Grandiose Spray Paint

Iv'e been procrastinating on this post because I keep saying to myself, "oh chelsea, don't be a noob, everyone knows the power of spray paint!" But the truth is, I didn't fully know the power of spray paint until last summer when Brett and I decided to use it on an empty frame I wanted to use as a photo prop. Long story short, we became obsessed to the point where almost everything in our house got a fresh coat of the stuff. I then started feeling guilty about it, assuming that it's actually not great for the environment, and we took a break. We now only spray paint in moderation, but we still love it. 

We still love painting things by hand, and for bigger pieces, like side tables or chairs, a good old fashioned brush and bucket of paint will do the job best. But when you're talking about these smaller 'big change for little buck' jobs, that's when spray paint comes in handy. My favorite thing about spray paint is that it sticks really well to plastic or metal. The trick is to use primer, which if you're spraying, you may as well use spray primer. My other favorite thing about spray paint is that it dries so so fast. The primer will dry to the touch within 10 minutes, and you can begin the first coat within 30. The actual paint will dry to touch in 30 minutes and you can do a second coat within an hour. My least favorite thing about spray paint is that it pretty much has to be done outside, which means it's not really a winter sport. 

Here's a couple items I transformed this weekend:

Lamp. I began to loath this lamp (I got two of them off the target clearance rack last summer for $4.00 each). I know it's border line hoarding, but even if Im not in love with something, when it's priced that well, I buy it. One of the shades got smooshed on the way home and I always neglected it, the other I started hating more and more until finally I just came home one afternoon, tore the shades off and whipped out a bottle of spray paint. I got two new lamp shades, and after a fresh coat of paint, Im happy with my lamps.

Before. Middle. After

Drawer. Brett (also borderline horder) was driving home from work and spotted an old wood filing cabinet in a neighbors burn pile ... he asked if he could take a few things (sir, can we have your trash?). Brett was only able to get one of the drawers out of the cabinet because the wood had swollen from being outside, the next day the pile was burned (I guess that guy didn't want any more beggars at his door asking to go through his trash). We did, however, get to save one drawer, it sat in our garage for like 6 weeks until finally I decided to paint it and put a pull on it. Now we can throw junk in it :D and it's really cute! I don't know what to do about the lock though, I didn't want to put the old lock back on it because it's silver and the pull is gold, and buying a gold lock doesn't seem like the answer ... ideas? 

Before. After

Spray Paint = Easy, Cheap, Fast  .... I love cheap thrills, what can I say?

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