Craftiness.

The Goal:

The time has come for me to move into a new apartment, and with this change in scenes comes new decorations. And you guys, I love me some decorations. Bronwyn and I went to start moving in some things today and, well, we were sad. The apartment is so bare and foreign feeling. The smell of old cleaning supplies lingered in the air and the couches looked neglected. The bedrooms were far too empty and the bathrooms had that scary, dirty, foreign feeling that all college apartment bathrooms have until you get used to it and call them home. However, once we started moving in our old apartment wall hangings and I reminded myself that my beloved roommates would be there with me, things started to brighten up.

So, in the act of making this house feel like a home, I turned to pinterest. Naturally. My boards have been piled high with apartment inspiration, and this past weekend I decided to tackle the painted crates.

Supplies: 

I went on over to Joann's and got me some wooden crates and spray paint. I snagged the last three crates at $8.99 each, which was 25% off the original price. 

As far as spray paint goes I got four cans: a color for each crate and a primer. They cost $7.99/bottle.

Take it from someone whose been there, go with the Rust-oleum, not the Krylon. I don't know much about spray paints, so maybe the Krylon would have worked better if I had the same brand of primer? I have no idea, but what I do know is that, after priming, the green went on beautifully while the purple and blue took up the entire bottle of paint and left me going back for seconds. Even then I was more pleased with the green than the others. 

The Method:

After setting some old packing paper on the grass I went at it with the primer. I coated the boxes with three layers each.

After this step I moved the boxes to different parts of the yard - I didn't want the wind to blow the paint from one box onto another. Turns out this was the best decision I made all day, as the paint was going everywhere. I probably could have let them sit a bit longer, but I just waited until the primer was dry to the touch and went at it with the color. I did one layer just after the primer, then came back about two hours later to do the second layer, and did the third layer after a few more hours. The purple took a few more mini-coats after that, but the blue and green were good to go.

I'm not sure exactly how the crates will be used in the apartment, but I am thinking of stacking them and using them as a form of book case. I'll let you know where they go :)

To see some of our apartment crafty makeovers from last year click here, here, and here.