Ever wanted to spray paint chrome? Spray paint over chrome can be tricky but we’ll show you how to paint chrome to achieve a flawless finish on a vintage toaster!

Although we covered up most of the chrome on this toaster, we left just enough of it exposed as chrome lettering!

Birdz of a Feather is known for our upcycled planter ideas, like our recent basketball planter and cement planter molds using recycled lightbulb packaging. You may have seen a toaster upcycle before, but you’ve probably never seen a ‘Pop-Up Garden’ planter!

If you’re here from Hometalk today and celebrating the start of Advent, you have to check out our origami shirt advent calendar and washboard decor posts!

Creative Craft Hop

It’s time for another blog hop! I’m excited to share the fun and crafty creations of a talented group of bloggers. If you are visiting from the Painted Apron, welcome! I just love the spooky Halloween centerpiece that Jenna shared!

At the very bottom of this post, I’ll be directing you to the next stop on this venture. But don’t forget to check out the other stops too. Be sure to drop back in throughout the week to visit them all!

Spray Paint Chrome Inspiration

Nothing makes us slam on the breaks faster than a ‘free’ sign and stuff on the curb. I didn’t even think to get a picture before I helped myself to some goodies to upcycle. The blank area you see in the middle is the missing stuff we nabbed and put in the car. 

The most treasured finds were four of these vintage chrome toasters!

Before we get to the tutorial, get your craft mojo on at Birdz of a Feather and subscribe here if you don’t want to miss another unique idea!  Follow us and you’ll get an e-mail next time we post a new project. You can also follow us on Pinterest, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.

Materials to Paint Chrome

* [If you’re looking for some of the things we used, we’ve got you covered (disclosure): Clicking on the affiliate links below means we may receive a commission. But don’t worry, you don’t pay a cent more and it helps us make more unique crafts to share with you! Thanks for helping to support our blog!]

• Vintage chrome toaster
• Corotech primer by Benjamin Moor
• DeVillbis Spray Gun (or similar HVLP paint sprayer)
• Cricut Maker 3 (this is the latest model, but any Cricut or similar vinyl cutter will do)
• Oracal 631 removable vinyl
• Transfer tape
• Cricut tools basic set
• Scraper to burnish the vinyl (I sometimes borrow these bowl scrapers from the kitchen, or you can use an old credit card)
• Hobby knife (if cutting by hand)
• Painters tape
• Adhesive shelf liner also works if cutting by hand
• Rust-Oleum Painter’s Touch 2X Ultra Cover Paint + Primer in French Blue Satin
• Rust-Oleum’s Comfort Grip Aerosol Spray Handle
• Method All Purpose cleaner

Vintage Chrome Toasters

Now, back to the chrome toasters! When we got them home, we immediately blew out the crumbs with an air compressor. Hubs has Celiac disease, so that was no beuno! Eventually, for that reason, they ended up in the donate pile. But at the last minute Hubs changed his mind!

There’s just something about the lines of vintage chrome appliances that we can’t help but love!

Luckily disassembly was pretty easy; the screws remove with a socket wrench. If you decide to remove all the inner workings though, be careful! Some of the components are razor sharp. Hubs was not careful with one of them and cut himself badly so we recommend wearing heavy gloves when handling the inside.

Be sure to save all those little screws in a Ziploc bag so they don’t get lost! You’ll need then to reassemble later.

Chrome can be quite tricky to paint because it’s slick and paint doesn’t like to stick to slick surfaces. So Hubs painted the toaster with a special primer first. It’s a water based primer called Corotech by Benjamin Moore.

After cleaning and spraying the primer, I’m loving the green (it’s my favourite colour). But as soon as the primer is dry, I have an ‘ah ha’ moment: chrome wording! Luckily we have three more toasters and can save this one for another upcycle to come.

Watch This Video

How to Spray Paint Over Chrome

1. clean chrome

Back to the drawing board. This time we separate all the chrome pieces and gut the insides so it will be easier for me to work on.

Then I make sure the chrome is absolutely clean again and free of fingerprints. Warm, soapy water and a soft cloth or non-abrasive sponge usually does the trick as our first line of defence. While water and vinegar will work too, vinegar can eventually eat away at chrome so we tend to use the most effective non-damaging solution when we clean.

For stubborn grease and fingerprints, try Method All Purpose. Surprisingly, it’s not only a kitchen cleaner! Method is amazing at removing sticky substances, like your saw in our post on how to remove sticky label from glass.

Look how sparkling clean it gets the chrome! But before we prime all the pieces, we’re going to add lettering to the front.

2. Cut Vinyl Wording

If you have a Cricut cutting machine, you can get the wording cut quickly. Here’s a good tutorial on how to use a Cricut to cut vinyl.

Or you can hand cut the wording like I do in this wooden wall art DIY and hot cocoa bar sign.

I’m creating what’s called a ‘negative’ stencil where you apply the wording, spray paint over it and then remove the sticker exposing the background colour. In this case, our background colour is chrome.

Here’s my ‘Pop-Up Garden’ wording prepped with transfer tape.

3. Apply Vinyl

Position your custom vinyl sticker design to the front and tape in place with painters tape.

Peel away the backing sticking down the lettering to the toaster. At this point, burnish the lettering with a scraper or credit card to ensure it adheres to the chrome well.

Now carefully lift off the transfer tape. It’s best to remove it slowly at a 45 degree angle so you don’t lift the lettering. Now we’re ready to prime.

5. Prime with corotech

Using a plastic bucket, we prop the chrome toaster right on top of another container.

We use a DeVillbis Spray Gun to spray Corotech primer right over the chrome toaster. If you don’t know how to spray paint with an HVLP sprayer, check out our post on how to paint using a spray gun for Hubs’ professional tips and tricks.

The Corotech primer goes right over the lettering too.

Set each piece aside to dry as you paint them.

Corotech looks glossy when wet, then dries to a matte finish a you see below.

Once dry, the next step is to top coat.

6. top coat with Rust-Oleum

At this point you can paint with whatever paint and colour you choose. We chose to use a spray can of Rust-Oleum Painter’s Touch 2X Ultra Cover Paint + Primer in French Blue Satin.

Hubs also uses Rust-Oleum’s Comfort Grip Aerosol Spray Handle to prevent finger fatigue as he sprays. This is a must have in our tool arsenal when using spray cans!

Again, spray right over the primer and lettering.

He applies 2 light coats, letting it dry in between coats. French Blue is a gorgeous colour!

7. Peel Vinyl Lettering

After 24 hours, I peel up the vinyl stickers. Use the point of the hobby knife to carefully lift a corner.

Then pull slowly at a 45 degree angle.

It’s exciting to see the chrome lettering finally show through the paint!

Things are looking up!

I think I squealed with delight when everything came off clean!!! The trick is to go slowly and pull inward from the edge so there’s less chance or tear-out!

Hubs and I reassembled the pieces of the chrome toaster again, then I got busy planting.

Spray Paint Chrome Reveals

I interspersed the greenery with some fresh cut flowers from the garden. I put the fresh flowers into clear plastic water tubes, just like I did with our vintage ink stamp holder upcycle.

Arrange the tubes in the slots of the toaster, along with some faux succulents (or real air plants) to fill the space. Replace the water as necessary so the flowers stay fresh in the arrangement.

I’m holding a white board up to the camera so the reflection isn’t distracting, but isn’t the chrome lettering an awesome touch?

The toaster is right at home beside our ‘Partners in Grime’ planter! That was another successful experiment with getting paint to stick to a tricky metal surface. Would you believe that this time we used milk paint?! By the way, if you ever want to milk paint right over metal like aluminum, check out how to get milk paint to stick to anything.

I’m tickled with how spray painting over chrome turned out. And I’m so grateful we found enough toasters that I was able to reimagine this first upcycle. Here’s a side-by-side comparison of the chrome painted toaster beside a still chrome original one:

We’re sure to come up with more ideas for the other three toasters. But for now, we’re enjoying our pop-up garden!

I photographed these reveals on a day we had torrential downpours. With summer officially ending yesterday, it’ll be nice to enjoy a little piece of nature no matter what the whether. Even when the ground is blanketed with snow!

Subscribe

Get your craft mojo on at Birdz of a Feather and subscribe here if you don’t want to miss another unique idea!  Follow us and you’ll get an e-mail next time we post a new project. You can also follow us on Pinterest, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.

How to Paint Chrome FAQs

Here’s a quick recap of some frequently asked questions.

Can you Paint Over Chrome?

Definitely! As long as you start with the right primer and clean the chrome so it’s free of grease and finger prints, it’s easy to achieve a flawless finish. We use Corotech primer before adding a top coat of paint.

What kind of paint will stick to Chrome?

You can use any kind of paint to top coat as long as you start with a primer specifically formulated to stick to chrome, like Corotech from Benjamin Moore.

How to Paint Over Chrome

1. Clean chrome and degrease
2. Prime with Corotech primer
3. Top coat with paint of your choice (2 thins coats)

Want more planter ideas? Check out these amazing upcycled planters!

Pin Spray Paint Chrome

Now you know what to do with an old toaster! Pinning is always welcome and appreciated!

Creative Craft Hop

Now I’d like to send you on to Shelley from Calyspo in the Country. She has a fabulous tutorial on How to Paint a Buffalo Plaid Pumpkin! When you are finished visiting Shelley, please remember to come back to visit these other amazing talents below:

• How to Decorate Pumpkins with Rope and Twine
• Hello Fall Pillows
• DIY Succulent Pumpkins
• Drip Painted Ginger Jar Tutorial
• DIY Rope Ribbed Glass Pumpkin
• Creations A Spooky Centerpiece for Halloween