No Fail Painting Craftivity

Good evening, friends! Kerri here...

A couple of weeks ago, I posted a picture on Instagram of some crates and a bookshelf that I painted, so I thought I would post a little tutorial on how I made them tonight for you all. 
If you are looking to re-paint any of the furniture in your classroom, and you LOVE polka dots like I do, then this is the tutorial for you!

So, here are the FUGLY HIDEOUS things that I have had in my classroom forever. (Don't judge.) 
2 crates from our district office that I stole borrowed in like the year 2000. In my defense, they were throwing them away. These are the perfect size to store all of the art projects we do all year, and they have served me well all those years, but MAN! They are old and ugly!
The other one is a little bookcase that is the perfect size to butt up against the edge of my desk. I love it, but again, it is HIDEOUS!

Here are the things I used to beautify these beasts...

The round sponge brushes I used are KEY to making perfect polka dots with out any stress. All you have to do is dip them in the paint and then push them onto whatever you are painting. A perfect polka dot every time! The acrylic paint I chose are my classroom colors, of course.
I highly recommend you get yourself some of these, just to have in your back pocket. 
You know, for crafting emergencies. :)


And, you MUST have your perfect JAM playing in the background while you paint. Mine was Jason Mraz's new album. SWOON!! Did I mention I am going to see him in concert on August 30th?? 

Be still my beating heart-he is YUMMY!

Okay, back to business.
First I sanded and painted all 3 pieces-this was a pain in the BUTTOCKS. It took like 3 coats. Luckily my hubby found this cool paint roller thingamajingy that suctions the paint into it without you having to keep putting the roller in a tray. Hard to explain, but trust me, it was awesome...

Next, I went to town with the polka dots. I did the bookcase first...

I was going to add lots more polka dot colors on this one, but once I did the blue I thought it was so cute, I just left it!

Next, I really went for it on the crates and polka dotted those puppies up! I also added these fabulous stickers that I got at Michaels so I wouldn't have to paint letters onto the side-wayyyy too stressful!!

I also added sparkly mod podge on all 3 pieces to seal them and add a little bling (Naturally!). You can kind of see it in the picture above. Notice I also toggled my letters so I wouldn't have to worry about them being perfectly straight. AND, I was one R short so I had to combine a letter P and part of the number 7 to make a letter R. 
Whatevs...looks fine to me! :)

Well, there you have it. An easy peasy lemon squeezy way to add some color and fun to your boring classroom furniture! Hope this was useful to you! :)
XOXO Kerri B