Rustoleum’s American Accents Paint

I came upon Rustoleum’s American Accents paint while at Lowe’s a few weeks ago. My Dad graciously gave Sherine and I his old solid oak, four drawer, vertical file cabinet. It was in terrific shape, the only problem was it was “oak” colored (imagine that). No problem, sand, prime, and paint it. What color? Why…like Mick Jagger said; “Paint it black,” of course. It’d blend in with the rest of our decor perfectly.

Well, I’ll tell ya right now. Avoid this stuff. When I was talking to the woman at the paint counter I asked if they had cans of premixed black paint; figured it be basic enough. At first she said no, but that she could mix up some of their Valspar brand for me no problem. After some chit chat about basic techniques to refinishing furniture she remembered they did have this Rustoleum product down by they spray paint. Now, I’ve used Valspar paint before for the accent wall in my computer/den/music room; seemed like descent stuff. But I thought I’d check out this premixed stuff. The price for a quart of the premixed Rustoleum and a quart of a custom mixed Valspar were about the same. I decided to opt for the convenience and grabbed a can of premixed stuff.

What didn’t I like about the Rustoleum American Accents paint? It’s thin…thin, thin, thin. I know I was covering white primer but still. Even after 2 coats I was contemplating a 3rd. It was almost like black water….like if non-fat milk were black…that’s what this paint is like.

As thin as this paint is it’s durability is slim to none. While putting the drawers back in the cabinet I lightly struck the bottom of one of the drawers on the frame, so lightly I didn’t feel it, but I must have because low and behold a chip in the paint appeared. Ridiculous.

To tell you the truth I was pretty disappointed with this product. With a brand name like Rustoleum I expected more. American Accents comes in a handful of other colors than black, but learn from my experience and steer clear. Good things to those who wait…and have a custom can mixed for them.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a paint chip to go fix.

Conclusion: Not Recommended