How to Paint/Hide Electrical Outlets and Plates

Hello my friends!

I just finished painting all my electrical outlets because I kept looking in my kitchen and thought, wow, having all those white outlets on my stone back splash really makes things look busy,  I need to CAMOUFLAGE them.

I am SOOOOO happy I did!  The kitchen really looks uncluttered now, it was just a fun custom final touch.

So let me give you a full tutorial on how to camouflage your own outlets.

1.) First take the outlets off the wall.

2.) Sand down the outlets just to roughen them up a bit to take off that super shiny top coat.

3.) You can now prime the outlets with a white (or grey if you are going dark) primer.  You can purchase spray primer at any home improvement store or off the internet.  I'll be honest with you guys, I didn't prime my outlets because I'm bad.  I think they will be fine, but to be on the safe side, I wanted to tell you what you SHOULD do.  

4.) Place the outlets back on the wall with your hand and mark in any grout lines with a pencil (that is, if you have grout lines)

5.) Next coat the entire plate with an acrylic craft paint that matches the base of your tile.  You want the undertone to match exactly, so really be sure and find a color that does that.

6.) If you have a textured tile, start dabbing on other colors with a brush and play around with the shades until you have matched the look of your tile.  If you have a smooth tile, be sure and use a larger brush and do smooth stokes and not a lot of them.

I tell everyone, painting over things it's just like painting your nails, it takes some time and patience to do it correctly but just think of the perfect manicure and you'll be on your way to perfect painting!

Take a look at what I mean.......

begin with buffing

base coating

painting

don't let the layers get to thick

dry between coats

putting on the top clear coat that seals in the color

maybe multiple top coats which once again include drying between coats and not getting it too thick!

Seriously, it's just nails ladies....and if you are a man reading this ignore that entire paragraph!

7.) After your outlet has thoroughly dried, you can apply a matte varnish if your tile is matte (not shiny) or a glossy varnish if the tile (or granite) is shiny.  You can purchase this in a spray can or a regular paint can.  This is where I would recommend putting on a few (2-3) coats and drying between the coats.  You can also buy a polycrylic (it's similar to  varnish) sealer and spray that over the paint too....whatever you want.

Take your time folks......I'm horrible at taking time but I know it's best to do it right so don't rush the painting steps above.  (think nails.....ha!)

8.) Screw back on the outlets, touch up the center screw with a dab of paint to match.

NOTE: From all my research, they recommend  NOT PAINTING the actual plug in.  If any paint gets into those holes, it can make it very difficult to plug things in it, but not only that, it can be a fire hazard!

That's it!!  Let's see some Before and After Photos.

  

It looks so much cleaner and not all busy.  Worth the time it took :-)

The outlets on the Granite.....

Here is a Final Photo of the Kitchen. (from here you can't see any outlets!)

Do you think you'll do it to some of your outlets?
Has anyone done this already to their own home and have some more tips?  Leave me a comment!

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