Craft Room Project #4 - For the Love of Spray Paint

I use spray paint all the time!!  It is amazing what a quick coat of paint will do to transform an outdated item.

On one of my last trips home to my mom's, I brought back a 70s microwave cart.  I remember having the cart in just about every room in the house.  This cart was a bold avocado green with lots of blue paint spilled all over (I'm sure from some sort of Scotland County Tigers painting project!!).

The cart also had a bit of rust.  I pulled out the belt sander and sanded and sanded and sanded some more.  I still didn't think the shelves were very smooth, but I was done sanding.  I purchased two cans of spray primer and three cans of frosty berry  spray paint.

I got to spraying.  The key to spray paint is holding your can of paint at the right distance away from the item you are spraying.  You want to move your can back and forth at a slow and steady pace.  Thin coats are better than a thick drippy coat.

I sprayed one coat and then lightly sanded the cart down again and sprayed another coat of paint of primer.  I ended up taking both cans of primer!!

Then I sprayed them with the frosty berry spray paint.  I did about three coats, with lots of touch ups. I used 2 1/2 cans of spray paint!!

The legs were a little harder to paint, so I had my husband make a make shift stand for them with some scrape wood screwed together.

Once everything was bright pink, I did a couple of thin coats of clear acrylic on all the pieces.

Then it was time to reassemble the cart.  I was thankful my mom had saved all the original nuts and bolts. Once they were put back into place I did another quick coat of paint on the legs, paying attention to the hardware.

I wasn't happy with the smoothness of the shelves - I felt they were still pretty rough.  I could have left them, but I came up with a fun and simple solution!!

Last summer, I had picked up a couple of rolls of some aqua and white chevron vinyl in their dollar spot.  Since I knew what color scheme I was going with in my craft room, I figured I would use the vinyl somewhere.

I had my husband take some scrap wood and cut out to fit on the shelves.  Then applied the vinyl to wood and used an x-acto knife to trim it down to size.

The cart originally had wheels, but they were rusted and covered in paint and could be salvaged, so we pulled out some white rubber caps and they fit perfectly on the legs.

My finished cart is going to house my cricut machine, cartridges, and supplies.  I am thrilled with how it turned out!!

This is a fairly easily project, but it did take about five cans of spray paint.  I love salvaging something instead of going out and buying something new.  Revamping something takes some time and creativity, but that what I love to do!!