Junk Makeover

Lauraleedaydreams
by Lauraleedaydreams
6 Materials
$5
4 Hours
Easy

I love to take someone’s junk/trash and give it new life. I call it a Onsie! A one of a kind makeover. This one turned out to be a beachy sea-turtle wicker decor project. I live at the beach, I’m a sea turtle volunteer and who doesn’t love wicker!

A really nice collection of junk.
Clean it up real good.


I’ll be using the one on the top left for this makeover. First I wash each piece really good and make sure it dries completely. And BTW...this project is so stinkin’ easy! I promise, you’ll start looking at things with a spray paint can in mind from now on. lol

Backside

This photo helps you see the shape of this little beauty. The potential is there.

Spray shelter
Spray paint with a base coat.


Unless I’m dry brushing a piece, I think it’s much easier to spray paint wicker. A makeover specialist who I follow said she found out the hard way that you should first spray wicker with a primer base coat. I’ll be honest, I’m not sure why but I always do it. Plus a white base coat sets up a wonderful color finish on you final desired color.

Base coat.
I sprayed both sides.


One good coat of white primer is all it needed.

Spray paints.

Here are the brands of paint that I used. I always have good luck and coverage with Rustoleum brand paints.

I sprayed both sides with this darker beachy blue in the paint shelter with extra coats to make sure I got complete coverage. I purchased the shelter on Amazon. (They come in different sizes).

The desired final color
Measure


I measured the center area to determine the size stencil I’ll need. I do have the ability to free hand certain designs and images. But I find that stenciling is easier and quicker.

Abby helps.
You can design your own image or purchase a stencil


I really like designing my own stencil on my Silhouette Cameo computer program. I find an image on the internet and then trace it. The program allows me to clean up the image and most importantly adjust the size to my needs.

Painters tape and a tennis ball!
Add the stencil to the wicker tray.


I use very cheap shelf liner for my stencil material. I only take off about one third of the backing at the top and place it where I want it. Then I take off more of the backing, (exposing the sticky vinyl) little by little. If you take off all the backing at once and then try to position the stencil you may create a real mess. Trust me on this one! I added painters tape where the image was close to the edge. This helps to not accidentally get paint where I don’t want it. Why a tennis ball you ask! It’s to help smush the stencil down as tightly as possible on this very un-smooth surface. I really REALLY don’t want the paint to bleed under the stencil. Since the tray was spray painted I don’t have paint for touch ups using a tiny brush.

Check out the chalk paint/colors that I decided to use.

Close up

If you look closely you can see the wicker bumps. I was pretty sure that I got a tight stick.

Painting the image
Paint the image.


I decided to use more than one color. I put small amounts of paint on a paper plate. Using a Martha Stewart foam brush pouncer I added these colors. The trick is to load the pouncer with paint and then offload most of the paint on the plate to make it dry. Then add the paint by pouncing a little at a time. Too much paint all at once is faster but can cause bleeding under the stencil material. You really need to stencil with about 3 coats. Each coat will get you closer to your desired coverage. This takes a lot of patience but it pays off in the end.

Close up
Top coat with a clear sealer.


Here is a close up of the final colors. The final step is to add a top coat of a clear finish. I used a clear matt finish spray.

Tada!

The final piece is ready to be delivered to the consignment shop to eventually find its way to a new forever home. Perfect for a table or wall decor piece. And sturdy enough to be used as a one of a kind tray! I hope you liked this project and be inspired to make something like this for your own home. The possibilities are endless.

Resources for this project:
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