My motto is work smarter not harder because I’m lazy. One way to work smarter is to spray paint or dry brush a batch of small items together, especially if you are painting them all the same color.
That is what I did with this batch of thrifty decor. I painted or dry brushed all of them white except for the basket with the divider. I spray painted it black.
My favorite off-white spray paint is Rustoleum Heirloom Satin. It is the perfect off white and I love this brand of spray paint.
I spray painted the items one at a time and I didn’t do a layer and let it dry, etc. I covered the pieces completely in one spraying.
The baskets were really cool. I found them at my favorite junk shop. Pretty baskets look great with a light dry brushing with off-white paint. Please do not use white, white paint.
The secret to proper dry brushing is to dip your brush into the paint them dab or wipe most, almost all, of the paint from the brush. The off-white paint I selected for the projects is Drop Cloth by Dixie Belle.
Then you run the brush tips over the item. Repeat dipping the brush into the paint, whipping the paint from the brush, and running the brush over the item until it looks perfectly imperfect.
Trust me when I say you should wipe most of the paint from the brush. If there is too much paint on the brush the first few swipes of the brush over your item will leave a glob of paint or completely cover the item with paint.
This basket is really cool…..but a bit dark for my liking.
Dry brushing the basket with off-white paint perked it up. You can dry brush with any color paint. It just depends on the color of your project piece. You might dry brush a white item with black, brown, red, or any color paint.
Next I distressed a few of the items using 100 grit sandpaper by hand. This process only takes a minute for small items like the picture frame.
The large candlestick looks like an outdated item from Kirkland’s or the Bombay store. Spray painting it white makes the piece look modern.
One of the cool things about dry brushing is the paint dries almost immediately. I love how the dark basket looks with the touches of off-white paint.
I also dry-brushed over the burlap trim just ever so lightly. You notice that the white paint is not evenly distributed over the basket. This look is better than a store-bought item where the paint is even and perfect.
I distressed the paint on the wire basket also. I just went through my stash of stuff and displayed random items in the baskets. Some of the ideas are good and some are dorky. Haha! Just try random things until something clicks.
No distressing for the tiered spice organizer. The frame and candlestick look awesome if I do say so myself.
This is one of the displays that failed for me. I had a giant jar full of wine corks and I filled the basket with corks and faux succulents.
Either there weren’t enough corks of this display is dumb.
Next, I filled the wire basket with the corks.
But….the dark basket is my favorite makeover from the batch. The flowers are real and I brought them in from outdoors for this quick photo.
I also took a photo with the faux hydrangeas. Which makeover do you like the best? Ready to spray paint or dry brush somthing?
Thanks for being here, Kathy
Author: Kathy Owen
Kathy Owen is the founder of the home decor blog Petticoat Junktion where she shares tutorials on painting furniture and upcycling thrifty finds into unique home décor. Her DIY projects have been featured on the Home Depot Blog, Plaid Crafts, Behr Designer Series, and in numerous magazines. Kathy’s newest website is HappyHomeDIY.com
