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How To Paint Stone Windowsills

Equipment

  • bonding primer for stone/masonry
  • latex semi-gloss paint
  • brushes and low nap rollers
  • sandpaper
  • rag to wipe dust

Instructions

  • First, you’ll want to use some larger grit sandpaper to lightly rough up the shiny surface of your stone so the paint will stick better. Technically, the primer that I used says you don’t have to paint for it to adhere, but to be honest, I always do anyway especially if it’s a trickier surface to get good bond between the material and the paint. Wipe up any sanding dust so the area is clean and dry.
  • Use a your bonding primer to cover over your stone as your first coat. Make sure to pay attention to the primer and allow it to have adequate dry time before adding a top coat. It really makes a difference to use a bonding primer that’s specifically for stone so even if you choose a different brand, make sure it’s for slick surfaces and stone/masonry for best results.
  • Paint over your bonding primer with some semi-gloss paint, again giving adequate time to dry between coats (another critical key for getting paint to set correctly). For these last few coats, I would use a roller with a low nap (cutting in at the edges with a brush as needed) to get a smooth look since you can really see brush strokes on projects like this.
  • Now, as a general rule, you can use acrylic paint over oil-based primers if you choose a masonry primer that’s oil-based. So you should be able to use your regular trim paint that matches the rest of your trim as long as your bonding primer coat had time to fully dry before adding the topcoat.