100 Things 2 Do: Before & After

I read an article where a person was looking for pantry ideas; her home didn't have one, and she wanted something she could put in her kitchen, but without a hefty built-in price tag.
Her solution ended up being lockers.
She retrofitted them with shelves and painted them a bright colour and they were AMAZING!

Had to have me some!

I found a bank of 4 lockers on Kijiji for $100, so I e-mailed immediately to get them.

This is what they looked like when they arrived:

Not bad, I could have just washed them down and used them as-was - but once you've seen them painted per the article I read - you can't "settle" for anything less.

Sand 'em down.

Yup, it's just as important to give metal objects a light sanding before painting as it is for wood. Maybe even moreso.
With a smooth surface like metal, painting right over top is just asking for it to peel and scratch off.

Another VERY important step before painting metal is priming it. This is going to give the paint something to adhere to as well as stop any rust from bleeding through over time.

Because these are going to stay in my garage, I used a primer suitable for outdoor applications.

The main difference between indoor paint and outdoor is that outdoor has a bit more elasticity to it - it allows for the shrinking and expansion of metal and/or wood as the temperature and humidity fluctuates.

Finally, first coat of Benjamin Moore's Surf City - again in an exterior paint.

LOVE this colour!

Now, I haven't put the second coat of paint on yet, but the garage was becoming too crowded to move around in, so I decided I'd organize the insides of the lockers (since I wasn't going to paint them.)

I'm the least active in the family, so my locker will probably need more shelves to house shoes versus needing the space for equipment storage.

Click the link above to see the true colour of "Surf City" - I had to change the exposure on some of these shots, so it appears to fluctuate, but in actuality is a light turquoise.

Hubby's going to need about 4 lockers.
This doesn't even include his golf clubs, hockey equipment, or the rest of his soccer gear (nets etc).

I'm not sure the photos do it justice - but it really looks FANTASTIC!

AND all that crap is off of the garage floor so it won't collect dirt and dust and I won't have to trip over it when working in the garage.