DIY Project Update

So, I finally had a chance to work on that $4 tag sale special plastic picnic table I mentioned previously. I had to wait for conditions to be just right — a warm, sunny, not-too-humid, not-too-windy day (according to the instructions on the paint can), and a weekend where my daughter took naps (my instructions), and I could get away with working on whatever I wanted (Father’s Day).

As I mentioned, Krylon makes a spray paint which is designed to adhere to plastic outdoor crap. Blue and Red weren’t my first choice for colors, but the selection was limited. It turned out pretty nice looking anyway.

Of course, I forgot to take a Before picture, but I got a half-way-through picture. Just picture faded, cracked yellow where the red is in the first picture.

Seeing as how I was going to paint over the orange on the sides anyhow, I didn’t care too much about getting red there when doing the top and benches. But I used some blue painters tape, using one of those things for applying spackle to push the tape in the cracks.

After letting it dry for a day, I tackled the sides, which were a little bit trickier. I used newspaper and the blue tape to cover up the work I did on the Red. Looking back, I would have used something else, because the newspaper stuck in a few places. It came off rather well with spit and a finger a damp cloth. There were a few places were it did take he red paint off, which I had to touch up… which wasn’t easy with spray paint.

A quick word about the paint. They recommend spraying from 8-10 inches. I was spraying from more like 4-6 inches.

I did three coats of the Red (drying time is 15 mins), and only a couple of Blue. They didn’t cover quite as well as I would have hoped, but you really need to look close to see the cracked and stained areas now. The results are actually quite nice.

My daughter seems to like the job I did. And I keep getting caught by Ms. Kaz looking through the kitched window to admire my handi-work.