How To Paint A Little Tikes Car

Information technology's #thriftshopchallenge week and I'm so excited to be sharing all of the details of how I took a couple of Piffling Tikes pieces from the thrift store and gave them some love and then they aren't such, um, eyesores in my backyard!

Welcome to the Fall Thrift Store Claiming!

I'm so, And then excited to be sharing this picayune project with you lot today, along with a bunch of other projects from my super talented friends.

No clue what I'grand talking near? Allow me catch you upward – every few months, a few of my friends and I get together and share a fun thrift store makeover. Nosotros do it to hopefully inspire you to try something new and out of the box, and to remind you that yous don't have to spend a ton of money to create beautiful things for your home.

We accept a couple of new friends joining us today, and I remember you're going to love all of the makeovers. I'thousand going to share mine first, then at the lesser of this mail service you can see links to all of the other blogs, so you basically have your reading for the day totally gear up for you – get ready to be inspired!

piddling tikes cozy coupe makeover

I found one of the classic Cozy Coupe cars at my local Goodwill and, on a whim, decided to see if it would exist something Grant was into. I placed him in the motorcar, and, well, I'grand sure y'all tin can guess the rest of the story.

He threw a mega fit when information technology was fourth dimension to leave and I had to get him out of the car, and it was articulate that this was going to be a new favorite toy. I happened to observe it during a big fifty% off sale at our Goodwill, and then I only paid $half-dozen for it!

I found a ton of really cute ideas and makeovers all over the cyberspace for these little cars, but I actually wanted to keep ours simple. I'yard not super crafty when it comes to painting designs and making things beautiful, so I decided to skip turning it into a police machine or a burn truck (although, those are both adorable!) and just stick to something that wouldn't be an eyesore in the backyard and could grow with him a fleck.

I'll get ahead and warn you lot – I'k really glad I didn't go over the top with this, because this project ended up being quite a bit more challenging than I expected! Here are a few tips to make it easier for you lot than information technology was for me:

Tips for painting a cozy coupe

You lot should start by cleaning the car, and I recommend making sure you lot do a really thorough job. I figured a general cleaning with some basic lather and water would exist fine, but if I was doing this once more I'd outset with some TSP for a more heavy duty make clean. This plastic doesn't want to accept paint, so the cleaner you can get it the meliorate.
Later cleaning, I think adjacent time I would try sanding a bit – especially on the top of the auto. I'd stick to a really high grit sandpaper (no less than 320 or so), and give it a low-cal manus sanding, just to prep it to receive paint a little ameliorate.
Once the motorcar is prepped, the biggest thing to know when doing a project similar this is that you should utilise a spray paint that's specifically formulated to work on plastic! The 2X line from Rust-Oleum is what I'd recommend.
I'd also recommend priming information technology kickoff, fifty-fifty if you're using a spray pigment for plastic. I had a few areas that chipped when I was putting it dorsum together, and if I was doing it again I'd absolutely accept the fourth dimension to prime beforehand.

Hopefully with those tips, it'll be a little smoother for y'all.

I started past taking the automobile autonomously. It sounds simple, merely this was probably actually the hardest function! I was terrified I was going to suspension information technology with all of my yanking and pulling, but thankfully it all came apart without also much problem.

The trouble came when we tried to put it back together. After talking with a bunch of you on Instagram I learned that these are apparently notorious for being difficult to gather – if I was doing this project again, I'd honestly just exit the car intact and record it off for each color!

Once I had information technology taken apart, I cleaned it (again, read the tips in a higher place to come across how I should have cleaned it) and once it had dried it was ready to be painted. I used Midnight Blueish and Fossil, both from Rust-Oleum's 2X line!

When you're spray painting, always think to stay nigh a foot away from the piece yous're painting and go on your arm moving at all times. Multiple sparse coats is always better than one thick one! You can put several coats on within a few minutes of each other, and in fact you should either do all of your coats inside 1 hour, or wait a full 48 hours before adding another coat. I've learned this lesson the hard way – many times. If you don't look, the paint can crack, so I similar to simply put the coats on about five minutes apart until information technology's covered, and and then permit it to dry fully.

Once it had cured for a few days and I knew I wouldn't mess it up when I put it back together, I elementary pieced everything dorsum together and the projection was washed!

It'due south just that elementary!

close up of painted little tikes cozy coupe

Grant is a huge fan of his new car, and I basically can't keep him out of information technology when nosotros're in the lawn! If only he could effigy out how to motility it forwards, not merely backwards.

Little tikes Basketball hoop Makeover

While I was at information technology, I also decided to give our Little Tikes basketball hoop a quick coat of paint as well. I wanted to test out how the primer did with helping the paint stick, and I wanted to be able to include the update here for y'all in case you decide to tackle the project likewise!

This fourth dimension around, I primed the toy earlier I painted it, and I remember it made a large difference. Although, I still think cleaning with the TSP and sanding a little chip earlier painting would have helped fifty-fifty more.

before and after of little tikes basketball hoop

I stuck with the aforementioned colour scheme for consistency, and once it was all put dorsum together it looked then much better – I know it'south a niggling light-headed, but it feels so squeamish to look out my back windows and see cute toys and things that make me smile rather than brightly colored plastic toys that brand me want to blench.

I'm a big believer in surrounding yourself with things that make you smile, and sometimes that means spending an afternoon painting your kids ugly plastic toys, you know what I hateful?!

Grant really couldn't care either way – he's simply happy to take the toys and can't stop playing with them. I dear how excited they make him, and I'm and so glad I decided to choice them up!