While I was pulling together my porch and garden for Spring last week, I decided to give a large metal star I had purchased a while ago a face lift to give it a bit more personality and brighten it up for Spring!

Alongside my painted bench and flowered cushion from last year, the red painted crate from my Christmas decor, and some new flower pots, the star brings the whole porch together to give it a completed feel!

This paint treatment was pretty easy! Let me show you how I did it….

My metal star, when I first purchased it, was actually turquoise. I painted it a crisp white to hang in the family room during the holidays. It’s not lost on me that I painted it back to turquoise…but it took me a few months to decide it didn’t belong in our family room after all. Oh well – you don’t get every project right the first time 🙂

Although my star was white, I went ahead and primed it with Zinsser 123 Primer spray to ensure good adhesion with my new paint…

I then used some leftover Martha Steward Lagoon paint (leftover from the kitchen) and leftover Martha Stewart Azurite (leftover from the dining room) to paint the star by hand with a brush.

  • I began by painting two coats of the turquoise; I didn’t tape it off or pay too close attention to the seems and edges since I was going to be painting over the smudges with a darker blue.
  • Once dry, I taped off the center “seem” of each star, as well as the inside borders. A scissors helped me keep everything crisp at the center intersection.
  • I then painted the remaining sections with two coats of the dark blue.

I removed my tape while the paint was still wet. I gave the star 24 hours to dry, and then finished it off with a Rust-oleum Clear Gloss coat.

We hung the star with some wire on a sturdy screw above the window frame.

We also laid some fresh mulch, fertilized our little bushes we planted last Fall, and added some bright fresh gerber daisies. I am so thrilled with how our porch has come together – it’s exactly the bright, cheery, preppy Americana feel I was aiming for!

I’m scurrying off to finish some last-minute things for the birthday party! Have a great weekend, and I’ll see you back here on Monday with some party pics!

See You Soon!
Megan