we did we used rustoleum.It is cast iron.Gold leaf you can get at craft store.It wasnt me though that you are looking for....

Unless you have a shower thingmie.....LOL

We do, and can I say here that it really sucks? :) I can't wait to tear that dang thing down! (Just as soon as the plumbing is hooked up in the addition....)

Seriously, I'm sure that almost any quality interior paint would do for the exterior of a tub.

I posted once about my friend who gold leafed the feet of her old tub - could that be the post you remember?
She didn't use real gold leaf (way too much $$), just the stuff that's available at craft stores.
She says just follow the directions and you can't go wrong.
She did glaze over hers with a brownish glaze to antique them. Looks great.
Hope this helps.

I posted about gold leaf painting the feet of my clawfoot tubs. Rustoleum makes at least 2 shades of metalic gold that I know of - a bright one and a deeper one. They both look great. I also gold leaf painted all my cast iron radiators. The first time the radiators were all brush painted by my mother - bless her. The second time they were sprayed by the painter. The first time I used actual gold leaf paint - very expensive - but it tarnished anyway. The second time - 5 years ago - with Rustoleum and they are still looking good. Get the right paint and you will love the look. Both of my tubs (one in each apartment) have a shower that is the only shower for the apartment and it has not affected the paint.

Jude, you were the one! I bought a Rustoleum product to do the feet: a little can of American Accents. I don't think I stirred the paint enough, because I got the result described above. The can says NOT to apply another coat. I've decided to sand it down and try something called Liquid Leaf. It's a tiny bottle of paint in just the slightly coppery gold shade I wanted. Rub & Buff was also recommended to me, but my store didn't have a good selection of shades.

I'll report back with pix when I'm done.

Thanks, all!

Susan

Alisande, Krylon (I think that's the spelling) also makes metallic gold in a spray can that my painter used on one radiator 5 years ago. It came out great and has not tarnished. I've repainted the tub feet when I repaint the room. I've never removed all the old paint (except for the first time), just wirebrush a bit and paint. Takes no time. Good luck.

Anyone care to update this with recent experience? I have an all white cast iron clawfoot tub and I'd love to paint the feet to go with my oil rubbed bronze fixture finish. I looked all over the craft store yesterday and didn't see anything I thought would work. Has anyone here done this and if so what color would you get to closely match that finish (which I know is a range depending upon who makes the fixture!)

I did end up using Liquid Leaf on the feet. As I mentioned above, I was told Rub & Buff is another option. I was happy with the Liquid Leaf.

Here's a couple of pictures, taken when the painting was in progress (or just finished). Note my "dropcloth"Âa quilt from the Salvation Army (I recommend this). The only thing I was less than happy about is that Lowe's made a mistake in tinting the paint for the outside of the tub. It was supposed to be a deeper shade. Because I did the painting in a bedroom, it wasn't until it was finished and the contractor moved it back into the bathroom that I discovered it matches the bathroom walls. Not the look I wanted, but I wasn't about to start over at that point.

Here's the other end of the bathroom. It's still not quite finished (no hardware, for one thing) because the contractor found other places to go and people to see . . .

PS: Of the two pictures of the tub and feet, the top one is the more color-accurate.

20 years ago I painted a clawfoot tub blue and 2 of the feet blue and gold, with gold on the claws. The other 2 feet are next to the wall and you can't see them, so they're plain blue. I think I used Rustoleum but don't remember for sure. The gold is chipping off in places so I really need to do it again. I remember the paint must have been oil based as it smelled terrible, and nowadays I use low or non-VOC paints only, so I'm not sure how that would work.

I wanted to post that if you are trying to get a ORB finish, you may want to test the hammered copper spray paint made by Krylon or Rustoleum (can't remember which brand but it is the brand carried at Walmart). I used this on some ugly bright brass light fixtures. I should have pre-painted them w/ black bc the brass did show thru where some of the 'hammered' spots were. So, I just added a second coat (which covers the 'hammered' look) and ended up getting a great knockoff finish of ORB. I was very pleased. But again, experiment first to make sure this look will work for you. Good luck and please post pics. I have a clawfoot in our garage awaiting a face-lift too =)

I recently painted mine with a small Rustoleum can of silver. I stripped the old paint off with SoyGel down to the original porcelain (I was surprised they weren't bare metal). The paint went on very easy with a brush as long as you don't go over your strokes; much easier than masking everything off to spray, which was my original plan. It's wearing fine but it's only been a couple of months. They don't get much wear & tear though : )

I am planning to paint our iron claw foot tub.
But RUSTELEUM cannot be found in France.
I am going to use regular matted paint and then beeswax over it.
Has anyone used this method?

Frenchdressing - wait a minute! Beeswax melts when warm! If you are ever going to use this tub, you may want to reconsider. Go to a paint store and ask what they recommend.

We have the opposite problem, there is layers of paint on the outside of the tub that I am not thrilled with, it's really thick on the feet and kind of obscure them. Anyone have any luck taking paint OFF a tub? I'd probably just paint it again, but it would be nice to see the detail in the feet.

The beeswax that I use is called Baume des Antiquaire in French. (I live in France) it does not melt. There is beeswax in it and that is why I said beeswax. But when you rub it over matted paint it forms a seal.

autumngal,

I stripped the painted feet of my tub. You dunk them in stripper for a few hours, then get a good wire brush and scrub scrub scrub. Resoak as necessary. You will likely not get every bitty bit, especially between the toes :) but I think it just adds character. Be sure to dry them very well each time you rinse them with water.

Once you're done, make sure to coat them with Penetrol to prevent rusting (it's clear), whether you'll be repainting or leaving them in their original metal.

cheers.

Mine was resurfaced in the interior of the tub with some kind of plastic coating. At first, it resembled very closely real glazing, but after about 3 years, the applied coating began to chip off. Anyone know of something I can touch it up with, to avoid having to have the whole thing redone?

I am told that no-one will take an old tub and re-apply a new coat of glazing to the cast iron, and that the plastic stuff is the best restoration you can do.

I wouldn't have even considered refinishing it, except for some severe damage to the original glazing on the bottom of the tub. It wasn't chipped, but there was an irregular spot where the sheen was totally gone, leaving a rough, yellowed, sandpaper like texture.

Thanks circuspeanut! When we get there, I'll definitly give it a try, I'd like those toes to not be so obscured!

Autumn, you should be able to get them detailed pretty nicely -- mine were covered in many layers of white paint, and I got them down to this:

Thanks for the good information. We are redoing our bathroom and had thought to re paint our old clawfoot tub. But after scrapping the old chipped paint off we decided to leave it as is... do you think I need to add a seal on it so it won't rust?
(I would add a photo here but I do not know how, so I have enclosed the link to our bathroom project.)

Here is a link that might be useful: Our bathroom tub and bathroom

If you have it down to bare metal anywhere, I'd recommend Penetrol to prevent any further oxidation. Otherwise, depending on the condition of your paint, you could do a layer of clear poly or clear acrylic (Rustoleum) to keep it intact. Last thing you want is old paint chips flaking off in the steamy bathroom!

Who was the manufacturer of the 1910 tub, please