Making a dark corner brighter with spray painted frames

 

I have a collection of family photos on a table in my living room. They're framed in black and pewter, and recently I'd been thinking that corner looked dark. The answer? Spray paint the frames gold, of course! I've had some trouble with spray paint sticking to some frames (mainly plastic, I think) so I decided to use primer on these. Note - primer dries slower than spray paint (I got impatient and had to redo a couple : ( For some reason, I still had trouble with two of them. I thought it was because it was too cold one morning when I was working on them (spray paint does not work well in cold or hot temperatures). But it happened again on a warmer day. Boo! I couldn't get two to look smooth. So I gave up and tried something else. I gave them a coat of spray paint and dabbed the still-wet paint with a scrunched up piece of plastic wrap. It gave the frames an interesting texture and covered up the fact that the paint wasn't smooth. And I love the way they look!

 

 And that corner is much brighter now

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Spray paint deal!

I stopped at Ollie's over the weekend and you'll never believe what I found! Krylon (yes, Krylon! my favorite :) metallic gold and silver spray paint for $1.99.

   

 That's a steal, people! Good thing they didn't have a wide variety of colors - I would have been tempted to buy at least one of every color. And I'm telling ya - this shiny, metallic fall/Halloween decor idea was meant to be! Now I just need to find the pumpkins/gourds at a good price...

My favorite spray paint tools

Krylon Spray Paint



This is my absolute favorite spray paint. it works well, comes in a wide variety of colors, and is reasonably priced. But even if you don't use Krylon, use a name brand spray paint. I'm a generic girl, but sometimes generic just doesn't cut it. Trust me, spray paint is one of those times.

 Spray Handle





I don't know why I put off buying one for so long. It was $2.50 at Walmart and it is worth every penny. It truly saves my "trigger" finger and wrist from hurting when I'm on a spray painting binge. It also seems to provide a smoother spray once  you get the hang of it.

Mask



OK, if I'm being honest I have to admit I don't use a mask every time I paint. If I'm doing a quick project in a well-ventilated area (ie: outdoors), I don't bother. But a mask is a must when doing large projects. You don't want to be breathing in the paint fumes for long!

Newspaper



Newspapers are a cheap, quick and easy way to protect surfaces (even if it's just your grass : ) for small projects.

Tarp



My tarp was about $10 at Walmart. I don't usually haul it out for little projects (ie: a frame), but for bigger projects (ie: a desk), it's almost a necessity.

Old Shoeboxes and Disposable Plant Pots

 



These make great "stands" for items when painting them. If you rest the item directly on your tarp or newspaper, it's harder to get to the bottom edge, and the item will often stick to the tarp or newspaper. You can purchase stands for this purpose, but why buy them when you can get them with something you're buying anyway?

Sanding Block

 

Spray paint sticks to most items without needing to sand first. Once-in-a-while a quick, light sanding is needed. This block is perfect for that. I picked up a two pack at the dollar store, for well, a buck. Can't beat that.

Time to try chalk paint?

If you love paint the way I do, you've undoubtedly heard about chalk paint. The idea of chalk paint has intrigued me since I started reading about this craze. The things I read about it sound great - no sanding prior to painting, sticks to just about anything, goes on smooth, a little goes a long way, and is great for a distressed look. There are a couple things I don't like, though - it needs to be waxed to finish it off (Though I'm only assuming that might be hard, and maybe it will make the surface more durable. That's the idea, anyway.) and the cost. Chalk paint is expensive!
But I've also found quite a few recipes to make your own. And they don't seem hard. I found this recipe at SunflowerHugs. She likes it, and her projects look great. I have a big dresser I plan to paint white and distress for my daughter. I think it might be time to give it a try!

Turning an old desk into a night stand

Remember this desk I planned to paint silver? Well, it's been a busy summer, but I'm finally getting around to it! I started by painting the spots where I scraped off decals, so I'd have an even surface. I just used white spray paint I already had on hand.

 

Now it was time for the silver! Actually, it's called "aluminum." I wanted more of a matte finish silver than a shiny silver. I couldn't find what I wanted in Krylon, so I went with Rustoleum. That's not to say Krylon doesn't make it, but they didn't have it at Walmart, which is where I was. I was pretty happy with the Rustoleum, though. After the first spray, I knew I'd make the right choice. I love the silver! Like most spray paint projects, the desk took a couple of coats and a bit of touchingup to complete.

For the most part, I love the way it turned out. But, to be honest, I'm not thrilled with the top. It has seen much better days, and that shows through the silver.

 

 

 

With some more work and elbow grease, I could probably get it to look OK. But I've got another idea in mind. It's going to take a while to complete, though, because I don't want to spend a lot of money on this project. So I'm going to go to Michael's and JoAnn Etc. weekly with 40% off coupons (unless I happen on a sale!) to purchase enough of what I need. Stay tuned for the final result!

Go away, rain!

Rain, rain, go away, Elise wants to spray paint!  One of the major drawbacks to spray paint is that it's pretty weather-dependent. I have two choices when I'm spray painting - outdoors or my garage. I prefer outdoors - that way 'm not breathing in paint fumes as badly and the light's better. But when it's raining, outdoors isn't an option. And when the temperatures drop below 50 degrees (F) or go above 90 degrees (F), it's not good to spray paint anywhere because it'll crack. With fall rapidly approaching, and winter fast on its heels, I'm feeling the pressure to get my spray paint projects done. So I really need the rain to go away : )

A spray painted shelf for my daughter's apartment

I've had a busy summer! Visiting family, increasing my work hours at one  of my jobs, and spending time with my kids. It hasn't left much time for painting anything! But I finally got around to tackling a project.

My oldest daughter had told me she needed a wall shelf for her apartment. When I saw this... beauty?... at ReStore I knew it was perfect. Especially since it was only $2! Yes, it's orange. Very orange. Which doesn't match anything in her apartment. But I knew all it needed was some spray paint.

On a side note - have you ever been to a ReStore? They sell (at reasonable prices) donated home items - furniture, dishes, paint, windows, cabinetry, doors, and much, much more - and the proceeds benefit Habitat for Humanity. The first time I visited our local ReStore, I fell in love!

Anyway, the shelf... When it finally stopped raining, I spray painted it black, using paint I had on hand. My daughter debated about the color choice, but finally settled on black because the piece would then work in any room in her apartment.

What a difference, right?

Framing a new art print

We recently took a family trip to Washington, DC (Did you miss me? I missed painting and sharing what I've done with you!). While there, we were fortunate to be able to tour the White House. What a surreal experience! We actually walked through all these rooms we hear so much about -- the red room, the green room, etc. (they were much smaller than I thought they would be!). At the visitor's center, my husband and I picked up a print of a painting of the White House by Guy Carleton Wiggins for a buck! While I love original art, I also love a good print. But now I had the dilemma of framing it and finding a place to hang it. I rarely purchase something without having a pretty good idea of what I'll do with it, but I made an exception for this lovely memento. I knew I could find a place. Before going out and purchasing a frame I -- you guessed it -- shopped my storage room. I found this frame that's the perfect size.

 

 But you can see the paint is scratched up a bit.

 

That was fixed with one easy coat of black spray paint, which I already had on hand (You do, too, right? Everyone needs a can of black spray paint on hand!).

 

Now it looked like new, but it was kind of boring. So I decided to use gold craft paint (I also had this on hand) to "fancy" it up.  My first idea was to draw a line of gold through the decorative groove on the frame. But as I started doing that, wiping off the excess as I went, I realized I really liked the way the gold looked rubbed into the wood grain. So I quickly sprayed it with black again to cover the gold in the groove (that's the great thing about projects like this -- if you don't like how it's coming out, you can simply spray paint it again). Then I used my finger to to rub gold paint into the grain of the wood. I wiped off some of the excess because I didn't want it to be shiny gold. I wanted a more subtle look. The gold makes the frame work better with the photo I paired the piece with, also.

 

Voila! A beautiful piece framed nicely for our living room that cost nothing more than the $1 for the print, and took very, very little time.

  

 

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A fresh new look for my garden decor

 

When I was cleaning out my garage last week I found these dragonfly garden decorations. I've had them for years. I did use them in my gardens at one time, but I liked them not loved them, ya know? So one year, after putting them away for the winter, I didn't get them back out in the spring. Looking at them now, I debated: Keep? Or ditch? They're kind of drab looking. There's nothing exciting about them. I didn't think they really added anything to my gardens, so why keep them? But, as they were about to hit the garage sale pile, I thought "spray paint!" Of course. lol I picked up a can of sunny yellow paint (in fact, it's called Sun Yellow) at Walmart for $3.67. It was an easy job to give them each a couple coats of the yellow paint.

 

 

Now they're a bright, cheery pop of color in a couple of my gardens!

 

 

Everybody has spray painted grass, right?

Even more green spray paint for the "guest room"

Still working on the "guest room!" I decided it needed just one more pop of green. I found this candle sconce in my storage room.

 

And the narrow wall space next to the closet seemed the perfect place for it. I gave it a coat of the green paint and hung it up. I even had the candle on hand. I'd rather a white candle in this room (this one's ivory, if you can't tell in the picture), but I already had this one, so for now it'll do.

 

 

By the way -- I'm still using the same can of spray paint. A little really does go a long way!

Time for a spring tune-up!

I rescued some chairs from someone's garbage. Well, I couldn't have done it without hubby... I saw them in a trash pile, but I drive a Chevy Cobalt. They weren't fitting in that! So I drove home, grabbed hubby and his van and drove back (luckily, it was in my neighborhood).  Hubby used all his muscle to pick them up and put them in the back of the van. But... the hatch wouldn't close. And they weren't stable. So he sat in the back hanging on to them for dear life while I drove verrrrry slowly home. (He tolerates my spray paint addiction very well.) They were originally white and were very rusted. I sanded them and spray painted them black. And now we have patio chairs that perfectly match our patio table!

 

But last year, in the fall, they took a tumble across our cement patio in a storm. Painted surfaces do not like being scraped against cement : (

  

Five minutes with a can of black spray paint fixed that, though!

 

More spray painted decor for the "guest room"

 

Still working on the "guest room" -- aka daughter number 1's bedroom! This butterfly was originally a brown/rust color. It's meant for outdoor use, but I liked it in the house. At some point, it ended up in my daughter's room. I talked about painting it, but never got around to it. It was hanging on a different wall in her room, but when she decorated her apartment earlier this year, she took some things of the walls. I filled in a blank spot with the butterfly. It filled the spot. But didn't pop. So I spraypainted it the same green as the bike frame. Now it's perfect!

 

My next big spray paint project

 

I've actually spray painted this desk twice already! I found it for $5 years ago at a garage sale. It belonged to daughter number 2. I painted it to match her room and then repainted it when we redecorated. As you can probably tell, I embellished it with butterflies and flowers. You can see I've already scraped them off -- with my homemade cleaner and a putty knife, they came right off!

My plan is to spray paint it silver! And it's for, you guessed it - the "guest" room (aka: daughter number 1's room). Lately, I've been breaking out of the neutral box I'd painted myself into and I'm loving it! And I think the silver will look great with the mostly contemporary style I've been doing in there. This will be used as a nightstand. It fits the space on one side of the bed perfectly.

My favorite brand of spray praint

 

I love spray paint! It's easy to use, there's no messy clean up, and it's relatively inexpensive. But I've found that not all spray paints are created equal. I love a good generic product as much as the next guy, but sometimes you need to go for a specific brand. My favorite spray paint is Krylon (I'm not being paid to say that - I really do love it). Even when I try something else, I find myself going back to Krylon. The nozzle is easy to use, it covers well, doesn't drip (unless I get too heavy-handed with the spraying), and is available in places like Walmart. To make it ever better, I just saw a large display of Krylon spray paint in Walmart with lots of new, bright colors! (I'll be honest, I nearly peed my pants : ) Nothing like spray paint color options to get me excited.) Do you have a favorite brand of spray paint?

Old frame looks new again with some spray paint

OK, I'm mad at myself because I forgot to take a "before" photo of this project! But the frame was black. Can you picture that?

 

I love this picture frame - and the pix of my cute lil' munchkins in it - but after I redecorated the room it was in I didn't really have a place for it. So it's been in storage : ( Now that Daughter #1 is in her second year of college and has her own apartment, I've slowly been converting her room into a guest room. Since I don't want to do a total overhaul and leave her feeling like she's been kicked out, I've been working with the color scheme already in place. Which is purple! (I'm sure you can guess that is her favorite color.) I like green with purple, though - anybody with me? So I've been working on adding a few green touches. When I "shopped" my storage area for inspiration, I found this not-quite-forgotten frame. I knew with a little spray paint it'd be perfect in that room! And to make it even more perfect, I already had the spray paint on hand. I'd like to say I gave it a quick coat of spray paint and immediately added it to the room, but that would be a lie. The key to spray painting is thin coats. That's fine - most projects are still relatively quick. But this frame had so many nooks and crannies to get into that it took some time - I didn't want blobs and streaks of paint ruining it. One of the great features of spray paint is the smooth, factory-like finish you can achieve. So I worked on it off and on all day, actually. But I love the finished look! And it IS perfect in the room (watch for a room reveal in the future).