Spray Paint Strikes, Again!

I have been working on my list of "Things to Spray Paint." It's mostly a mental list, but it's long. My husband laughs every time I add something else to the list of "things to be painted white." He's such a good guy that I think laughing is his way of accepting that he can't just throw the item away!

The red chandelier hanging from the Magnolia tree looks so wonderful, especially when the cardinals oblige by hanging out on the tree branches. Their splashes of red accents really spruce up the backyard!

While I was painting the chandelier, I was also working on this mirror.  Alternating between the white and red paint let one color dry while I painted the other object. Time management!

The mirror is one we had purchased for our old house. It hadn't found it's place at the new house, at least not in it's golden glory! Painting it white was really the only way to save it for our new space.

Here is what I did:

1. Rubbed the frame down with some steel wool, just to rough it up a bit and help the paint stick.

2. Wiped down the old mirror frame with a damp cloth to remove dust.

3. Taped paper over the mirror part. (My four-year old helped with this part, as you can tell. We couldn't find newspaper, and working with the 8.5" x 11" pieces of paper was easier than working with a garbage bag.)

4. Paint. I didn't try to get the paint on very thick with each coat. It was more of a light coat each time I sprayed it to help not have any drips.

5. Hung it on the wall.

What I learned:

1. Light coats of spray paint really are so much better to prevent drips.

2. If you see a drip, gently touch it quickly before it dries. It will kindof "heal" itself if you get it fast enough.

3. When going from a dark frame to a light color, consider applying caulk or filler to the joints before you paint. The corner joints of the mirror are much more noticeable now that it is painted white. This will eventually drive me crazy and I will take the mirror down and fill in the gaps, then repaint it.

4. Diligent taping= no scraping. Be sure you tape all the paper seams over the mirror, or you will have to scrape some paint off later.

5. Paint from different angles to get better coverage. If you start from the right on the first coat, start from the left on the second. You will see things you missed the first time.

Happy Creating!
-Carrie

The Magic of Spray Paint!

I'm pretty convinced that spray paint is the grown up equivalent of "magic in a can!" For less than $4, you can transform practically any ole object from trash to treasure in like ten minutes. Ok, ok, maybe more like fifteen minutes.

Years ago, like six or seven of them, we were expecting family for our first Easter and I went to dust off the dining room chandelier. I barely touched it and the thing crashed onto the table! Yes, that actually happened. In tears, I convinced my not-so-much-a-fan-of-electrical-projects-husband that he HAD to quickly hang another chandelier before family arrived to our new house for Easter. At the same time, since I am also part pack-rat, I had him save the old chandelier, convinced I would find the perfect something for it someday.

Today, the time had finally come for that old chandelier to serve a new purpose! I cut all of the old electrical wires and lightbulb holders out of that thing, rubbed it down with a little steel wool, and painted it the perfect shade of red. 

Then, I hung it from the magnolia tree in our backyard. I stuck the children's little plastic table underneath it and have visions of the cutest Fancy Nancy-style tea parties and play-doh formation creating taking place there. And there will be candles, oh yes, there will be little candles in that chandelier. Maybe even the faux-candles (you know the little battery-powered ones). I'm really going to have to do something about the old table though...hmm...project!!!

Happy Creating!

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Tips (aka, what I learned today):

1. Hang the chandelier from something to paint it. I used a ladder so that I could get to it from all sides. Note, you will probably get overspray on to your ladder. I did.

2. Hang the chandelier upside down to paint it first. You sit under a chandelier, and very rarely see it from the top. So, by painting it upside down first, you get better coverage and don't miss the visible spots. (I didn't do this and was a little upset that I hadn't thought about this first.)