Need a fun DIY for poolside fun?

Cooler Painting DIY

Hello friends! Hope everyone is having a fab week! So I went over to a girlfriend’s house earlier this week and when I got there she was covered in paint. Like I’m talking it looked like a mob of second graders attacked her and paint was their weapon of choice. Literally, thinking that there may be an angry group of seven year olds hiding in her house I asked her what in the heavens was going on. She calmly explained to me that she was painting a cooler. You see, her boyfriend is in a fraternity and apparently painted coolers are all the rage. Anyways she showed it to me and I was rather impressed I must say.

I was still intrigued by the whole trend of painted coolers so when I got home I had to consult my friend I trust the most – Google (he never leads me down the wrong path!) . And well apparently painted coolers are popping up everywhere online and have been a thing for awhile (was I the only one not aware of this…)! And then something bad happened. I searched painted coolers on Pinterest – dohhh, and there went my afternoon. I’m now inspired to paint my own cooler! And with summer being right around the corner (well not until June 21 – or so my trusty pal Google tells me) now is the perfect time to spruce up a plain cooler to have for the summer! I mean soon it will be prime time for all the invites for BBQs, pool parties, bon fires and beach days to come rolling in and what a great idea to have a stylish looking cooler to store your drinks and snacks in! Genius I know!

So if you would like to join in on this cooler painting craze here is what you need:

Materials:

*A cooler (Thought this one was obvious, but I still felt obligated to include it) (side tip: when picking out our cooler try and pick one with flat surfaces as painting on bumpy/ridged surfaces will be a lot more difficult)

*Course and fine grit sandpaper

*Plastic primer (a spray paint version will work well!)

*Paint colours of choice

*Paint brushes

*Painters tape (optional)

*Stencils (optional)

*Tissue paper (optional)

*Sharpie

*Mod Podge

 Instructions:

1)     Sand the entire cooler to ensure that there bumps on the surface and the original coating has come off. You want to sand it until it is very smooth. Make sure to wipe the cooler once done sanding it.

2)     Prime the cooler with your plastic primer.

3)     Once you have planned out what you want to paint start off by painting your background, then allow it to completely dry.

4)     If you are potentially artistically challenged (like me) and want to trace something onto the cooler to paint over, you will need to pull up the image on your computer screen. You will then take the tissue paper and put it up to your computer screen and lightly trace the image onto the tissue paper with a pencil.

5)     Once you have the image you wish to paint on the tissue paper it is now time to transfer the image onto the cooler. Place the tissue paper where you want the image, then with your sharpie trace over the image. Once you lift up the tissue paper the sharpie should have transferred over to the cooler leaving you with an image or design for you to paint in!

6)     If you are an artist and want to free hand it, that totally works to!

7)     Once you have left it to completely dry (I suggest at least a full day to ensure no smudging) paint over the entire cooler with mod podge. This will help make the cooler more durable, especially at the beach in the sand!

And there you have it friends, piece of cake! Speaking of cake you could totally keep cake in your stylish new cooler for a little snack at the beach – have I sold the interest of a painted cooler to you yet? :P

Here are a few pretty awesome coolers that I found on Pinterest! Hope my cooler turns out just as cool (haha get it??) Okay okay enough of my bad jokes, I’m off to go wrangle up my supplies to get my cooler painting show on the road! Wish me luck and comment below if you have any tips or trick on cooler painting, or if you’re going to paint one too!

Until next time! xo #krimsonkutie