I've always had an affinity for re-painting rusty beat up metal objects. I've painted a number of bikes, chairs, old fans, etc that I've bought cheaply from flea markets or simply just found on the side of the road.
It just so happens that my latest project is a metal trashcan that I happened upon in philadelphia and couldn't help but pick it up and throw into my car a couple weeks ago. If you've ever been to my house my might notice that I have this same style trashcan in my kitchen. Fun fact: I received this trashcan as a gift from my parents the day I graduated from high school, I was extremely excited for this gift. That trashcan was a beat up white one that I painted bright red.
This particular trash can was beat up and black and since I already had one I couldn't justify keeping it so I decided to give it to my friends Alison and Ed for their wedding gift. Alison gave me free reign to paint it whatever color I thought would go in their house, I'm not so sure I succeeded on that front but I sure do like a brightly painted trashcan.
It just so happens that my latest project is a metal trashcan that I happened upon in philadelphia and couldn't help but pick it up and throw into my car a couple weeks ago. If you've ever been to my house my might notice that I have this same style trashcan in my kitchen. Fun fact: I received this trashcan as a gift from my parents the day I graduated from high school, I was extremely excited for this gift. That trashcan was a beat up white one that I painted bright red.
This particular trash can was beat up and black and since I already had one I couldn't justify keeping it so I decided to give it to my friends Alison and Ed for their wedding gift. Alison gave me free reign to paint it whatever color I thought would go in their house, I'm not so sure I succeeded on that front but I sure do like a brightly painted trashcan.
Here she is in all her glory, taped up and lid removed. Pretty, isn't it?
After a light sanding I primed it, I normally wouldn't do this if it wasn't rusty but with the state of the old can it was hard to find all the imperfections. Primer dries fast and it a lot easier to sand than spray paint so I gave it a light coat and sanded from there.
The key to a good paint job, I've found, is to do light even coats. You want to fully cover the piece but you don't want it to drip. My basement is also not an ideal place to paint anything, it's dusty and not well ventilated but this project turned out well. I put two coats on, sanding with a very fine sandpaper in between coats. After the second coat was dry I had to sand out some dust particles and touch up a few spots, it's not perfect but a vast improvement from the original state.
Here's the breakdown of supplies
Trashcan: $0
Sandpaper, fine and superfine - used some that was beat up from other projects: $0
Masking tape, already had on hand: $0
Leftover Rustoleum spray paint: $0
Here's the breakdown of supplies
Trashcan: $0
Sandpaper, fine and superfine - used some that was beat up from other projects: $0
Masking tape, already had on hand: $0
Leftover Rustoleum spray paint: $0