A LIttle Do-It-Yourself

While I'm underemployed, I've been getting some projects done around the house, but avoiding anything that involves too much effort during a heat wave, or any money. Now, I'm not a hoarder (that's what they all say) because I get rid of things readily, but I do save anything that I think may be useful later. I have several rusty baking pans and cookie sheets that I kept around to carry plants, and they look awful. 

Now that I have a bunch of succulents that must be taken inside when it's rainy or cold, I decided to make them look presentable in the kitchen, using supplies I already have.

First, I got out my rust removal kit and used a wire brush to remove as much as I could. Then I slathered Naval jelly on a cookie sheet. Rinse, brush, repeat. I was under no illusion that I'd remove all the rust, but I removed a lot of rust. Then I ran out of Naval jelly, and didn't want to buy more.

Since I took these pictures, I've treated a couple of other pans (I had several partial bottles of Naval jelly), and sometimes I'd brush them and discover holes. Decision time: would the finished product be worth the trouble? I do have Bondo, but I didn't think the project was worth that much effort. Since I'd just be carrying plants in these pans, a small hole or two doesn't bother me, but one pan was in such bad shape I stopped working on it. It's the same thing as removing all the rust. This is a no dollar project; how long do I really expect these trays to last?  

Next I'd decide what I wanted my tray to look like. I like the look of old enamelware, so I tried to emulate that with spray paint. There were three trays in this project, and the pictures will not be all of the same tray. I forgot to take a picture in some steps, and some pictures didn't turn out well. Bear with me. I wasted a lot of paint on the first two trays before I wised up and used primer on the third one. One coat of primer will save you several coats of regular spray paint. 

I painted the accent color first, all over the bottom and around the edges of the top. My advice here is to let your paint dry longer than you think is necessary between coats. 

Then I masked off the parts where I wanted the accent color with painters tape. That's one of the reasons to let it dry thoroughly, so the paint will stand up to the tape, and the tape won't become a part of the tray. Press the tape down hard, especially along the very edge.

Then I spray painted the floor of the tray white. This might be the third color of paint on the surface; another reason to let everything dry well, even overnight, between coats.

Now comes the really fun part- removing the painters tape. This is thoroughly satisfying. Unless it goes wrong. That didn't happen for me. All three trays came out nice.

They look nice in the kitchen.

Especially with the plants on them.

And they look nice outside.

I have a habit of reusing junk and making new things out of old things... what they call "up cycling" in today's lingo. Read about how I combined two coffee tables to make a useable one, how I made kitchen canisters to match my kitchen decor in the 1990s, and how I built my kids a playhouse out of leftover building materials, among other projects.