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    Home » DIY And Crafts

    Yard Sale Makeover With Spray Paint

    Published by Pam Kessler | 541 words. · About 3 minutes to read this article. - 32 Comments

    If you can remember back to August, I found a yucky, paint splattered wreck of a vintage step stool at the 127 Yard Sale aka World's Longest Yard Sale.

    I purposely bought it because it was in bad shape, was ugly and was cheap.

    Normally I like my junk rusty, chippy and well loved, but this was on a whole different level.

    A yard sale makeover using spray paint to update a vintage step stool into a work of art. OK, that may be going a bit far, but it is a cute DIY project.

    Someone had obviously used it as their painting ladder and never before heard of using paper towels to wipe up paint spills, so I decided to pretty her up a bit.

    Follow along on the World's Longest Yard Sale aka the 127 Yard Sale and see what we found. Including a yard sale makeover with Krylon paint.

    I took my hand sander to some of the paint splatters. I just knocked off the high spots so they wouldn't still show after I painted it.

    That was the easy part.

    The toughest part of this makeover was the ugly-butt wallpaper someone had stuck on it.

    A yard sale makeover using spray paint to update a vintage step stool into a work of art. OK, that may be going a bit far, but it is a cute DIY project.

    Now I love me some ladybugs, but just not on my furniture.

    I ended up trying picking it off with my fingernails. Fail.

    . . . sanding it off. Fail.

    . . . using Goo Gone. Somewhat fail.

    . . . using Goo Gone with my sander and fingernails. Almost a win.

    . . . cussing at it and deciding that good enough was good enough. Win!!!

    I used Krylon's Covermaxx spray paint in White (gloss) and Jade (satin). I originally chose this paint brand because of the COLORS to choose from, Krylon has a lot of pretty vintage-ish style colors this year, and I thought their Jade looked similar to Jadeite and I love me some Fire King Jadeite.

    A yard sale makeover using spray paint to update a vintage step stool into a work of art. OK, that may be going a bit far, but it is a cute DIY project.

    I would have used the Jade in gloss, but it didn't come in that finish/sheen.

    A yard sale makeover using spray paint to update a vintage step stool into a work of art. OK, that may be going a bit far, but it is a cute DIY project.

    I used one can of white on the legs and roughly ½ can of Jade on the steps.

    The coverage of this paint was AMAZING! Three light coats of the white covered up a multitude of paint splatter sins. There's just something about the mistiness (if I can be so technical) that I liked. It seemed like a finer spray mist than other paints I've use?

    Anyhow, not to seem like an ad for Krylon or anything, but I was digging this stuff.

    I was going to get all fancy and hand draw some arrows or something on the steps, but decided I was going for simple and straight-forward for this piece.

    A yard sale makeover using spray paint to update a vintage step stool into a work of art. OK, that may be going a bit far, but it is a cute DIY project.

    I mean, it's a step stool after all.

    Edited to add: I've has some questions about how I painted the two colors without making a huge mess.

    I painted the white not really caring if it got on the steps (because I knew I would paint them anyhow). When that dried I taped off the white closest to the steps and then wrapped some Saran Wrap a little farther up the legs in case I had any over spray (which I did).

    Oh, and I used Frog Tape For Delicate Surfaces (yellow container), so it wouldn't pull up any of the paint. Pretty similar to what I did on my Painting A Vintage Motel Chair post last year.

    To compare and contrast:

    A yard sale makeover using spray paint to update a vintage step stool into a work of art. OK, that may be going a bit far, but it is a cute DIY project.

    And in a Pinterest friendly version for you:

    A yard sale makeover using spray paint to update a vintage step stool into a work of art. OK, that may be going a bit far, but it is a cute DIY project.



    Some more yard sale makeovers can be found on my Upcycling page.

    OK, off to the thrift stores to see what trouble I can get into!

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Lottie

      September 27, 2015 at 10:30 pm

      Now it is not just a step stool but a "cute" step stool! Love the colors you chose!

      Reply
    2. Kim

      October 20, 2016 at 8:42 pm

      I love what you did with this step stool ladder; love your colors! I have the same step stool ladder except mine is green, but it was my grandmother's. Growing up, it was my chair because I was the youngest. A few years ago I was looking for something at their house and I found it thrown out in the barn. *sad face* Of course, I rescued it and brought it home to be cleaned up and painted. I couldn't find the original green for mine, but I got very close.

      If I ever come across another at the thrift shops, it will get a makeover with your color scheme. Love it!

      Reply
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