Wait a minute Mr. Postman

Saturday I had mentioned on MCLFH facebook page that I needed to paint my ancient and decrepit mailbox. The mailbox was attached to the house when we moved here 12 yrs ago. It was horribly rusted and faded to a dull grayish black. So I slapped a coat of spray paint and added a little stencil and forgot about it. For 12 years. Until I was getting the mail on Saturday and was chased away by rather angry wasps who decided my mailbox was their dream home. Once I got away (i.e. securely in my house, behind closed and locked doors) and my heart returned to it's normal beat, I decided 1) they must go...and suffer  2) My mailbox was looking a wee bit shabby.

before

Out came the wasp and hornet killer spray, and I waited patiently for sundown and all the angry buzzing to cease. Then carefully opening the mailbox, holding the lid open with a clothespin  the wasp nest got zapped. And I mouthed thank you and gave the hubbs the thumbs up sign while he sprayed and ran.  Ummm, you seriously didn't think I was gonna do that, right?! So when the wasps were eliminated the hubbs took the mailbox off the wall of the house and knocked out the nest for me. I used the hose to spray it down and remove any pesticide. Then wiped it with rubbing alcohol which helps eliminate any greasy residue from the pesticide and binds with the water to speed drying.  Once the mailbox looked dry I did wipe it down with paper towels to make sure.

Now for some inspiration...

http://www.copperjungle.com/mailboxes/standardhorizontalmailboxes/thenatural.htm

http://coppermailboxesonline.com/

http://www.archivedesigns.com/PAGES-METALWORK/MAILBOXES/MAILBOX-MB7.html

http://www.copperjungle.com/mailbox/largehorizontalmailboxes.htm

http://www.oldhousejournal.com/products-for-the-home-garden/magazine/1644

Out came the 100 grit sandpaper to knock off any of the burrs and give the surface some teeth so the paint would adhere. After tacking it off, I sprayed with Rustoleum hammered copper but it was to bright and shiny for my taste. Then I oversprayed  with the hammered brown/ bronze. Much better.

Hmmmm...I like the finish, it just looks kind of plain.

 Out comes a stencil.

And the hammered copper paint.

TA DA!

I sprayed the lid hammered copper for a nice 2 tone look and to pick up on the sunburst. 

What do you think? Not perfect but nothing in my house (life or world) is anywhere near perfect. I like it. Who knows maybe I will bling it up down the road. Until the thing falls apart I refuse to spend the money on a new mailbox. Yes I know I can get a cheap generic one for $13 and some change. Mine has character. And I am ok with that.

Total cost= FREE
I had all materials on hand (Mailbox, stencil, and both cans of paint)

Next project: New House Numbers!

Linking Up

http://howtonestforless.com/2012/04/02/just-a-party-with-my-peeps-8/

http://www.homestoriesatoz.com/2012/04/tutorials-tips-link-party-54.html

Cozy Home Scenes: Your Cozy Home Party

http://joy2journey.blogspot.com/2012/04/sunday-stop-6-partying-from-cali.html

http://www.finecraftguild.com/party/

Chump change artwork makeover

What does $3 and some change getcha?

In my case I got 2 crap-tastic pictures. But wait ! There's more!  Remember how I talked about releasing my inner dude because I am decorating a man cave for the hubb's BFF? I was trying to find dude-ly art that wasn't Nascar, a buck, a babe  or a pick up truck. So I went for boats and water. These are kinda manly ...right?

Picture #1 was a cheap-o print framed in an even cheaper fake tacky goldi-sh metal-plastic frame. I sorta ripped it apart before I remembered I needed a before picture.  oops!  It was originally priced $1 at Goodwill but it was 50% off day so I got it for  $0.50

Add to this 1 worn and very blah solid oak picture frame. This was serendipitous because I had this in my garage for some time. I had picked it up for $2 and miracle of miracles it was a perfect fit!

Using 100 grit sandpaper I gave the frame the twice over to remove the gloss/ lacquer so my paint would have something to stick to. I tacked it off when finished. I am left with a very dull  looking frame. But that is about to change.

This is the first sanding. Notice there is still a bit of glossy appearance in 2 small areas? A 2nd  pass eliminated that.

Out comes the hammered bronze paint (it is what I had on hand AND the "hammer" finish hides any imperfections on the frame).  Just remember SAFETY first when spray painting. Avoid open flames, spray in a well ventilated area and use PPE  (Proper Protective  Equipment). I am using a half face respirator equipped with organic vapor cartridges. Any Home Depot or Lowe's will carry respirators and replacement cartridges specific to your application (painting, dust/ particulates, toxic dust, multi-purpose, etc) Prices for replacement cartridges to a full kit can vary from $14-$50. Remember this is a small price to pay to protect your health! (And sorry for the VERY bad picture of me)  

Here's the frame after 2 thin coats, looking kinda snazzy!

Here it is clean glass and everything. Looks almost classy right?

Well I said there was more and here ya' go. Picture #2 was priced at $2 but because it was 50% off day at GW I got it for a buck! Yahoo! This one is an actual photograph which is why it was more expensive than the other. The picture frame is solid wood (but black) and didn't work with the rest of the stuff going in the space.

The back was papered over so I couldn't remove the glass. Instead I used 3 sheets of printer paper, taped them down and painted in place.

Ta-da!

They almost look like they go together. Not bad for $3.50

So I asked the hubb's BFF (for whom this artwork is intended) what he thought of these and HE LOVES IT! Wah-Hoo!  Of course both the guys were completely impressed with my thriftin and handy dandy skills. The best compliment I could get though is when they said. they looked like they would easily cost $20 apiece or more and they looked kinda classy. Haha, I'll take it! 

From Crap-tastic to Fan-tastic! i'm telling you there isn't anything a little paint can't gussy up!

Me=Thrifty Rockstar! (Modest ain't I?)

Linking Up to the following:

 

Faux Hammered metal table Tutorial

I wrote about this project in my Look for Less#1 post.

I went from this

to this 

Talk about Cha-cha-Changes!

Here's what you need:

Table

paint

sandpaper

woodputty

super glue

hammer

drill/ screw driver

needle nose pliers

nail head trim/ trim strip

PATIENCE!!

This is about a $5-$7 plant stand that I bought a dollar type store 12 years ago. Maybe longer. It had definitely see better days. I am not going to give step by steps pics on everything because some of it is just common sense type stuff.

1. Flip the table over and use your drill or screwdriver to remove the screws. Mine were pocket screws through the feet. Place the screws in a little container or ziploc baggie until project is complete so you don't lose them. And hopefully--unlike me-you  DON'T misplace the bag. sheesh!

2. Once the screws were removed, the feet were removed from the base plate and base plate removed.

3. The legs were simply unscrewed from the top plate.

4. All the pieces were sanded with 100 grit sandpaper and tacked off. Any major gouges, cracks etc were filled with wood putty allowed to dry, and re-sanded until smooth. Tack off the dust from final sanding.

5. Next comes the paint.

6.I began with silver.

Um No--big fat fail 

7. Well thats's not gonna work. Let's try copper.

Well crap-o-la. I don't like this either.

8. (Picture me squinting and thinking reeaallyy hard) hmmmmmm, what if I mix the paints?

Hey! I kinda like this! (Light bulb moment)

9. For the table base and table top I spayed the entire surface with a nice chocolate/ cappuccino brown first. Because I knew it would need the appearance of dimension.Then I very lightly began spraying the metallic paints, layering them until I had a look that I liked. And I (gasp!) did not wait for them to dry between coats.

Both pieces have the same color but it is not accurately reflected in these pics sorry!

10. Once I achieved the overall look, I let the pieces dry overnight and re-assembled the table.

11. I added the nailhead trim using the nh strip. You hammer a nail in every 5th nailhead. Since the very last piece of the NH trim was not affixed with a nail, I used a drop of superglue to "fix it" in place. It probably wasn't going to move but I wanted to make sure it didn't.

I will tell you achieving the layered/ burnished metal look was not easy. It was hard to set the paint cans down and walk away. To get the striations I basically flicked my wrist and twisted  the table on a make shift lazy-susan as I was spraying the paint. 

It almost has a "marbling" effect

I spent maybe an hour a day over a period of 4 days working on this.  Unfortunately none of my dogs or cats can work my camera so there are no pics for me to demonstrate this technique. The nail head trim was kind of a PITA (pain-in-the-ass). I can't imagine how bad it had been if I actually had to hammer individual ones in. I managed to kill 4 of the nails AND MY THUMB TWICE! Which is why the needle nose pliers are a GREAT tool to use to hold the nails in place while you hammer! Um duh--wish I had thought of it sooner.... . I had a little difficulty keeping the trim centered on a rounded edge. On a scale of 1to 10 with 1 being easy-peasy and 10 being WTH???? I would give this a difficulty of 5 to 6.

Cost

table=free

paint=$6.47 for the cappucino. The hammered metallics were from my paint hoard

Nail head trim $19.99 for 5 yards for BUT I only used 18 inches=$2.52

All other tools/ supplies were free because we already had them on hand.

Other than that I luurrvvee it! It is very cool and unexpected. Whatcha think?