Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Before & Afters

Lately I have developed a major crush on Krylon. Yes, the spray paint. Everything I see, I imagine spray painted. What’s so great about spray paint is that it’s so cheap and it’s so easy. You can’t beat $3 a can at Wal-Mart! And once you get the technique down, it’s a piece of cake. Light coats, back and forth sweeping motion, releasing the trigger at each side. No drips!

Today I’ve been a spray painting fool! Check out today’s projects:

I found a candlestick on clearance at Hobby Lobby today for $4. Regularly priced $40! I’ve been looking for things to put on my mantle and this seemed perfect, although polished brass is def not my style. So I spruced it up with a little brushed nickel spray paint I had on hand. Love it!

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Next up, my tired, old mailbox. I’ve hated this thing since we moved in, and have dreamt of getting one of those big nice plastic ones. You know the kind, they look like it should be a Little Tykes brand. But I think it’s Rubbermaid or something. But those are freaking expensive, and I’m too cheap to shell out big bucks for a stinking mailbox, no matter how much I love to get the mail everyday. So instead, I picked up a can of $5 spray paint at Wal-Mart. It said on the label “Paint right over the rust!” and I was instantly sold. I mean, look at this thing!! What an embarrassment!

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So I covered the neighbor’s mailbox in a garbage bag so it wouldn’t get misted and taped up the flag and went to town. After it dried I covered my newly painted mailbox in a garbage bag and painted the flag red with spray paint I already had. I think it looks fantastic! For only $5!!DSC_6711

When we moved out of our apartment I found 4 old chairs by the dumpster. So naturally, I took them! Their pads were SO disgusting and they had this weird webbing thing going on to provide support. So I took everything apart and spray painted the chairs white. I busted out the circular saw and cut out seat bottoms for support and nailed them to the bases. Then I bought oilcloth on Etsy from Oil Cloth Addict and covered new pads. I love them. They’re not perfect, but I don’t really care. They are just going to get beat up in the kitchen anyway. I love the orange though, and I’m thinking I want to refinish our kitchen table orange somehow. Ideas? It’s brown laminate. Lunch table style. Yum. Oh, when I was taking apart the chairs, there were dates written on the bottom: 11/20/60. Wow!

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I also finished painting 2 mirrors I bought off of Craigslist awhile back, but I don’t have before pictures. I’ll post pics when they’re up and hung.  Which hopefully will be soon!

Now, what to paint next….

10 comments:

Silvs said...

Holy crap, K! I am so impressed! Those chairs are awesome. All of it. De-rock is so lucky that you're so handy, just so that you can cater to your own tastes.

DeAnn said...

Everything looks great!

Lara said...

You are so crafty!

Okay, you're going to laugh, but in our Denver house, we ran out of money and couldn't afford to put wrought iron spindles in the stairs to replace the white spindles. And we had this HUGE winding staircase that swirled up and had a "bridge" at the top that was open to below. So, you know what the interior designer suggested? We PAINT them. So, we did. We bought wrought iron-colored paint, and painted every single one of those spindles. It took two weeks, but it looked FABULOUS.

Paint is the answer to everything. I believe it!

Lara said...

ps paint the table white to match the chairs. Then you can have a crafty orange-ish centerpiece! Candles, dried flowers, whatever you want! It will brighten up the kitchen!

:-)

Emmy said...

Awesome job!! Those chairs look great. Heck everything looks great! I think I need to go buy some spray paint.

Sarah said...

Nice Karen!!!! I am in love with those chairs!!!!

wackywilsons said...

Way to be creative and frugal. I am so impressed with the results! I even spray painted my curtain rod the oil rubbed bronze one time. The water didn't help it stay too polished, but it was fun to try.

Courtney said...

Love what you have done! The mailbox, what a good idea, looks brand new! Love the chairs and I would also agree to paint the table white. P.S. How do you block that annoying salesman that keeps posting crap on your blog?

Melissa said...

Super cute stuff, Karen! I love the chairs! I, too, say paint the table white with an orange centerpiece. That'd be fab!

Jessica said...

Your stuff all turned out so fabulous! You must be "nesting" again. I especially love the red flag on your mailbox. So cute!!