It seems rather odd, considering that my mom is an artist and my dad is an architect, that the creative gene skipped over me and forgot to settle in my DNA. For some bizarre reason I came out of the womb very right-brained; I like facts rather than ideas. I am extremely organized and have a hard time just going with the flow. I’M ANAL. AND COMPULSIVE. Sometimes even… OBSESSIVE.

If you know me you are not shocked. 

However, I do have my days when something comes over me and I just need to get artsy. But instead of taking my time and just letting it flow, I want to do it. And get it done. And clean up! And move on.

Remember? Anal? 

Last week I decided I felt artsy, and wanted to spruce up my back patio, so I decided it would only be right to go pick up a metal trash can and paint it really flashy and colorful. And although I am definitely not the artist in the family, it does look pretty cool, if I may say so myself.

Want to see? Here’s how it all went down: 

First, when painting on metal, it is important to prime the area that you will be painting, so head over to Menards and get some white metal primer. 

Then go to Wal Mart and pick out some acrylic paints, in all of your favorite colors:

Then prime the area you are going to paint. My plan for the design was big, old, funky polka dots. And since I didn’t want to prime the entire can (I wanted some of the metal to show through) I only primed the polka dots that I would be painting over:

After I had put two coats of primer on, and after it was dry, I began to use the paint to color over the primer: 

And voila! There she is! DONE AND DONE. 

Now, I thought it needed some kind of coating, like a polyurethane or something, but apparently the dude at the hardware store disagreed, and said that it would actually pull the paint off of the metal. (Something about how polyurethane is actually meant for wood, and not metal…yada, yada.) So anyway, I didn’t use anything. Don’t know how it will hold up… but it’s only for me, so whatever. If it starts to rot away tomorrow, I’ll let you know. 

I’m pretty pleased with the end result. Mom loved it, too, and said that I could sell them in her store if I wanted to. And I would! Except that, would you believe it took me about five hours to complete this? That’s a little too much time, that I just don’t really have. 

But in case you are ever feeling a little do-it-yourself-y, here is a project you should try. And if you are hesitant at all, please rest assured that if I can handle it, you can definitely handle it.