My daughter has one of those plastic table and chair sets from the IKEA kids section.  It is (was) really cute, but a few years ago (at age 4) she decided to make it a “nail-painting” station. So, it obviously needs to go, or it needs new life.

It isn’t hard, as long as you do it the right way.  It will really waste your time if you don’t.  It can go one of 2 ways.  You can be really excited about the outcome, or you can go to all that work, only to have the paint peel off the next day.  Here are the steps you must take in order to have the outcome you are looking for and also a few ideas as well.

1. Clean the surface.

Paint will not adhere as well to oily or dirty surfaces.  Be sure to clean your object really well, using a grease or oil remover, such as dish soap and water, to clean your plastic surface. Make sure you remove any stuck on gunk or other obtrusion that will mess up the paint job.

2. Sand your object. 

This will rough up the outer layer, making it easier for the paint to adhere.  Use a fine grit sand paper, so the surface is still smooth  and soft, but the pores of the plastic are open. You can also do this at the end to give your project a nice distressed look.

3. Prime it.

Use a plastic primer from a home improvement store.  This is a key step to get the paint to stick to the plastic.  This prepares your surface to receive the paint. If you don’t do it, then the paint will peel off very soon after all your hard work.

4. Paint!

Use a latex paint and paint your surface.  You can use a spray paint if you like, or a brush or roll on.  I prefer to use an airless spray gun, because it creates the smoothest finish of all the options.

Lawn Furniture

Most plastic lawn furniture comes in neutral (and boring) colors. Add some style and pop to your yard by painting your lawn furniture! You can paint each piece a different color or keep a nice color scheme going on.

Flower Pots

Don’t just let your flowers be the most colorful thing about your flower pots, amp up the pots as well! You can paint the pots a solid color or do fun designs and patterns on them! Whatever you choose, they’re bound to look great and really spruce up your yard!

Picture Frames

Bring your pictures to life with some colorful picture frames! Get the frame and then paint the whole thing whatever color you want. To be even more creative, you can pick a color in the picture and paint the frame that same color to make it look awesome.

Bins

Get color coded with your organization by painting your plastic storage bins. Each color can represent whatever you want to go in it so that your kids can know exactly where everything goes without you having to tell them every time.

Garbage Pails

Let’s face it, we only have garbage pails in our houses because it’s a necessity. Well, take it from a necessity to a decoration by giving it a makeover! Paint it fun colors or tamer ones that will make it match the rest of the room.

Bottles

This probably sounds weird, but it’s actually a great decoration idea! Take some plastic bottles and paint them whatever way you’d like. Then you can combine them together (with ribbon or string) or keep them apart and use them as vases! It’s unique and very cool.