I’m Lindsay from The White Buffalo and I am so happy to be back on Lindsay’s awesome blog sharing my new favorite and super easy project.
As a girl who used to only love neutrals, I’ve really been breaking out of my comfort zone lately. I am so on the neon train! Are y’all loving the bright pops of neon that you’re seeing everywhere these days?
I also love the artsy look of paint splatter and thought what a lovely couple those two would make!
I had this $5 outdoor pillow sitting around that was a boring pale gray.
It desperately needed something and I saw my opportunity.
I went to Home Depot in search of the perfect neon paint. Here’s where it got tricky.
I was looking for a paint chip where I could buy a can and easily dip my brush in and splatter my pillow. Do you know how hard it is to find neon paint in the paint chip section? Nearly impossible to find the right, bright neon.
And I stumbled upon my new best friend.
(Be warned, you’re going to get to see my super stylish paint clothes and paint table in these photos).
Rust-oleum’s Specialty Fluorescent Spray Paint. I love how they show it with a For Sale sign like that’s the only possible reason someone would want paint this bright. Don’t they know they’ve bottled neon perfection here?
They have several great colors of this stuff: yellow, orange, and pink. I used the yellow on my office chair. I am loving that bright pop of neon!
So, I stood in Home Depot mourning over my neon splattered pillow idea. I had found the perfect color, but it was a spray paint. And you cannot splatter with spray paint.
Or can you???
I decided to experiment. I was determined to find a way! And thank goodness, I did.
Here are the three simple steps that can get you your very own neon splattered pillow.
Step 1: Pool Paint onto Brush
Now this step seems easy and it is, but you have to make sure you hold down the nozzle.
Most spray painting tutorials will tell you to use short quick strokes for a light, even finish that won’t run. That is great advice for a light fixture or piece of furniture, but for paint splatter, that won’t cut it. You see, short strokes will only allow enough paint onto the brush to paint the brush. There will be nothing to splatter!
So, hold the nozzle down. The paint will come out very sheer at first, but if you continue to hold it down, it will start to pool and you will have A LOT of paint on your brush.
Step 2 – Splatter your Surface!
As soon as you have a “pool” of paint on your brush, quickly splatter onto your surface.
Use quick flicks of your wrist so that the excess paint is flung onto the surface. Be careful here. I was trying to flick my wrist so hard (to get as much paint as possible on my pillow) that I actually touched the pillow with the brush and had a huge brush stroke. That’s what the other side of the pillow is for! I turned it over and started again.
Step 3 – Layer on your Splatter
Keeping repeating steps 1 and 2 to get the finish you want. That’s the best part of this project. With paint splattering, you can’t mess it up! Well, unless you get brush strokes all over it like I did, but hey, turn over and start again.
This finish was with about ten repeats of steps 1 and 2. I wanted a very splattered look, so I kept going.
And here’s my finished product. At $3, this pillow upgrade had some huge bang for my buck!
Thanks for having me, Lindsay!
Julia@Cuckoo4Design says
Great way to update the pillow. And I have such a crush on neon lately.
Brittany says
I always seem to break the spray paint can somehow and it comes out like this anyway…….
Holly says
Gonna have to get me some neon spray paint! I’m SO on the neon-wagon, too! Great idea!