DIY Toy Spray-Paint Makeover!

Recently our Mom’s Day Out program was getting rid of some damaged toys, the hoarder in me saw a pile of stuff marked “FREE” and just had to see if some overlooked treasure was just waiting for me to rescue it. Of course I may have a problem since I’d take just about anything if it’s free, you know, “just in case” I might need it later…and this is how people end up crushed to death under a mountain of empty jelly jars.

Evan was with me and immediately grabbed a pink Barbie shopping cart and started pushing it around…his dad would be so proud.

This kid loves the grocery store though and he asks all the time if we are going to Kroooger. I stuck it in my office for a few weeks then finally figured I should probably do something with it or release it back into the wild.

I figured I may as well give spray-painting it a try and if it when horribly wrong at least I’d only be out the few dollars I spent on paint.

A quick trip to Walmart (okay, nothing is really quick with two little ones) and I picked up some Krylon Fushion for Plastics paint. Evan chose the colors…blue and orange, which actually worked out pretty well considering I had no real plan of action yet.

I started by removing the white part on the top. It had originally held some sort of book and had a bunch of buttons. I might have left it but the batteries had corroded and I figured it would be safer without it (plus there wasn’t really a good way to paint it).

Then I taped it all up. Taping was the most difficult part since I had to make sure to cover all the angles.

I painted the basket orange then let it dry overnight (mostly because that’s all I could finish during naptime since babies and spray-paint don’t go well together). I covered the outer part of the wheels and sprayed the centers black, then covered the basket and sprayed the body blue (plus I found a good use for all our extra shopping bags).

I opted not to paint the actual wheels since I didn’t want to get paint transfer marks on our driveway or floor when the little maniacs took it for a spin. I decided just to cover them with “Hard To Stick Surfaces” painters tap…because it was the width of the wheels and it matched.

I’m choosing just to ignore the flowers.

I did however cover the “Barbie” logo with some craft foam and stickers I had left over from some other projects.

And here’s the finished product! A “boy-ed up” shopping cart…great for toting around cars, blocks and dinosaurs!

Before and after: