Spray Paint is Magic

Oh how I love a can of spray paint, let me count the ways.

It’s amazing to me that something so simple, like a couple of coats of spray paint, can transform something you dug out of the trash (literally) into a legit home accessory.

Poof! It’s the only kind of magic I know.

Bulletin board from a discarded frame
My mother-in-law had a large 25″x21″ plastic frame in her “toss out” pile.

It was gaudy and chunks of the frame had chipped off over the years and the paint was flaking off in a bad way.

Three coats of purple spray paint and some cork board later, it now hangs in my daughter’s room. I couldn’t be bothered with sanding and priming. It was in the trash, people, so why sand and prime?

Wooden tray
At work a few weeks ago, I found a square wooden tray in the trash. Can you believe that?

Someone had ordered lunch for a meeting and the food was delivered in a cheap wooden tray. This little guy was just begging for some lovin’ so I brought him home and spray painted him gold.

Then, I went to Lowe’s and had them cut a piece of acrylic/plexi-glass ($8) to fit inside the tray.

Next, I dug through our wrapping paper and found some that complimented the gold. I used the plexi-glass as a template to trace the exact size piece of paper I needed, which I cut out and put underneath. Boom.

Go to Pinterest and type in “painted wooden tray”. So many ideas! Michael’s, Joann Fabrics, Hobby Lobby have wooden trays for cheap.

TV tray
My next project is going to be transforming a sad little TV tray into an end table for our patio. Man, these things are so ugly. I have no idea why in the H we would buy one of these however I do know we’ve had ours for 15 years. Target has them for $9.

Here is my inspiration. I’m going to spray paint the top with high gloss lacquer in black and the legs in high gloss green. Then, I’m going to tape off the leg at the bottom third and paint it gold. Wish me luck, Smarties!