Ever get some really cool decorations for super cheap you just can’t wait to use? Those decorations need a little DIY makeover first? Well, I have and yes they did! When I moved into my first apartment I had basically no decorations. The only items I had were from my bedroom at my mom’s house. That room was about the size of the kitchen in my new apartment. I had a lot of empty space to decorate. Having just started my first “big girl” job and now having to pay rent. I did not have a lot of funds for buying decorations. This lead me to look for used items from friends and family as well as going to thrift stores and yard sales. Now, I did not grow up with a ton of money so this kind of shopping was very familiar to me. I still like to shop like this now because you can find some amazing deals.
One of the items I stumbled upon during my hunt for decor, were two small metal bicycles that hang on the wall. I got these from a wonderful lady at church. We found them while going through her garage to look for pots and pans for me. She’d found them and fell in love with and painted them pink to match her style. Being more of a blue kind of girl, I opted to spray paint one light blue and one a darker blue. These stayed up in my apartment the entire time I lived there. Right before Justin and I got married, I moved into the house that we’d be living in together. During the process of moving, we went through all my things and got rid of a lot of items that didn’t fit our style as a couple. Since we both love to ride our bicycles, we knew we had to keep these little metal ones. We weren’t sure what we were going to do with them or where we would put them. We just knew we wanted them.
Fast forward about a year and we still have not found a place to put the little bicycles. In that year though, we’ve rearranged the rooms in the house several times. I think we finally have it set up to where we can use the bicycles again! Justin and I set up an office area in our house and we have it set up as a rustic type style so the blue had to go. Since I’d gotten the bicycles for free and I’d already painted them once, I figured, what’s a little more paint? This time I decided to use paint that I had on hand rather than going out and buying new spray paint. I had all these supplies already due to trying my hand at painting with acrylics. Be sure to check out my post, Why I Paint – Or Try to At Least if you are interested in hearing more about my painting adventures.
The Process
In order to take these blue bikes and make them rustic, I needed to gather my supplies. First I got my easel, paints, paint brushes, and some water to clean my brushes when I switched colors.
Once I’d gotten all those I picked the colors I wanted and got started on the color.
Before
After
Once the base coat was on, I started adding some rusty metallic paint and some gold paint. These were to make the bikes seem a little less boring. Also, so that they’d match some of our other decor that was brown with hints of gold.
I enjoyed this step of the process the most because this is where things really started coming together.
During the process of giving these bikes a makeover, I got paint ALL over my hands. If you’ve ever done a DIY project before, you know that you usually end up a mess. In the end, it is all worth it though to see your vision come together. Whether you are giving some of your old things a makeover or you are making something new, it is always an adventure when you DIY.
If you have conquered a DIY project recently, we would love to hear about it! Also, if you enjoyed this post, be sure to share it on social media! We are on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest! Thank you so much for reading! Have a wonderful day and God Bless!
