It's a Shabby Thing: Let the Paint Spray!!!

I love spray paint! It is so easy and convenient. I prefer this method of painting on smaller projects such as frames, lamps, some chairs, accessories, and crafts.

(painted with Rust-oleum Painters Touch Ultra (2X) Cover in aqua, Satin-distressed to show tin details)

Supplies
To find the right paint for you be aware of sheen, and make sure you have the finish you desire. I mostly use satin or semi-gloss. I do enough painting that I invested in a canvas drop cloth. Nothing too big, but it is very useful for doing thees little projects. Also you will need to use some painters/masking tape. It is helpful to tape off the areas you don't want sprayed and comes off clean. *A little tip-When painting lamps I also use a plastic bag for the cord and then keep the cord in the bag and tape any exposed area outside the bag.

Preparation

To prepare the surface you are painting clean off the surface of any dirt, dust or grease. If there are any undesirable rough spots you need to sand them down. If you have a very shiny finish, you may need to sand and/or prime the surface to allow proper adhesion. You can get Kilz primer in a spray paint.

Technique

You have to be very thorough when spray paint otherwise it can be very splotchy. I prefer to paint at all different angles to assure good coverage. You can never go wrong with a little extra, so when planning, be sure to over plan on the amount needed. Valspar has some great tutorials and tips for spray painting. It is best to follow the directions to have less dripage, and good coverage.

Lamps

I had some lamps that were super cute and had great lines. In a past life they were gold colored, and a friend gave them to me painted black. I used them like that for years and now I wanted them red for my room. I painted them with Rust-oleum Heritage Red, Satin Finish. I finished them off with a light distressing and some walnut stain. A clear coat of satin spray paint finished it off. I also found some cute little antique brass finial for the lamps that I taped off the crystal and sprayed them red to match.

I found this lamp on the side of the road with garbage pick up day. The shade had some minor issues that could be fixed and the base had a small dent it it. It didn't bother me and I loved the look of it. I didn't love the color though. I sprayed it with Rust-oleum Painters Touch Ultra (2X) Cover in aqua, Satin. I did some minor distressing and antiquing and now it is a beautiful lamp on my desk. I did add a crystal pull cord for some bling!

Mirror and Frames

I had this beautiful mirror that was gold, and needed to be white in my house! :) I had it gold for years, but it needed a facelift. Now I would like to mention the art of finishing touches with spray paint. If you paint something with spray paint and just leave it as it, it just looks spray painted. (You know what I mean!) If you want the paint job to look professional you HAVE to find some way to add character by "Grunging it Up" to some extent. If you notice furniture/accessories in the stores, it has varied degrees of distressing to it. It is very rarely all one solid color with out any variance. You'll be surprised what a very little amount of distressing will do.

So when I painted this mirror, I first taped off the glass really good, then I sprayed it with the Rust-oleum Painters Touch Ultra (2X) Cover in white, Semi-gloss finish. I antiqued it with some walnut stain and did some light distressing. When you have a piece that has a lot of carving type of detail I find that antiquing brings out the details better than just distressing. The stain will sit in the grooves and accentuate the details. The mirror was finished off with a clear coat of satin spray paint to seal in the antiquing.

I found this lovely picture at a thrift store and loved this frame. The opening measure 30 x 40 and I wanted to make a magnet board with it. (I will share the details soon!) But so now I have this fabulous frame with the Heritage Red, mentioned earlier, and some slight distressing.

Rocking Chair

I found this great rocking chair when antiquing. I did have to redo the upholstery and at that time I found it to be a good time to re-touch the paint job. I was able to match the paint color to be Valspar Hubble House Golden Maize, satin.

When I bought this chair it was already spray painted with this yellow color and I loved the natural distressing and chipping of paint that was already there. I didn't want to repaint the chair, I just needed to touch up the areas that were not thoroughly painted. This is a prime example of not painting at all angles, and not having proper coverage. The chair cushions were left on when painted and the caning (seen in 2nd picture) was not painted all the way, and the bottom side of the the arms and back were never painted. Also in the 2nd picture you can notice the spindles on the chair also were not covered properly. My recommendation when painting a chair or another piece of furniture that has many details is to start upside down. If you place the item upside down and completely circle the item while spraying you can get better coverage. Now when you place the item right side up you can again circle the item and get the best coverage possible.

Ceiling Fan

I had the hardest time finding a cute ceiling fan to fit my home. I wanted something with character and light in color. For the price I was wanting to pay (~$100), I couldn't find something like that. I did find a fan that had the lines and details that I liked, so I invested another $10 on 2 cans of spray paint and decided to personalize it myself. I love how it turned out!