Trash to Treasure!

Hey, everyone!

This week's blog post goes out to those who want to decorative-paint the mundane things in their life, but have trouble making it happen. Whether it's your skill level, lack of time to dedicate to a big project, or you just don't know how you want to paint something, there is an alternative: paper!

The Cheap Joe's Outlet Store has a fantastic selection of handmade paper, and some of it is for sale on our website! Check out these that are made from bark or these packs that have their own color schemes (I used one pack in this post!)

You can also get crazy with layering tissue paper--hmm...that might be a future blog post!

This used to be a plain black bookshelf. But thanks to a few sheets of this gorgeous handmade paper I found in the Outlet Store, it's now a stunning work of art!

I also used an assortment of papers to give a collage effect to this smaller shelf.

The decorative paper method is one that I love and have had great success with--the best part? It's so easy!

For my example this time, I used this totally bare trash can cover/holder that my dad (Hi, dad!) made me hide this ugly old bin--and also keep my cat from knocking it over again...

I started by planning it out, of course, in my handy dandy Hand•Book Journal. I knew that I wanted to incorporate a solid accent color with the decorative paper I chose (an all-over pattern would take away from the print and make it harder to distinguish its shapeless is more sometimes!), but there were so many design possibilities!

Once I figured out which look I wanted to go with (top middle), it was time to make it happen!

The first step was priming all over.

After two coats of Joe's Prime Really Good Gesso, I dragged this bad boy out into the yard for some spray painting!

I used Montana Gold Professional Acrylic Spray Paint in Shock Red for the sides and back of my holder. I went with Montana Gold for a few reasons: the red matched my paper perfectly and the drying time and coverage for spray paint are insanely better than fluid or heavy-body acrylics. You're also much more likely to get an even coating--no brush strokes!

Once the outsides dried, I painted the inside of the lid and a few inches down into the holder, that way you wouldn't just see bare wood when you opened it up.

When those parts dried as well, I brought it back inside to apply my paper to the top and front with Golden Soft Gel Medium. I cut the sheets a little bit larger than what I needed, just to make sure I could cover everything completely, but then I only adhered to the parts that I wanted to cover.

With everything good and stuck on, I used an X-Acto Knife to cut away the excess and glued any loose edges back down with my Gel Medium.

To protect the outside and also give it a nice finish, I covered everything that was painted red with Golden Soft Gel Medium (Gloss)--in case you can't tell, I love using this stuff. It's so versatile!