before and after: gold painted frames

So, as you can probably tell, I am on a gold kick.  Even better if a project involves gold spray paint.  I have a gallery wall of sorts in my living room and wanted to add a few more pieces to it.  But, all three of the pieces had black frames that didn't go with the rest of the pieces on the wall. 



The finished product with the art back in the frames.  All art was purchased on Etsy.

 So I popped the pictures and glass out of the frames, brought them outside and applied a few even layers of gold spray paint to the front and sides of each of the wooden frames.  I really like how they turned out, and they look great on the wall.


the whole wall with the newly framed art



If you have a frame you'd like to make gold, but cant remove the picture or glass, Jenny put up a great tutorial on using a gold leaf pen to transform your frame.  She has some impressive DIYs and a great sense of style.

before & after: striped rug

If you've read my blog before, it's likely you know what a little terror my 8 year old Australian Shepherd, Dusty, can be.  Terror is also a good way to describe the emotion one look at my carpet brings out in me.  Where Spot Shot hasn't worked, I am hoping rugs can.  Six rugs in a 615 square foot apartment seems like overkill, but when the alternative is visibly stained carpet, I'm ok with it. 

Finding and financing 6 rugs that I like enough to grace my floors is another problem.  Until, I got the brilliant idea to spray paint a cheap, bland-looking rug in a style that is consistent with the rest of my decor.  I've been a fan of using spray paint to spruce things up for a while.  I've used it to update my coat rack and to make my picture frames appear uniform on the wall.  I had my doubts about whether this experiment would work.  But figured if it was absolutely awful, I could turn the rug over and no one would be the wiser.  Thankfully, the project went off without a hitch, and I have a rug I am happy with for under $25.

the goods

1 rug
spray paint (I bought one black and one white canister of flat spray paint)
2 strips of cardboard as long as the rug's width (or something like it to cover the section of rug that you dont want to be painted)
drop cloth (to protect the area where you will be working)

how to

1) lay down the drop cloth in the area where you intend to paint your rug.  Place the rug on top of it.
2) cut two strips of cardboard as long as the rug's width and as wide as you want your stripes to appear on the rug.  If you want different stripe widths, cut several strips in different widths.
3)  place one strip of cardboard on the rug below where you want the first stripe to be.
4) pick a paint color and spray the exposed part of the rug evenly until the paint has covered the rug and the original color of the rug cannot be seen.
5) let the paint dry before moving on to the next part of the rug.
6) cover the painted part of the rug with one of the cardboard pieces.  take the other cardboard piece and place it on the rug so that there is a section of rug exposed between the two cardboard pieces.
7) Take your second color and spray the exposed part of the rug evenly until the paint has covered the rug and the original color of the rug cannot be seen.
8) Repeat steps 6-7, alternating colors, until you have finished painting the rug.
9) Let the rug dry thoroughly before placing it in your home.

before and after: coat rack

 Last night I decided my coat rack needed some updating.  With more and more brass items in my living room, its dark, antiqued look stuck out like a sore thumb.  I went to Michael's, my go-to craft store and picked up a can of Krylon, Metallic Spray Paint in Gold.  I looked at the brass color, but it was too yellow-y for my taste, and the gold looked warmer.

I got home, removed the coats and scarves from the rack and brought it out to my patio.  I would recommend completing a similar project in the daylight, but I work during the day, and when the makeover bug takes over, I like to strike while the iron is hot.  I sprayed the rack all over, and then went back to trouble spots (underneath some of the rack arms, the little balls on the end of each rack, etc).  Then, I let it dry for a few hours and brought it back into my house.  I'm not sure if it was necessary to wait a few hours, but the last thing I wanted was gold paint on my carpet.



 I am really pleased with the results and can't wait to use it as a coat rack again.  Have you ever used spray paint to update a piece of furniture?  How did it turn out?