My New Obsession

SPRAY PAINT!
  
I've been reading a lot of DIY blogs lately, and one thing that has really struck me is what an impact simply changing a color can make. This can be easily achieved with a cheap can of spray paint. 

So I decided to give it a shot. After all, one of my goals while living here in Oxford is to save money by making over old things rather than buying new things. Since I've never spray painted anything in my life, I decided to start with something I thought I couldn't mess up:  our patio furniture.

I found this metal table and chairs by the dumpster in Boulder last spring. They were all a little wobbly, but that was quickly fixed by moving the little screw-on feet from the table to the chair legs that were missing them. Voila! Easy, and free.

Once we had these out on our porch here in Oxford, though, I didn't like the look of them. I'm going for a light, airy, serene feel in our home, and the black was a bit harsh. 

My original thought was turquoise. But that dream was crushed when the hardware store didn't have it. Spa Blue was the closest to what I was looking for, but it looked like the color of hotel poolside loungers, and that was not the look I wanted. 

So I picked up what I thought was a creamy white color. Nice and neutral.

Turns out the color I got is actually Buttercream (my eyes focused on the CREAM at the store and failed to register the BUTTER). The cap did not look that yellow in the store - the photo really accentuates the color and pretty accurately reflects what the final result looked like. 

So, without further ado, here is the result!

I'm really happy with it! It brightens up our porch, which we can see from our kitchen and dining area. It's cost me $12 in spray paint so far (I'll have to buy one more can), but since the patio furniture was free to begin with, I think it was worth it!

I still have some touch-ups to do, and the legs and underside of the table need another coat of paint, but I ran out. I underestimated just how much paint it would take to completely cover the original black, and because there are so many holes and angles in the floral pattern, a lot of the paint went right on through. 

This took 2 cans, which probably would have been enough had I been a little more adept at spray painting when I began. The first chair took almost one can by itself (I focused a little too much on completely covering the underside. Duh, nobody sees it!). Then I learned to do a light coat, give it a few minutes to dry, apply another light coat, and so on until I couldn't see the black coming through any more. 

Since doing this project I have been eyeing many other things around the house that might need a color makeover: the clock, a dated gold lamp, our dining table.... More posts to come as I paint EVERYTHING!!