Greatest Inventions

Well maybe not greatest, but here are 2 fabulous things people created that I Love ...

Hair color (yes, I already have gray hair)

Spray paint

When I posted about my little desk that I decided to paint and painted within 30 minutes start to finish, Jeannine asked me what type of paint I use and do I prime.

Well, I have learned that any project that stands a chance of getting done in my house must be done quickly. So on this particular project, I just spray painted the top layer of paint and didn't prime it at all. I don't even really know what the actual purpose of primer is, other than you should use it when you have a piece of wood that has never been painted. (According to Mr. Jones, the primer raises the wood and allows you to sand it down smoother with some steel wool. He worked for his father who was a professional painter so I'm going with him on that one). So if a piece already has been painted, I just paint over the paint. If the piece has shellac or a glossy finish and I want the paint to stick, I do a light sanding. Ditto if the previous paint job has too many lines and needs to be smoothed down a bit. That probably doesn't clear up much. I'm probably making it more confusing. Basically, I avoid work at all costs.

By the way, they do make spray primer too, which I love because it gets in all kinds of weird spots, doesn't leave paint lines and is fast. And you can use grey primer if you are going to paint the piece black.

Anyway, my hands-down favorite paint is Krylon Indoor/Outdoor paint. Have you seen the commercial for the little 360 degree nozzle on their bottles? Well, yes, I had to check that out and it is awesome!! I cannot tell you how much I love this little feature. Yes, folks, this is a paint manufacturer who understands their customers (Apparently my local Home Depot doesn't because they don't even stock this stuff). When I went to their website to steal one of their spray paint pictures, I found all kinds of really neat projects, like ...

A baby bootie mobile. I may not make this one, but I did save all of my kids' booties but they are all scuffed and dirty and bronzing them costs too much money. Wouldn't a coat of robin's egg blue look great on them?!!

And glue those stars right on the dresser ... hmmmmm, I'm going to have to glue some shells or something on one of mine.

Oh, oh, this one is my favorite. Did it ever occur to me to spray paint a shirt? Get out!!

Here's a cute Halloween project made from Dryer Hose!

You can make chalk boards out of those lunch boxes.

And here's a technique I have tried before. Use petroleum jelly between layers of paint to distress it. Be careful though. It REALLY works.

They even show you how to do aged looks like this one. Loooovee the patina.

I'm on vacation now, but I'm think when I get back I'm going to have a little get-together with all my bloggy friends and we can all share our favorite spray paint project.