Rusty Metal Pool Storage Transformation

I am so excited that we are introducing two new blog contributors this week.  If you came to see quilts, please also go to Favorite Quilts, Meaningful Quilts, Quilt Sampler.

I am so excited to introduce Dena from Happy.Home.Austin – we grew up together and she rocks in the furniture re-do department.

Here’s Dena {in my best Ed voice, anyone else miss Johnny Carson?}…

I scored this beauty out of someone’s backyard, which apparently used to be a public pool storage locker.

It has definitely seen better days.  But ooooooh the possibilities!  I immediately had a buyer for it who wanted to keep the metal baskets looking like metal baskets, and wanted the frame painted blue.

The biggest hurdle was the rust…

I tried removing it many different ways…  sandpaper, Naval Jelly, scraping, baking soda, vinegar, and tears…

…but realized I was not going to be able to remove all of it in this lifetime.  I finally bought some wire brushes that attached to my drill and removed as much as possible.

The metal was galvanized, and so I couldn’t throw just any metal paint on them.  Having them professionally re-galvanized was going to be cost prohibitive, but I did find a cold galvanizing compound spray specifically for old galvanized metal.  After taking the number plates off of the baskets, I covered them (and the remaining rust) with the galvanizing spray and voila!  How cool is this?

Now the frame, and again with the rust.  I removed the number plates, and as much of the rust as I could, and covered the whole thing with a metal primer that can be used on galvanized metal.

Not too bad, huh?

It was now ready for paint, which per buyer’s request, was to be Rustoleum’s Brilliant Blue.  I used about three cans of paint, and then covered that with three coats of spray shellac.

To secure the number plates back onto the frame, I decided that since I used pop rivets on the baskets, I would do the same for the frame.  I bought myself a hand riveter, and got work snapping those little plates in place.

They are now permanently in place, never, ever to be removed.

I am DONE!!  Here is the final product.

From this….                                            and this….

…to this                                                   and this!

Thanks for looking!

~dena @ Happy. Home. Austin.

www.facebook.com/HappyHomeAustin

happyhomeaustin@gmail.com