Nursery Project: Painting a Boat

So while I'm busy doing things like snuggling the cutest baby alive and working on writing his birth story, I figured I'd share the nursery projects with you that I've been working on in the past few months to get ready for Lincoln's arrival. 

I don't pretend like I'm writing these up as I try to get spit up out of my hair, I did write them ahead of time in hopes to share them with you as I adjusted to being a mom.

I love these projects. Mostly because they're almost free and filled with love and easy. But also because I love how they came out.

So Kyle has had this boat shelf thing for a while now. Apparently he once got it at a garage sale before I met him and I'm not sure if he's ever used it. A year or so ago he tried to convince me to sell in in our own garage sale, but I was thinking 'someday baby boy room!' in my little scheming head. So we kept it.

And once I realized we could use the boat for the nursery this time around I pulled it out. ...Maybe a little less than impressed.

So I came up with a plan to paint the boat to match the nursery a little better and so that the boat wouldn't look so 'old and rustic.' I was going for 'fresh and clean.' So I taped up the edges and the front opening and I spray painted the 'base' of the boat a nice navy blue. Krylon ColorMaster Oxford Blue in Satin and I even found it right on the shelf in Wal-Mart.

I painted multiple thin coats until I felt the color was true. No, I did not prime the boat because I don't really think it will take a beating like a desk or table would, but I did wipe it down with a damp cloth before I taped it.

Then came the trim. I pulled out my old can of Valspar Ultra in Ultra White Semi-Gloss. I had the can left over from painting the dresser for the nursery and our headboard last year. Apparently a gallon goes a long way when painting furniture.

I taped off the edges and used one of my little craft brushes to do the small job. It took two or three coats because I was painting white over such a dark color. I will tell you though that some of the paint seeped under the edges of the tape and I was quite disappointed with the line. I touched it up a bit, but sometimes I really do prefer free handing rather than using tape.

And then I stared at the little boat proudly as I literally watched the paint dry. All while wearing my huge respirator mask of course.

I left the paint in the garage to cure for a few days before bringing it into the nursery. I didn't want the nursery to be all 'fumey' and I wanted the paint to be nice and hard. I did add little felt pieces to the bottom of the boat shelf using double sided tape because I wanted to protect the dresser. The boat had hooks for it to hang on the wall, but I liked the look of it sitting on the dresser better than hanging on the wall.

I reattached the fishing pole and oar and we were in business. What do you think?

You can see in this next photo where I painted a blue stripe on the oar. As I was putting the oar back on I realized that it had a green stripe on it. So I quickly taped the lines and blasted a little spray paint on the oar to match the boat. The painter's tape does work wonders for clean lines with spray paint.

And to think we were just going to sell this little boat in a garage sale... Where would we have put little Baby Hess' black bear and Hess cars?

The nursery is really starting to come together. (You know, once I clean all those boxes out of the crib). Oh I can't wait to bring our little boy into his little boy nursery!