DIY Gone Awry! Spray-Painting Shoes

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August 22, 2012

This is a post about a DIY d'oh! Sometimes, projects just don't go the way you want them to, no matter how hard you try to make them work.

In the spirit of making it clear that everything in my life most certainly is not pretty and shiny (you should see the state of my bedroom most of the time!), I wanted to share one of my recent projects, why it didn't work, and what I learned from it.

Mistakes and imperfections are an essential part of a full life, and they teach us so much more than when things go as planned.

I definitely understand the need to make blogs a visually pleasing, enjoyable place for readers - but I want to make sure I'm not contributing to the idea that life doesn't (or shouldn't) get messy!

This spring, I was inspired by an abundance of pastel colored loafers. Think these:

I gathered my materials: some cheap suede red loafers I found on Etsy, spray paint, and painters' tape. I carefully sprayed on both primer and my mint spray paint until the shoes looked like this:

Looks pretty good, right? I couldn't wait to put them on! I did, and here's what happened:

Womp wooomp. Cracks everywhere! All those layers of paint simply weren't going to work with a shoe that had so much flexibility.

Here's what I learned:

Definitely use a very, very cheap pair of shoes - I did, and I'm so glad I wasn't out much money when these didn't work.
If you're going to spray paint an entire shoe, a super soft suede is tricky. I think if the suede had been less plush, but still offered some texture, the shoes wouldn't have required so many layers of paint.
The lighter the color of the original shoe, the better. Having to paint over a bright red required lots of layers for full coverage.
Spray painting entire shoes should be limited to ones that don't require lots of shoe flexibility. For example, I think very high heels or strappy sandals could work, because when you walk, the shoe's upper doesn't crease/fold.
The ideal scenario for using paint on shoes would be to add an accent to a small part of the shoe that won't be subject to wear and tear, like the heel or toe of a flat, a la these metallic beauties

Live and learn! Have you guys tried any DIYs lately that didn't quite go as planned?

Anyone tried creating fun accents on shoes using paint?

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Comments

Awww at least you learned something from it and could find the humor in it all.

But I loved the idea of the DIY!

- Lesley

Posted by: Lesley | August 22, 2012 at 10:03 AM

I know, bummer! But the lessons were totally worth it - thanks for commenting :)

Posted by: Natalie Soud | August 22, 2012 at 10:10 AM

Hi there, just wanted to tell you, I loved this blog post.
It was helpful. Keep on posting!

Posted by: Charlotte | August 28, 2012 at 11:51 AM

Have you tried it again with another pair of shoes? I painted some really strappy (vinyl) heels, and they made it through the wedding. They look a little beat up if you examine them, but that was after a whole night of dancing. I used craft paint and a sponge and only sprayed the gloss on top. I ended up doing several really thin coats. Now I might want to paint them again for wedding #2, but this time with silver spray, and my friend wants to do the same with her leather shoes. Don't want to steer her wrong! Any tips? Have you tried any other methods?

Posted by: DPL | February 1, 2013 at 09:46 AM

Hi DPL! I think I definitely would do MUCH thinner coats than I did. If the shoes had been lighter then I also would've tried this with actual leather paint - because they started out red, I wanted to make sure I used something that would really cover. I would totally do this again, but It definitely depends on the type of shoe. The loafers, for example, crease a lot when walking and require a lot of flexibility...a shoe like a strappy heel sounds like it would fare much better. I'm so glad you tried this!

Posted by: Natalie Soud | March 24, 2013 at 02:46 PM

What color/brand spray paint is this lookin every where

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A Dose of the Delightful

August 22, 2012