Remember when I wrote this inspiration post about combining my decor style with Nate's? Well, one of the easiest ways for me to do that is to include industrial inspired pieces of furniture into our space. I have plans to build shelves around our television, but I also just recently found this awesome metal shelf in my uncle's garage that he was getting ready to donate. Major DIY score!
I've been wanting to try my hand at spray painting furniture, and figured that this was a good piece to start with. People seem to either love or hate spray paint, but I found by the end of this that I could go either way. I'm a pretty impatient person, so the only thing I had a hard time with was waiting for each coat to dry before spraying another. That being said, the waiting game is also a challenge for me when I paint furniture with regular paint. Life lessons, people! I need to practice being patient.
Supplies used:-Old metal shelf
-1 can of spray paint primer (Rust-Oleum Clean Metal Primer)
-2 cans of spray paint (Rust-Oleum American Accents in Satin lagoon)
-1 can of sealer (Rust-Oleum in Matte Clear)
-Sandpaper
-Sponge/rag and water
I woke up with a weird cold the other day (though I think it's mostly due to allergies) and while I've been resting as much as possible, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to spray paint this shelf while it was so sunny and gorgeous outside! Nate was an awesome helper because he balances out my impatience by having the most patience ever. I wanted to put my globe on one of the shelves, so we had to move that shelf down in order for it fit. The great thing about shelves like these is that you can adjust the height and it's easy to remove specific shelves if you need to.
After we rearranged the shelf height, I cleaned the whole thing using a sponge and warm water. I've read that when spray painting it's super important to make sure the surface you're painting is clean, so I was very thorough! There was a lot dust and dirt on this thing (and spiders! so many spiders) so it took a while. After cleaning, I sanded the whole shelf. I feel like maybe I'm not very good at sanding, so really I just kind scuffed it up a bit. It doesn't seem like a necessary step to me, but everything I've ever read says that it is so I always sand my furniture projects!
Once the shelf was clean and sanded, I sprayed it with primer. I chose a white primer since the color was bright. After letting the primer dry (who am I kidding? it wasn't completely dry), I sprayed a coat of the spray paint. I tried my best to stay 6-10 inches away from the surface of the shelf, and to move the can in a side-to-side pattern to avoid drips and/or bubbling. It took about 3-4 coats of spray paint, and it actually IS important to let each coat of color dry before spraying the next. I learned this the hard way because I didn't wait long enough, and then I had to sand down the drips and re-paint certain spots.
After the paint dried (I waited a good 6 hours for this!) I sprayed the whole shelf with a matte sealer. I heard that using a matte sealer can help make the splotchiness that occurs with spray paint less noticeable, and I think it did help a bit. The shelves were still a little splotchy, but since I'm using each shelf for books or storage, you can't even see those spots. In the end I think I was mostly successful, though there are a few questionable drip spots as well. Luckily they aren't very noticeable either!
I'm so happy with how this new bookshelf turned out! It was such a happy surprise since it wasn't even in my home decor plan, and now it adds a lovely pop of color to our space. It's also nice to have more storage because we have SO MANY BOOKS and other little gadgety things floating around. I bought more spray paint too, so I'll definitely be trying a few more projects in the near future. xx Courtney
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