I painted some of mine and so far they look fine.That was about 4 yrs ago.

I painted my switchplate covers the same color as the wall but didn't care for the look.

And what about the receptacle? Paint that too? I just finished a painting project and contemplated painting all of the covers and receptacles but decided to wash them and put them back on the wall instead.

When we remodeled our bathroom and used a caramel color on the walls and white trim we replaced all outlet covers with white....just looked "crisper" I guess would be the word.

JR

this is my homework for this weekend. I have a new white subway tile backsplash and my walls just painted green. I had beige plates. I'm switching all the receptacles to white (which I found at walmart for $0.54 each) and in the kitchen I'm putting white plates. In the den I plan on painting the plates green. If I don't like it I'll buy some white ones. If you are willing to spend some money. HD has some nice ones. They even have the cheap white or beige ones now is a ss look at the same low price.

You can get wood ones at Home Depot to paint.

I use the Masque covers. I get them at Home Depot. In some stores they are in the paint section, and in the electrical dept in others. They are meant to be painted and hold up well. The only thing is that when I use matte paint, the feeling of my fingernails on the cover, if I happen to scratch it with my nails, kind of freaks me out. But, I'm weird about stuff like that. I especially like the outlet covers because they cover the entire thing and just have two little slits. I am contemplating covering my plates with some sort of poly after I paint them, to make them feel more satiny to the touch.

Here is a link that might be useful: Masque Website

This has been a bit of a runnin' joke around here for awhile now. I always paint the covers. ;)

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You can paint the covers, and yes I'd put a couple of poly coats on. Try one and if you don't like it they're cheap to replace. You can even decoupage them. But before you decide, you should google switchplate covers. There are gobs of styles including some very swanky ones out there in all sorts of finishes.

And Chelone -- lol!

Here is a link that might be useful: A cool site for switchplates

I've painted those ugly beige plastic switch plate covers using the metallic spray paint. It worked WONDERFUL, and has lasted well over 4 years already. There are numerous "finishes" offered in spray paint nowadays...check it out.

You could try it out on just one, and if you don't like it, what have you lost...just a cheap plastic cover!

Houstonmom reminded me that we did the same thing with our cold air returns. On the walls we had painted deep tones we used a metallic spray that matched lighting fixtures. I hated the white popping out on the walls.

For the outlet covers on our kitchen island we used black receptacles and stained wood covers to match.

I snapped up a few white ceramic ones at ReStore, but I don't have quite enough for all the rooms I want them in so I'll have to get more, including the outlet covers. The ceramic ones seem to fit our old house better. In other areas I'll just paint the switch plates and outlet covers. The LR and DR had beat up, old brass-looking covers when we moved in, but the new ones seem a little too 'slick' for an old Victorian, so I figured the ceramic would be better.

Thanks for all the ideas -- spray paint sounds like a great idea.

I have painted some of them and others I left unpainted. In my bathroom I got brushed nickel covers.

I have had no problems with chipping paint and all I ever did was just roll the wall paint on.