Don't be afraid... paint fixes anything!

Ever been afraid to paint something, or try something new on a craft project for fear you will "ruin" it?  Well, fear no longer because spray paint can fix just about anything!  Let me tell you my story for proof of this. 

I discovered a chippy old filial in the back corner of a yard sale this summer for 25 cents.  It was fairly tall and had a lot of detail but it was in pretty bad shape.  Even so, being in rescue mode, I thought I could fix it up.  Several ideas ran through my head.  A bird bath would be perfect for this piece of wood.  Simply get one of the gazillions of wooden bowls from Goodwill and mount it on top and paint it right?  A quick and easy plan, that was sure to be a success! 

First problem.  There were no wooden bowls of the right size or shape to be found for several weeks.  Does this happen to you?  You want something that is readily available UNTIL you go to buy it!  Once, our whole city was out of glue sticks!  You know the kind kids use in school?  Yeah, well, it was back to school but still!  Glue sticks?  Come on!! 

 I found a bowl, not what I had in mind but I felt like I was never going to find one so I settled.  While I sanded off the filial,  my son drilled a hole in the bowl for the screw to mount it.   A bit of caulking sealant was used to seal the hole and prevent the water from leaking out. 

I primered the entire thing with 2 or 3 coats.  Then I put a coat of heirloom white on it; several coats in fact... It was nice, but just not what I had in mind.  So, I distressed it a bit.  Still not there. Hint:  distressing doesn't work well when you have different types of wood and one of them is a smooth bowl!  

 I put a bit of antique brass just here and there to add some depth (or so I hoped).  It looked funny.  I put more.  It still looked funny.  I coated the entire thing with the old brass color and still didn't like it. 

Distressing was next.  Hmmmm, not so great either. But I was out of ideas.  It looked ok right?  I glued the bird on with Liquid Nails and filled it with water and looked at it for a day or two. 

 I decided to try my can of Oil Rubbed Bronze that everyone in the blog world talks about.  It is a black metallic color which I didn't realize, so I spray this over the gold.  It was worse now.  I used a light yellow beige over this, several coats and then decided to do a wash over it with black.  This always works for other people.  I used black paint watered it down, painted it on by hand and then rubbed it all off.  It went in the creases nicely and highlighted the curves... but.... it looked like.... grease!  arrrggghhhhh

I decided to go back to just the single color and didn't even try to distress.  Bonus -  by this time, all the chippy parts that weren't completely smooth from the early sanding had filled in.  So here it is now in all it's glory.  Essentially back to where I started.....

Should I distress it? Hmmmmm.....

I linked up at the Shabby Nest for Frugal Friday http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/
Chic on a shoesring for Flaunt it Friday @
http://chiconashoestringdecorating.blogspot.com/2010/09/flaunt-it-friday-24.html
The Power of Paint http://www.domestically-speaking.com/
Thrilling Thursday at http://www.paisleypassions.blogspot.com/