So, I got those lockers on Wednesday April 25th and finished them on Sunday May 6th. Starting this right after finishing my last painting – I’ve got serious painting fatigue. SO glad it’s over!
After I got them, they were scrubbed down with 409 and David sanded them lightly with 180 grit (one sheet was enough). I didn’t start priming until that Sunday.
After tightening all the screws, we laid it down in the kitchen and I got to work!
I taped around the latches (wish I hadn’t) and used a teeny 2″ dense foam roller meant for touch-ups. I got it for $2 and it came with the little paint tray too. Replacement foam rollers came in 2-packs for $2 each and I got 3 packs of those. I used a 1/2″ flat paint brush for tight areas the roller couldn’t get to, like around the vents.
For a primer, I picked Zinsser Bulls Eye 1-2-3 water-based primer. It says it’s for all surfaces with no pre-sanding needed, and for all top coats. A quart was about $8. I’m really pleased with this stuff and clean up is great. I also have a TON left for future projects!
Because I’m a maniac, I did 2 coats of primer. I chose not to do the interior of the lockers but I still had to paint the pieces that fold in, on and around the doors. Such a pain in the ass! This required the lil’ paint brush and took hours. I had 2 doors open at a time, propped on wads of paper towels and wooden dowels. Luckily the primer dries in less than an hour so, I would work and rest and work and rest. Once I started the colors, I had to do this same process again on the edges, coat after coat, only it was standing up.
For the frame and sides, I used Rust-Oleum gloss enamel in white. A half-pint is about $4. I got a quart and should’ve just gotten the half-pint. Rust-Oleum is an oil-based paint and SO nasty to clean up! The odor is pretty strong too and it takes a long time to dry. Coverage is great though. One coat over the primer and that was it. I did the Rust-Oleum white parts first since it’s easier to clean up latex messes off oil.
Rust-Oluem colors are limited so I had to get latex colors mixed. Home Depot had Behr High Gloss Enamel. Actually, they had 4 Behr gloss bases left so I had to get 2 Glidden brand ones as well. Glidden was far superior to Behr. Totally worth a little extra money! (Also, never get Valspar paint from Lowes. Crappiest crap I ever did use.)
For about $10 a quart on sale, I dropped another $60 on 6 colors. So criminal. I could’ve just done one color or 2 or 3 but I was dead set on 6, which turned into a major disappointment.
I wish they would do custom colors in pints. Oh well. If I ever need to paint anything else around my house a fun color, it’s going to be with this leftover paint I have!
(They do offer little sample tubs of paint in any color for $4 each, which would’ve been perfect, but they were only in flat finishes. So, keep that in mind if you ever need a special color for a tiny project that isn’t glossy, or just put on a gloss topcoat!)
Here are the color swatches (from the Behr site) I picked. Clockwise top left: Atomic Tangerine, Grenadine, Garden Sprout (more acid green), Solar Flare (more bright orange), Aqua Waters, Chocolate Sprinkle
After a couple days of doing other stuff and recovering from back and leg pain (squatting and bending and hunching killed me), I finally started the colors.
David had the brilliant idea to line my paint tray with plastic wrap for easy clean-up between colors! Muah! So great! I had so many lil foam rollers so I didn’t have to clean them out when I switched colors, and just kept them in ziplocks to stay wet until the 2nd coat the next day. Also, some regular printer paper was used in the cracks instead of taping taping taping.
first coats
HEY! GUESS WHAT? I HATED IT!!!! The 6 colors just didn’t work together. It may look okay in that picture but it’s totally different in real life – offensive to my senses. David was being a true diplomat and biting his tongue saying it was very “European.” I think he meant European pre-school for the colorblind.
Colors in your mind are NOT colors on swatches are NOT colors in paint buckets are NOT colors actually painted are NOT colors photographed.
Kelly, a graphic designer, also noted that when certain colors are next to each other in large expanses, it can change the way you see them, bringing out hues you wouldn’t notice if they were alone or smaller. So there’s definitely that.
So… I sucked it up and picked 3 colors instead – yellow, orange and brown – which was David’s original idea so he had the pleasure of hearing me say he was right. At least I tried my original idea first. I would’ve always wondered and you just never know until you do it… $30 and hours down the tubes. I got my wits about me and finished the sucker!
Aaaaand drum roll please!!
Tada!
We’ve reorganized the kitchen and decided what would go inside the lockers, took meticulous measurements and I got wood dowels and shelves cut to by my dad to maximize storage. I cleared all my spices and cooking stuff off the mantle in the kitchen, got a 2-tier lazy susan that fits in a locker and now have all sorts of clean space on the mantle to decorate!
These two have a shelf 16″ up. The rest have 2 shelves 12″ apart.
repainted the mantle while I was at it
It was just a few days total of real work and about $200 (sigh… I wanted this to be cheaper). Still not bad for what’s on the market right now!
David thinks I should get more of these to paint and sell. Geesh… I just don’t know about that! Squatting and hunching down in my wrecked kitchen murdered my back and legs. I wish I had a workshop!
H&M $5
