Some flowers. I totally DID! I spray painted silk hydrangea flowers. I know, I know, I'm crazy in the scoots. But I had a very good reason, and let me just say, it totally worked!
So I've been gearing up for a little spring time fluff around the house. My Irish ancestors might scoff and cringe, but I'm not huge into decorating for St. Patrick's Day. Sure, I'll wear green and threaten my loved ones with pinches if they don't follow suit, but mostly I'm excited for spring time.
Case in point, I've been dying to get my hands on some pretty hydrangea blooms for my cocoa table. I have a sweet white ceramic pitcher that I've been wanting to fill with some soft creamy flowers. But after scouring the standard craft stores, I realized that it's just not in my current budget to spend $5-8 per stem. Sure, I could wait until some crazy sale or buy one stem a week with a coupon for like, two months, until I have a bouquet worth of hydrangea, but folks, um...no. I need 'em now! Yes, I said need. So off to the dollar store I went. Guess what? They had these babies!
A little bright for what I had in mind, but I figured I'd take them home and test them out to decide. After living with them for a couple days I decided that they were definitely a little too lime-y. *sigh* Now what? Well, I packed them up in a bag and found my receipt, when what to my wondering eyes should appear but a can of Rust-oleum heirloom white spray paint! Light bulb!
I'm totally going to spray paint my flowers! I'm radical, I know. My husband just shook his head and gave me that my-wife-is-sweet-but-totally-nuts look. That look that says, "Good thing she didn't ask me to help with that one. I don't want to be responsible for her tears when she realizes she hates it". You know what though? I LOVE it!
I must admit, although I didn't hesitate to start shaking my can (...of spray paint!) right away and boogie on outside to spritz some granny apple green dollar store flowers, I did test it a bit on a single branch first...just in case. You guys, it looks great! I spread out the wired flowers a bit and placed them all upright in a small cardboard box. A couple of very light coats of creamy heirloom white and we were in business! A night out in the garage to dry and lose a bit of that paint smell and I was very happy with my newly softened/muted green hydrangea bouquet.
Can you tell the difference? The dark blurry photos taken inside, at night, truly don't do it justice (why won't blogspot keep my high quality photos crisp and purdy? Anyone know?). The top photo in this post is more accurate: It went from a very bright (and totally fake looking) lime green, to a softer springy green. Perfect! Bonus: You totally can't see the paint. I think because the petals are a very porous material, the paint sort of seeped in rather than sitting only on the surface.
My mom teases that I'll spray paint anything that will hold still long enough, and I think these flowers definitely are one of the stranger things I've painted. What have you guys done that's completely crazy and baffling when it comes to decorating or crafting? Anyone else out there "painting the roses red"?
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P.S. Did you notice the sweet sunny yellow jewelry display? Yeah, totally spray painted! Details coming soon!
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