Has your marble window sills become old and want to give it a facelift? Or did you have your marble window sills installed in a color you are not so intrigued about and wondering if you could paint it, well, it’s your lucky day! In this article, I’m going to answer this exact question and give you some pros and cons so that you can know what to expect and make a better decision.
So can you paint marble window sills? You can paint marble window sills with high-gloss oil-based paint preceded by an oil-based primer. Once painted your marble window sills will have a nice rejuvenating appearance. However, painting marble window sills will come with some downsides like very long curing time amongst other things.
To learn more about this topic keep reading this article.
Pros And Cons Of Painting Marble Window Sills
While you can paint your marble window sills to make them new-looking amongst other advantages, there are a couple of downsides to painting your marble window sills. Let’s delve into both the pros and cons of painting your marble window sills.
The Pros
1. Great Way To Restore Your Old Marble Sills
Painting window sills is a great way to restore your marble window sills if you want them looking as good as new without having to change the entire marble window sills.
Due to direct contact of the marble window sills to the natural elements like sun, rain, etc, it turns to get beat up, discolor, and chip with time.
Painting your marble window sills is a great way to give your window the facelift it deserves. It’s such a great feeling knowing you can always repaint your marble window sills whenever you’re doing any form of renovation around the house.
Marble window sills are such a vital part of the overall design of any house. It makes the house stand out from the crowd and real enthusiasts like yourself will always appreciate what it means to be able to paint and restore such an important part of the house.
2. Painting Protects The Marble Window Sills
Not to say marble window sills are a modern trend but it’s something that has definitely become very common in recent years. You will often find wooden window sills to be a lot more common due to how cheap they are to install.
However, marbles make for one of the very best materials for window sills. They are gorgeous, highly functional, and can last very long.
Marble window sills come with a huge caveat to their installation as marbles are porous and are highly susceptible to discoloration and staining from constant exposure to both weather and man-made or artificial elements.
This is where you’re going to benefit a great deal from painting your marbles. Painting marbles often involves the use of seals to ensure the surface of your marble window sills is protected while maintaining its luxurious look.
3. Painting Marble Window Sills Will Hold Up
Painting marble window sills hold up pretty well even if a complete beginner like you does it. Usually, people assume when they paint their marbles it’s going to bubble or flake due to how smooth, especially, cultured marbles are.
But if properly done like I’m going to show you in this article, your marble window sills should hold up fine and last you many years to come.
The Cons
1. May Develop Scratches
Painting the marble will not prevent the marble window sills from developing scratches. Scratches will reappear on your marble window sills even after you have painted it.
As disappointing as this may be, it’s simply the nature of the marbles. You may be able to minimize the occurence of scratches by not placing anything abrasive like a flower pot.
However, I know most of you find the marble window sills as one of your favorite spots in your house because you get to put some of your most treasured flowers or plants there. So it might be unacceptable when I say you shouldn’t put anything in your windows.
If you must, you can put something that is nonabrasive to shield the surface of your painted marble from the pots or stands you will keep on it.
2. Marble Preparation Before Painting Can Be Difficult
Painting on marble window sills can be difficult especially if it’s honed marble. Honed marbles are often rough and come with some natural textures compared to cultured marble – which is polished and smooth.
This makes preparing these kinds of marbles such a herculean task. Usually, preparing your marble window sills will involve sanding it down to remove the previous polish placed to give your marble the tooth to grab on the new paint you intend to apply.
This is not to say polished marbles are any less challenging. Both are and so you need to gear up and brace yourself.
3. Possible Respiratory Issues
Another downside to painting your marble window sills is the dust that rises when preparing the marble for painting. While sanding is simply what you need to do to be able to set yourself up for a successful painting of your marble, it can be very irritating.
When you sand your marble in preparation for your painting little fine particles of dust rise which can be a little irritating – accumulatively to the respiratory systems.
So when doing this, you need to equip yourself with a good mask or a respirator. Also, you would want to work in a well-ventilated room or space so that dust and fumes do not create respiratory issues. You can also leave doors and windows open or use a fan to circulate the air.
4. Very Long Curing Time
Painting your marble window sills is not something you can quickly DIY on a weekend. Not only does it take a very long time to prepare the marble surface before painting but also the actual paint you apply can take up to 168 hours (that’s a week by the way) for the painted marble to cure.
One important tip when it comes to painting marbles is that the more time you leave it to cure the better the results are going to be. It’s also important to add that, while a good rule of thumb will be to leave your painted marbles to cure over a week, the type of paint you will use will also influence how long it takes for your painted marbles to cure.
5. Not All Paints Can Be Used For Marble Window Sills
This simply means when it comes to painting your marble window sills, not everything goes! You would need to select special paints that will be able to properly adhere to the marble while remaining highly resistant to all weather conditions.
So this begs the question, what kind of paint can you use to paint your marble window sills? There are a couple of special paints and other novelty paints out there you can use to restore the look of your marble window sills.
One common paint that is very easy to get and my personal go-to for marbles is high-gloss oil-based paint. Before using the high-gloss oil-based paint you will have to prime the surface of the marble with an oil-based primer.
There are a few other types of paints you can use to paint your marble window sills. You can use chalk paints, a semi-gloss paint that is mixed with a primer, or a work look paint.