Thursday, July 28

Salt & Pepper

I always like to see big, boldly colored salt & pepper shakers like this one


But seeing how they generally run around $40 (for just a pepper mill) I knew I would never be buying one! So when I stumbled across these little guys (well, not so little. they're about 9 inches tall) at a yard sale I snagged them for $1 for the pair. They were the perfect size and shape and I knew I could make them the perfect color! (don't worry, I cleaned them out first!)


The yellow ones always catch my eye, but I know my kitchen will be yellow and a piece of furniture I'm working on for the dining area will also be yellow. Since these guys will probably live one of those two places, I wanted a color that would stand out against them. I went hunting in my basement and found some royal blue spray paint that seemed like a good option (and it was free!) I started with a little bit of prep work - I stuck toothpicks into the holes on the salt shaker to keep them from getting blocked and taped around the metal top of the pepper mill.


The most important things about using spray paint are (1) keep your arm moving and (2) use light coats. Several light coats are much better than one heavy coat because it will start to run. And to achieve a light coat you have to keep moving and not stop in one place too long. I'm not sure how many coats it took to cover this dark brown because I had to do coats from several different angles to fill in all the cracks. I pretty much left them outside my back door for two days and went out every few hours to rotate them and do another coat. That sounds like a lot of work, but it only took about a minute each time. So maybe 10 minutes of total work? Not too bad. And I ended up with these:


They turned out really nice, but the color just wasn't quite working with my house. It seemed too dark. So the next time I was at Lowe's I peeked at their spray paint selections and found Valspar's Mediterranean gloss paint. I started over and gave them a couple coats of my new blue.



Much better. I think they will work perfectly with the other colors I have planned and will be a nice bold contrast to the more muted tones in most of my home, without being too dark & heavy. And if I change my mind later, I can just paint them again! :)

The paint was about $4, so with my $1 shakers this project came in at a grand total of only $5! Woohoo!

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2 comments:

  1. Woohoo is right! Love the lighter blue! Spray painting really isn't a chore, is it? You just run out every now and then and spritz on another coat.

    You've inspired me again; I've used one of those bad boys for years to grind fresh pepper over our fave dishes. The wood stain has worn over time. Hmmm...maybe red to match the new red ticking cushions on the kitchen chairs, white for the farmhouse look I love... .

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  2. Oooo, tough call! You could always try one color and repaint it if you don't like. Trust me. I know. :)
    If you do it will you share pictures? I would love to see!

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