I painted a basket

First of all let me apologize for the lack of posting the past few days.

Saturday was a really big day for my 8 year old and we celebrated big time.

We hosted a dinner for 45 at-our-house!

and it went off without a hitch!

After it was done my 8 and 11 year olds said, "Finally we don't have to be so worried about keeping our rooms spotless." 

You and me both guys!

On to painting a basket!

In my living room I keep a basket next to the piano to hold my children's sheet music and books. I want their music to be easy to grab when they get the urge to practice (are tired of me nagging them) and I don't want it all on the piano and our bench just isn't a great place to keep the music so I keep a basket.

As I've been rearranging and decorating this room the old basket just wasn't working in the space and it had gotten stepped on or something so it wasn't looking too hot.

I decided I needed a new more streamlined basket.

Lucky me! I found this one at the thrift store for $2.

(and just so you know our weather has been supper cloudy and dark and rainy the past few days so the lighting on these pics are B-A-D!)

Yes it's a little quirky, and has kind of a south American theme which I like, but it didn't go with my vision for the room but it was the perfect size and I liked the shape.

So I decided I could work with it.

I looked on the Internet to see if it was possible to spray paint baskets and discovered...

...why yes it is.

In fact here's a link to some very short instructions by Rust-oleum. 

I cleaned my basket thoroughly and let it dry and then I sprayed it with a 2 in 1 spray paint primer in grey.

I worked in phases.

Inside

outside right

outside left

bottom

and let each one dry 20 minutes in between.

It just made it easier to handle.

Then I let the whole thing dry for 2 hours.

Finally I watered down some white acrylic paint to make a white wash and painted it on with a sponge brush and wiped off most of it with a paper towel.

Leaving the white in the cracks.

After the white wash was dry...I mean really dry....not the I'm anxious to move on and get this done dry but the wait 24 hours dry I top coated with clear spray paint.

I really like how it turned out and I wish the lighting were better so you could see really what a big change it was.

Maybe when the weather gets a little better I can get a good picture of how it looks next to my piano.

It fits perfectly and I love the texture and uniqueness it brings to the room.

It probably won't get noticed much but I know it's there and it makes me happy.