DIY kinda girl: Painting the bathroom faucet

(Before and After of my entire bathroom redo found here.)
UPDATE: It's been almost nine months since I painted this faucet, and I'm delighted to say that it has held up beautifully, even with our hard water. There are a couple tiny chips on the drain assembly, but that would be my husband's fault for prying it up with his fingernails when it got stuck once! The faucet itself has not a scratch.

Replacing a faucet is EXPENSIVE. And you want to make sure you get a good one...and THAT's what made me decide I'd try the paint route.
I've seen people who have painted their faucets with some success. The biggest turn off for me (other than durability concerns) was all the precise taping.

I hate taping.

So I decided just to take out my faucet and drain assembly and spray paint them in the garage! Thank you, YouTube.

It's a pick your poison kind of situation. It definitely took me just as long to remove the faucet and drain assembly as it would have to tape. But I just felt I could do a better paint job with the faucet off.

Once I had removed the faucet, I scraped off all the old caulk and cleaned it thoroughly.

Then I put on some gloves and started scuffing it up with some steel wool. Unfortunately, the steel wool I had was super fine, so it wasn't doing the best job. So instead I grabbed a Scotch-Brite heavy duty sponge and used that. It did a lovely job of scuffing it up.

And then, I started spraying. With primer. I used some Rustoleum I had lying around from when I did our custom house numbers. REMEMBER, folks, lots of thin coats.

Next, the oil rubbed bronze spray paint. Krylon Brushed Metallic.

Then I used some of the leftover Sophisticated Finishes copper metallic surfacer from my lamp redo to add some copper highlights. I used a make-up sponge, and just lightly whisked it over the areas I wanted to highlight.

And the topcoat! I used Krylon Matte Finish. Again, lots of THIN coats. Lots. I was aiming for the most durability possible.

And then it was time to put it back in.

My biggest concern with durability was cleaning it. I don't know if it could hold up to being scrubbed. So my solution is to prevent the problem before it starts. I wipe the faucet and drain assembly down with a Clorox wipe every night. So far, so good!
I love it! And for less than 10 bucks, I'm happy!!!