Containers Redeemed with a Hint of Spray Paint

Remember those thrift store containers? They are becoming flower pots. With just a little elbow grease, some well-placed holes and a metric boatload of spray paint, I'm hoping they can give us a little curb appeal. Or at least my neighbor will stop trying to kill me with her eyes.  It was also an easy way to test out a couple of new things.  I tried out plastic primer, as well as Zinsser's spray primer.

Blue is interested in helping out.  No project is complete without a flurry of fur to be picked out.

The three pots in the foreground are plastic, so I used the plastic primer first.
It had decent coverage and adherence.

My glorious brass spittoon.  Classy, no?  I probably should have deglossed /roughed up the surface.

The spittoon got the zinsser primer, which is kind of amazing.  It did make me high as a kite almost instantly.  The weird texture is a result of my poor technique.  However, it did mostly correct itself when I flipped and sprayed from the top.

The green pots are a lovely shade of aqua.  The white pots are drying (both the plastic primer and the zinsser primer have way longer drying times)

Everyone is blue!  Although the hanging pot gets Lagoon, vs Aqua.

So impatient.  I hate watching paint dry.

Tomorrow, you'll see these flower pots and the garden cart in their new home!

Garden Cart Update

I've had this white, rusting metal rolling garden cart kicking around for the last year. I've been meaning to do something with it for ages, and when I was exploring the spray paint aisle, the lime green just called out to me.

The cart is going for a little ride.

I painted the underside first.  It was not a pleasant surprise to flip it and see zero  coverage.
I then made a trip back to the store to get another bottle of the green spray paint.

Finally!  It's almost done!  Praise the FSM!  What you don't see is the fact that I
totally painted my feet green. They stayed green for a painfully long time, so I looked rather moldy.

Wow, I really do not have much of a lawn.  But my cart sure is green.

Could we be any cuter? (the answer to that is: NO)

Kitchen Kickoff

The day I've been dreading has come.

We're actually going to paint the kitchen.

I've chosen a cheery yellow (Sweet Chamomile) for the walls. A glossy bright white for the cabinets.

Greeeeeeeen!

Tonight I'm making some black bean soup and then...we shall empty the kitchen. We'll be able to get the butcher blocks and shelves out. I have no idea if we'll be able to move the appliances.  The idea of dealing with the gas connections gives me agita.

Tomorrow, we paint.

I don't have any good kitchen before pics with me right now, but the kiln pic shows there terrifying green we're covering.  But while right now I am SO unexcited about starting the project, I know how incredible my kitchen is going to look, and how much nicer it will make my whole house.  I just have to get into the guts of it, and it will be fine!

Kitchen plans!

I adore my little pink 1930s house, but there are downsides to living in quaint little old houses.  The electrical is a hot mess (glass fuses and some dimmer boxes, totally random).  The front of the house is basically on one fuse. The who lived here before us had some interesting ideas on color and paint application.  With the help of friends, we've mostly beat back the worst rooms (the dining room was truly horrifying).

But the kitchen...we've let it kind of fester.  It's an odd dark dark green, the application has an odd texture that just makes it look poorly painted.  Which maybe it is and I'm just being generous.  The layout is barely workable.  Few cabinets, even less counter space.  The cabinets are very dated looking, and the thin melamine is coming off.

The base plan:
1.  Paint kitchen cheery shade of light bright yellow.
2.  Paint cabinet bases glossy bright white.
3.  Tackle cabinet doors by peeling off gross melamine, filling the 'filth catchers', adding beadboard and molding to make panels and painting glossy bright white.
4.  Replace light fixture.

Slightly extended plans
5.  Make green glass cabinet knobs (recycled beer bottles!)
6. Cabinets and/or shelving for over butcher blocks 'counters' (and clear crap off)
7.  Make pantry more workable.

Really extended plans:
8.  Make green glass thin subway style tiles for backsplash.

Super extended kitchen plans:
1.  Gut the fucker and start over!