How to Repair a Porcelain Sink

I am not a huge fan of winter, but one thing I can say on its behalf is that I do get a lot done during this season.  Being indoors makes me focus on all the little repairs that are lurking around my house.  One that has been on my list for a while now is repairing my bathroom sinks.  My bathroom is very "vintage", with some serious blue going on.  We have plans to renovate it in the near future, but for the mean time we have opted for paint and a good clean up to get us by.  Most everything is in good condition except for the chipping and wear that has occurred around the drains...

 I had two choices here.  I could either paint the sinks white with an epoxy paint made for sinks like Rustoleum Tub & Tile or I could simply repair them with a porcelain touch up kit.  If we were keeping the bath I would definitely paint all the blue away,

 

but I chose the latter since renovations are on the horizon.  

Most porcelain kits come in a few standard colors, and since I had a "specialty" colored sink I knew I would have to tint it.  (If you need to repair a white, creme or bisque colored sink you are in luck.  Those colors are standard so you can skip the whole "how to tint" steps and get right to repairing).

I did my research and decided on Porcelain Touch Up Paint  by Sheffield Bronze Corp.  

They make a line of compatible tints called Tints-All 

that work well with the kit and allow you to custom color it.

 My first step was color matching my sink to an existing paint color.

I then headed to my local True Value Hardware Store to gather my supplies.  To determine what tints I would need I chatted with the folks in the paint department for a little direction.  I showed them the paint swatch that was close to my sink color and I asked them what tints were used to make that color in a white base.  They told me blue, yellow oxide and orange, so I choose tints close to that.  I picked up a few small brushes and got to work.

 Now before you mix, make sure your sink is clean.
 I scrubbed the drain area with some TSP and dried it thoroughly.  (Just to be sure, I used a hair dryer.)

Now for the hard part, tinting.  

I used an old artist palette and added a small amount of the porcelain touch up paint.  I added a very small amount of blue.  These tints are very concentrated so use sparingly.  I then added a drop of orange and yellow ochre.  I kept adjusting until I had a color close to my sink.  

(I was able to test a dot on the sink and wipe it off quickly as I adjusted.)

 Next I carefully dabbed the damaged areas with my mixture...

 Here is the first coat,  it covered really well...

I let that dry and mixed a new batch.  

As you can see my second batch was a bit brighter and little more aqua, but I was OK with it.

It still looked much better than the before.  I also learned Sheffield makes a porcelain filler that I probably should have used since I could still see the large chip on the bottom right.  whoops.

Now you know!

I let it dry over night and then I cleaned the drain with some fine steel wool to polish the chrome and remove any paint.

Here are the two sinks before and after:

Almost as good as the day Mike Brady installed them!  

I'm just so glad they don't look dirty anymore.  

I have a gold tub in the kid's bathroom that I am off to fix next.  Happy touch ups!

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I was one of the bloggers selected by True Value to work on the DIY Squad. I have been compensated for my time commitment to the program as well as writing about my experience. I have also been compensated for the materials needed for my DIY project. However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments.