Tag: spray paint

Craft Projects, Holiday

Shiny pumpkins

Jessica Smith

My pumpkins from Dana’s shower still have life left in them, so I transitioned them from fall to winter this weekend with some Krylon metallic spray paint.

Pumpkins_silver

I went out early yesterday morning and loaded these babies up with silver spray paint. I really liked how they turned out, so I grabbed some of the mini pumpkins from inside.

Pumpkins_silverandgold

I mixed it up with the minis, using both silver and gold.

Pumpkins_Silver1

I was impressed with how shiny the Krylon paints came out and was thankful that each pumpkin only required one coat. I am the messiest spray painter, so I would have been all silver, too, if the pumpkins needed more coverage.

pumpkins_silverandgold1

Once the pumpkins dried (I left then outside to dry all day, so I can’t say how long it took, exactly) I put them all at my front door for a cute little fall/winter display.

Pumpkins_doors1

I wondered if anyone would notice, since our front “porch,” if you can even call it that, isn’t visible from the road. But I had Dana’s bridesmaids over last night and they oohed and ahhed.

Pumpkins_doors

The metallic pumpkins look so cute with my winter wreath, too! I wonder how much longer the pumpkins will hold out — with the chilly weather, I’m hoping to have these shiny beauties for a few more weeks.

… and I’m looking for more things to use the Krylon spray paint on. IT’S JUST SO SHINY. SPRAY ALL THE THINGS.

When Thanksgiving is over, I’m definitely going to have to find another use for it.

Furniture

Mini chalkboard table

Jessica Smith

I saw this abandoned kid’s table on the side of the road on my way home from taking the pup to the groomer. Of course I had to stop and pick it up. It’s not all that often that I see gems on the side of the road, and when I do it’s even less often that I am able to stop and pick them up. So when I saw this table and I wasn’t on my way to work, I had no passengers and I didn’t have a car full of crap, I quickly made a U-turn to pick it up.

Chalkboard Before

 

As most things on the side of the road do, the table needed love. I gave it a good scrubbing and tightened all of the screws so it wouldn’t wobble.

Then, I removed the slide-out white board top and painted the opposite side with chalkboard paint. I figured a duel-use table would be ideal when you have small kids.

To finish the piece off, I spray painted the frame black. To me, it looks much nicer than the yellowy oak color before.

Chalkboard Desk mini

I’d much rather see this little guy in my house than it’s trash-bound alter ego.

chalboard kids table

 

Furniture

Refinished buffet/sideboard

Jessica Smith

Meet my buffet. Or sideboard. Whatever you want to call it.

I picked this baby up in a thrift store a few months ago on a Thirft Store Thursday excursion.

It needed some love, and while it took my awhile to give it the love it needed, I am happy to share that this beauty is beautiful again!

Buffet Before

The piece was in rough shape. It was missing the entire back, the hardware was dated (and in some cases, missing!), the casters were uneven and broken. But the bones were great. It is an all-wood piece, so I knew with the right care it could be transformed.

I worked on this piece over several months, so I was really bad at taking pictures. Here’s what I did to refinish this bad boy:

  1. New hardware: I ordered new black hardware for the front of the buffet. This included three drawer pulls for the faux drawer fronts and three hanging handles from the shuttered doors. Since this piece is older, the existing hardware was oddly sized, so I had to re-drill the holes to attach the new stuff. I went with black to pick up the black hinges on the front of the doors. It looks like this hardware has always been on this piece, which is nice.
  2. New casters: I didn’t want to replace the casters on this piece because the old ones were super cool and old. I actually am saving them, just in case I Can use them in the future. But only three of the four casters were useable — the fourth split in half so the entire buffet was wobbly and slanted. Not cool. So I grabbed four new casters, popped the old ones out and popped the new ones in.
  3. Spruced up bottom: I removed the bottom of the cabinet, cleaned it up and sprayed it black. When I put it back in place I also added another piece of wood underneath it for extra support.
  4. New backing: Can you tell what backing I used for this piece? It’s peg board! I wanted to use the pretty, cutout tin but it was hella expensive. Instead, I picked up a sheet up peg board at Habitat Restore, sprayed it black and cut it down to size. I screwed it onto the back to close up the buffet and give it a finished feel. The black peeks through at the top, again picking up the black in the hinges and the new hardware.
  5. Refinished the wood: I’ve talked about this product before and I’ll continue to use it because of the results I always get (This is not a sponsored post — I just love this stuff!) I used Howards Restor-A-Finish to bring the wood back to life. This stuff gets rid of light surface scratches, colors in deeper scratches so they aren’t as noticeable and just gives wood a beautiful sheen. I did the Restor-A-Finish once when I got the piece a few months ago, and again yesterday. The results are stunning, especially on the scratched up side. I followed this by a waxing with the Howards Feed-N-Wax.

Ready for the finished version?

Buffet After

BAM!

That scratched up side? Well, it is scratched up no more.

Buffet Side refinished

The peg board? Thoughts?  I was skeptical, but I really like it. I like that it is black, versus a shiny, silver tin. I think it goes better with the piece overall. Win!

Buffet Top Detail

And look, a back! Woohoo! It’s amazing what not being able to see through a piece of furniture does for the overall look of said piece of furniture.

Buffet After open

I’m glad I’m done with this buffet. It is great to be able to get it out of my craft room and out there for the world to see (dramatic much?)!

Thanks for stopping by to see the transformation today. Happy weekend!