooms, sinks, kitchen countertops, kitchen backsplashes, cabinets, fireplaces – everything! And before long, we were working for contractors too. We had stumbled upon a service that is amazing, affordable, and exciting. (Trust me, transformation is exciting!)

You can refinish almost anything in your bathroom or kitchen:

We love what we do.

This is the story of how we started our business. We found something we were excited and passionate about… and other people appreciated what we could do.  We are able to come in to someone’s home, make a huge impact on their personal space, and save them money. It’s a win win. Customers are happy, and we feel like we made a difference.

Would you like us to come transform your bathroom? It’s simple – contact us!

Most bathrooms can be done in one day – for thousands of dollars less than a remodel!

The process is time consuming, but fairly straight forward.  Ready to learn more?

You’ll want to make sure that the room is clear of all personal and household items. Everything will be covered and protected during the process, however we want to be sure there is nothing in the bathroom that could accidentally be knocked over or broken. Additionally, the chemicals used are quite strong, so it’s a good idea to remove your towels and linens as well.

First thing we do is to set up proper ventilation.

This requires access to a window or door – if your bathroom has a window, great, if not we can run tubing down the hall to another window or door. We strip off all existing silicone caulk from seams and cracks in the areas to be worked on. We tape and cover areas around the bathtub, tile, or sink to be painted.

Next, we prepare the surfaces to be painted by either sanding (for fiberglass) or acid etching (for steel enamel) the surfaces.

We use Hawk Research Labs’ PORC-ETCH 1000 to break down the original glaze finish of your bathtub, sink or wall tile. This product has a highly stabilized base which is easily neutralized with water. It is also a great cleaning agent for removing dirt, grime, grease, and rust! This is a one step process that is safe for your home and family. The etching material must sit for approximately one hour before it is rinsed and wiped off all surfaces.

Next, we prep to paint!

After cleaning up after the etching process, we drape and tape the entire bathroom and doorway and secure the ventilation system. We make sure that every bit of your non-project space is protected from overspray.

Finally we paint, using a four-step epoxy and acrylic urethane process.

The paint is sprayed on using a HVLP compliant paint system powered by an air turbine compressor. We start with a high quality epoxy primer – ULTRAGRIP 4000 – designed to be ultra-resistant to moisture. Following two coats of primer, we spray top coat. GLAS-TECH 9100 24-Hour Cure Acrylic Urethane Coating is the final two coats for your new bathtub, sink and tile.

You’re all set!

We need to let the paint dry for at least an hour. After which we will remove all the plastic coverings and tape, remove our equipment and leave your bathroom the way we found it – only better!  You will need to wait an additional 24 hours before you use the bathtub or sink.

We appreciate you taking the time to come by and read more about our refinishing services.

We promise to provide you with a fair and honest estimate for services – and most importantly we will treat your home like ours.

For more information and a FREE estimate please call us at (410) 630-1254 or provide us with your contact number and photo (or photos!) of your project by clicking here.