I firmly believe in the power of spray paint. When we moved in, we had a lot of things that were still functional, but not incredibly pretty. Some things that we had from our renting days or that came with the house (like the mailbox), were perfectly fine, I was just unhappy with the color. I constantly have a mental list of items in our house that I would like to freshen up with some spray paint.
A few weeks ago, while on a Lowe's trip, I picked up a few cans of white glossy spray paint and spray primer. I just got around to gathering everything that I wanted to paint, prepping it, and getting the jobs done.
Project 1:
Picture Frames
I got a dozen 11x14 picture frames at Michael's for $1.50 each a couple of months ago (on sale, plus a coupon!). Michael's only had the frames in black. But, they are very sturdy plastic that came with a mat and quality mounting hardware. I used one coat of white spray primer that is made for plastics and two light coats of spray paint to get these from black to white. The mats were white when I bought the frames. I took them out of the frames and spray painted them with metallic silver paint. I have to say, I'm pretty thrilled with the end result, especially for the price. Here's an idea of what the frames looked like before:
And the after:
Project 2:
Firewood Holder
Fine shape, great price, wrong color. Matt and I picked this little baby up at Menards for just over $10. I didn't actually remember to take a before picture of this piece, but here's the after (just imagine it in black for the before)
Project 3:
Garbage Can
We bought a couple of these garbage cans at Target way back in college. They were cheap and could hold garbage. And, at the time we bought them, that is all we were looking for. These days, they were looking a little bit rusted and gross. After a quick once-over with some sandpaper, I was ready to spray prime and spray paint. The garbage can is still as functional and cheap as it's always been, but now it matches my color scheme and looks clean
Before and After:
Much nicer looking, no? And here it is in our bedroom (it's right under the calla lily picture from my this post)
Project 4:
Mirrors
Matt got these mirrors from one of his tenants. They were planning on throwing them away. I am always on the lookout for big mirrors. I love how much a mirror can open up a space and reflect so much light back into a room. Matt snagged these before they met their fate in the dumpster. I cleaned them up and primed and painted them white. I think it's a big improvement from the icky, dated gold color. Here's the before, during, and after:
Project 5:
Thread Rack
I ordered two of these unfinished wood thread racks off of Amazon for my sewing room:
They're functional and hold a ton of thread. But, they were kind of blah. Two coats of Valspar Glossy Tulip Pink spray paint later and they are a cute little punch of color in my sewing room:
Next on my spray paint itinerary: A few of the planters that live in our sunporch, some pieces of trim to finish out a mirror in our guest bathroom, an old light fixture on the sunporch, a recycling bin for our kitchen, and some more picture frames.
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