I heart spray paint

I am not the crafty type. I don't sew or dabble in knitting or make my own greeting cards. Blogging is as close as I'll ever get to scrapbooking. I think it all stems from my early years at school when I realized I was not one of those kids who was good at coloring inside of the lines, and that my handwriting was ugly. I remember taking home my report card with all straight A's, except for a big fat C in handwriting. Thank goodness I was born into the era of computers and typing. I can type pretty!

Anyhow, I never felt like an artistic or creative person, until I discovered the power of spray paint. I like it for a few reasons.

Why I love spray paint:

1- It's easy. Anyone who can hold a can and press a button can figure it out.
2- It's cheap.  It ranges anywhere from $1-$4 per can.
3- It can transform something cheap and dirty looking into something shiny and colorful. FUN!
4- If done properly, it is durable and can last a long time.

My latest mission has been to find a dresser for Apollo's room that holds more clothes than the gorgeous-but-not-very-functional antique dresser that is currently in there. He's going to be sharing a room with his little brother eventually, and right now, there is a serious shortage of drawer space.

My budget: pretty much zero.
The Plan: Sell Apollo's current dresser on craigslist and use money towards something bigger that I can fix up and make pretty. I can sell his antique dresser for a lot and put the rest in savings- YAY!
The outcome: He's getting the old dresser from my bedroom, because I found the PERFECT dresser for our bedroom.


 I was inspired by this blogger and her awesome night stands. Aren't those gorgeous?

I found this for $20!!!! Solid wood, lots of storage, and plenty of detail, so I knew it would look amazing with some glaze.

 

One of the drawer pulls was broken, and it smelled like a grandma, but I knew it had potential. And for twenty bucks, it was worth the risk.

I unscrewed all of the hardware and drawers and cleaned with krud kutter,

Then, I primed it with spray paint primer. I used the cheapest primer they had at Fred Meyer (I think it was $1.50 per can). It took three cans. 

I didn't bother sanding anything. I figured since I was glazing it, any imperfections would add character.

After the primer dried I spray painted it with Krylon Blue Ocean Breeze. I love turquoise. I did three coats. It took about five cans ($3.50 per can at Fred Meyer)

Tip: They sell this little tool for around $5. It was so worth it. I hate getting a sore trigger finger. I think it helped me spray it on in a more even motion, too. Plus, I'm sure I'll use it in may of my future spray painting adventures.

At this point, I began to doubt myself. Only Barbie's dream house would have a place for a giant bright turquoise dresser. 

Thankfully, when I started applying the glaze, all of my doubts vanished. It was going to look AWESOME. 

All the blogs I have read recommended buying a pint of the Ralph Lauren Faux technique glaze and having the store add black (or brown if that's your preference) tint to it. Well, lemme tell ya, Ralph Lauren is expensive, so I went with Valspar's tintable glaze.  The guy at the paint place seemed confused when I asked him to add black tint to it, but he listened nonetheless. I can't remember how much I paid for it, since I bought it last year when I glazed a hutch in my dining nook, but this can will last me a while. I only bought a pint and there is still some left. 

Update: The Ralph Lauren line is being discontinued at Home Depot- they are selling a pint for $3 each and a gallon for $10. Run don't walk to your nearest Home Depot! That's a steal! Normally a pint is about $18.

I used some rags to wipe the glaze over the dresser. I tried to wipe with the wood grain on the flat parts of the dresser- on the more ornate parts, I used a paint brush to get into all of the grooves and nooks. I learned that it goes on a lot darker than it dries. This was probably the most time-consuming part. It takes a lot of wiping.

After everything dried I sealed everything with a clear coat of spray paint. 

Then, I spray painted the hardware with Oil Rubbed Bronze Spray paint. 

This stuff rocks! I am tempted to paint all of the 1970s brass doorknobs in my house with this stuff.

I also had to figure out what to do about the broken drawer pull. I pulled two pulls that I had saved from our kitchen makeover and found that they were the right size, so I spray painted them to match.

When it was all over, my back was killing me but I was giddy looking at how pretty it turned out.

Now I just need to sell Apollo's old dresser so I can move it inside. 

Update: Here it is after I moved it into our room. Sadly, it didn't work well in the space because we couldn't open the middle cupboard because of the distance between our bed and the dresser, so I sold it on craigslist. It's okay though, I made a profit!

Cost breakdown:

3 cans primer at $1.50 per can:  

$4.50

5 cans Krylon Blue Ocean Breeze at $3.50 per can: 

$17.50 

1 can clear spray paint: 

$2.00

1 can of Rustoleum Oil rubbed bronze spray paint: 

Free (I already had it from previous projects)

Glaze: I already had it from a previous project. 

Craigslist dresser: 

$20.00

Total: $44.00

YAY! I think I can sell Apollo's old dresser for just under $400, so hopefully I'll end up netting about $350ish! Woo hoo! Dave Ramsey would be proud.

A few tips:

If you mess up, sandpaper comes in handy. I messed up quite a few times (getting dirt on wet paint, scratching the top after setting something on it before the paint cured, etc.) Sand and repaint and re-glaze the sections that might need it, and all mistakes are forgiven.

Be safe. I'm pregnant, so I wore a mask and spray painted outside on my covered patio for good ventilation.

I also did a little side project while I was waiting for the dresser to dry. I found a hideous wood lamp base at goodwill. It was ugly, but I loved the modern shape, so I spray painted it with some of the Krylon paint and put an old lamp shade I had on the top. 

It cost me $1.50

I wish I had taken a before picture. Oh well. 

There you have it! Even non-crafty, not-artistically-inclined me can operate a can of spray paint. You can do it too!