Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Repainting Mismatched Plastic Kids' Furniture

We're not done with my daughter's room yet. Revival ended on Sunday, and I was hoping to dive right into everything on Monday morning. Sickness decided to visit instead, and I've only been able to continue this morning.

However, all was not lost! As I started to feel well enough to sit up yesterday, I was able to browse online for organizational ideas that I knew I'd need for my son's room. I found some good ones, and I'll share those another time.

This morning I felt like I had slept for two whole days (which I almost had), and I had the energy to match it. What a great feeling! This was the day to repaint the Little Tikes plastic table and chairs for my daughter's room.

Of course, I first had to peel off the pesky stickers that "magically" appeared after I gave my kids some stickers awhile back and then left them to their own devices. Then I had to use a Magic Eraser (dollar store version) to get the writing off the parts that weren't going to be painted. Don't ask me why it seems logical to kids to write with pen on the top of a plastic toy table, but it seems to be a kid thing. I see it all the time on toys at the thrift store.

I wasn't able to get all the writing off with the Magic Eraser (dollar store version), but I was happily surprised that the rest of it disappeared after I washed it and let it sit for an hour or so in the bright sun.

I wish I had thought to take a picture before I disassembled it all and my husband started spray painting it, but this will have to do:


I don't know who at Little Tikes picked this blue color, but I haven't cared for it since we got it. I'm pretty sure it was given to us, though, so I really can't complain. However, I wasn't going to put this color back into my daughter's newly-redone room with a pink/red/white color scheme. Not in a million years.

So I found the Krylon Fusion for Plastic spray paint at my local Wal-Mart. I chose red and found two bonus cans with 25% more. It's a good thing, too, because it took both cans to do this project (not including the table top).

The last of the pieces are drying as I type this, so this picture will have to serve as the teaser for today:


This is a table leg before and after the painting.

In all, we painted four legs, two chairs and two drawers with two bonus-sized cans of spray paint. That means this repainting project cost $9.20 (with sales tax). I certainly couldn't buy a new table and chairs set for that price, so I was happy.

2 comments:

jemilyea said...

So sorry you've been ill; glad you're better. I've wondered how well the spray paint for plastic works. I'm looking forward to seeing the final results (plus the room!).

Esther Asbury said...

Enjoyed your teaser -- can't wait to see the finished product! The Pink/Red/White color scheme sounds lovely -- I'm anxious to see the final results!

 
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