Entryway Prep

This is just a real quick post on how we spray painted the lamp and mirror that are in the entryway. I didn't get all the necessary 'after pictures' before we assembled and put them up because I wanted the entryway to be a surprise, but here's how we got to here. First I picked up a can of Valspar primer and a can of Valspar white in gloss. I also picked up a can of Valspar in Avocado for the mirror, I guess I was just too into keeping it a secret because I didn't even take a picture of it. 

So first I took the lamp shade off and took it out back on my spray painting stand (just a chunk of our old counter sitting on a plastic tub). Then I taped off the power cord so it wouldn't get all gunky with spray paint.

Then I taped off the space where the bulb screws in. Something tells me that a hot bulb being powered mixed with spray paint gunk just doesn't go well, so I decided to take care of any potential fire hazards.  Then I gave the lamp about three light coats of primer. I find that doing multiple light coats helps avoid nasty drips and weird thick spots. You only have to wait 5 minutes in between coats so it's really no biggie. Then I let that sit for about 45 minutes before I gave it multiple thin coats of the glossy white. I really like the Valspar cans because the spray is at any angle which lets you get up underneath spaces and real tight in the design on the side. I let the lamp sit outside for about an hour before I brought it in to the house to cure overnight before putting it on the shoe bin. 

While the lamp was drying I started prepping the mirror for paint. I used painter's tape around the edge so I wouldn't spray any paint on the mirror. 

Then I gathered some old paper and laid it out over the mirror and taped down all the edges to seal any potential windy spray paint from getting in. You don't want to have to scrape paint off of a mirror so trust me when I tell you to take the extra time to seal off any and all edges. 

Then it was primer time. Again I did about 3 thin coats of primer before applying the coat of Avocado. I did 3 coats of Avocado before letting it sun dry for about an hour before bringing it in to cure overnight. I was able to hang it about 12 hours after it was spray painted with no problems. The lamp and mirror felt tacky for about 2 days but they weren't sticking to anything. By now (about 8 days) they have cured up really nicely and are nice and smooth and hard to the touch. 

Sorry for the backwards posting but that entryway looks pretty snazzy eh?

Here are some updated pictures of the finished projects. Doesn't that lamp just look so crispy clean now?

Check out all that detail. Love it. I hope my cousin's wife doesn't realize she wants them back now!

And here's about the only good shot of a mirror I could get without capture my lovely mug. This photo does that color good justice though. And good news, B loves it too!