Spray Paint is Magic, Part Deux: The Golden Edition

I’m not saying I’m a gold digger, but I’m really digging everything gold lately. And, if you saw my other spray paint project, I really dig spray painting things, too. It’s cheap, easy, and completely changes an item into something else. So you can see where this is going: gold spray paint! I’ve also been into trays like everyone else so when I found this metal one at Goodwill, I snagged it up.  Once I had the gold spray paint in my grubby little hands, I couldn’t fathom just spray painting one item in my apartment, so I settled on an amount between one and everything I own (everything was tempting but I chose two). That’s how this boring pencil holder got roped into the deal. Sucker. If you haven’t looked at metallic spray paints lately, there are a lot of options. They range from insanely shiny and reflective to toned down and matte. I picked one on the matte side in a gold tone. I first washed the tray and pencil holder and then sprayed them with a coat of primer. I wasn’t sure if the paint would stick to the shiny surface of the tray without it. Then it was just three-ish coats of the paint and here’s how they turned out! As you can see, the only thing that didn’t work out is that you can still slightly see the logo on the tray. I’m debating whether I will try spraying a bunch more coats to cover it up or try mod podging something onto it to cover it up. Otherwise, I love the color and the finish. And in the meantime, once the tray is styled, the writing doesn’t really show at all. See?! Cost of the project:

• Tray: $3.99 at Goodwill
• Gold spray paint (Valspar quick-drying metallic): $3.14
• Primer: already had (ha! I WIN!)

Spray Paint Is Magic!

This really isn’t even a craft. It’s just such an easy money-saver and it’s just the type of thing I usually forget I can do. I see that someone else did this and I think “Of course, it’s so obvious and cheap, why didn’t I do that?”

I’m quite spur-of-the-moment (which often leads me to spend more than I need to) so I decided, after looking at Apartment Therapy (my new absolute favorite source of inspiration and cause of my desperate attempt to be frugal) that I needed plants in my apartment! Plants! Who doesn’t have plants? Me. Because I kill them. And the last time I grew basil it ended in a trip to urgent care and 7 stitches (long story). But it’s been a year or 2, I can handle it. Of course I bought the plants and realized I had nothing to plant them in.

But instead of buying up Home Depot’s stock of ok-looking pots that were around $5 a piece for the size I wanted, I headed to Dollar General. Right when I walked in, there was the spring gardening display and a bunch of pots…that were frumpy maroon and green colors. As I was in the process of deciding if I could live with those or needed to begin a wild goose chase for pretty pottery, I realized that my options actually went beyond expensive designer pottery (which, let’s be honest, would have been my next step) or ugly and cheap. I bought three maroon pots, mulled over the color I wished they were for about, oh, an hour, bought some glossy white spray paint (yes, it took me that long to decide on white. I even slept on it), sprayed away (2 coats in an hour, dry for 24 hours), and my $1 pots look a lot more expensive than that, don’t you think?

Sometimes it just takes thinking about something for longer than you would to find a cheaper way to get it done. As I said, this is clearly not groundbreaking but it’s the type of thing I would normally not think of and would just go ahead and buy whatever looked good and costed more. Also, since I’m so accident prone (i.e. the basil drama), it’s sometimes nice to have a quick and easy project that goes smoothly and looks great.

Total cost: $16

• Plants: $3 a piece = $9
• Pots: $1 a piece = $3
• White glossy spray paint: 1 can = $4

Not too bad to have custom (albeit white) colored pretty potted plants to add some life to your place! The tip from the guy whose apartment inspired me said he couldn’t imagine having a room without several plants in it. The more I looked at the pictures of his great apartment (here if you’re interested), the more I began to agree with him. And now that I’m beginning to do that in my apartment, I’m fully on board the plant train. (PS how adorable are those little plant babies? I hope they never grow up.)