Remember how in the Thrift Shop Challenge, we found this cute little pear?

Well, it was perfect for us because we were looking for cheap knick-knacks to paint white for our mantle and other decor areas, and because Hubs loves pears.

(Not in the way I love birds, in that he’s drawn to all sorts of pear art, but in that he loves to eat them.)

He might like to eat pears more than I like to eat ice cream. Just kidding. No one loves pears that much, right? But he does really enjoy them, so it only seemed fitting that the metal pear had to come home with us.

And even though he was fine as a metal pear, we liked the idea of turning him into a ceramic-looking pear. So he got SEVERAL coats of Rustoleum White Lacquer spray paint.

Now, since he had a little sticky residue on him, I lightly sanded and cleaned the metal surface before I got started painting. Don’t worry if the sandpaper scratches the metal surface a bit. It won’t show and it may actually help the paint stick since it was a VERY smooth surface and tended to chip off if I wasn’t careful handling it before it had fully dried.

Still, I wasn’t able to get all the stuck-on label off so I had to sand it down lightly using fine-grain sandpaper after a few coats of the paint and then go again to make sure I ended up with a smooth surface at the end.

Here’s how the little guy turned out:

Pretty cute up there on the mantle, don’t you think? (Excuse the icky-quality pic, we may need to invest in a new camera…)

And he goes pretty well with the candlestick we bought at a garage sale and used for Halloween in 2011 and then painted.

See?

(Flashback photo from Drew Woolery, a friend and awesome photographer.)

And Hubs likes that he now has something that’s more related to his tastes up there. Get it, tastes? Since he likes the taste of pears…?

Ok, so that wasn’t very funny. Sorry.

Anyway, tell me about something you’ve painted recently. Or something random that you’ve found at a thrift shop that was perfect for you?

Oh, and stay tuned for a post tomorrow on more Valentine’s-themed decor!