15 Minute DIY: Spotted Trash Can

Hope you all had wonderful weekends! I'm easing into this week with a quick - and I mean 15 minutes quick - DIY project. I was feeling crafty last week and was in the mood for an easy project when I spotted (no pun intended!) the plain little trash can that sits under my desk in my office. About two years ago I painted it gray with some Annie Sloan chalk paint. The trash can was originally copper, which was actually quite lovely, but to make it fit in a bit more with the color scheme I had going in our old apartment, I painted it.

I always intended to do something more to it - give it a little pizzaz - but it's a trash can, so who cares right? That's not exactly a high priority item, so nothing ever happened. Then last week I came across not one, but two projects involving spots and thought BINGO. That's what I'm going to do to this trash can! Low time commitment, excellent results.

One of the inspirations was a project Caitlin Wilson did years ago. (Side note: does anyone else out there love her textile line as much as I do?) She randomly dotted some plain white slipcovers with black sharpie, which added instant awesomeness on a shoestring budget.

{Good Housekeeping}

And the other one is a similarly sharpie-dotted trash can from Bower Power.

{Bower Power}

Cute, yes?

Rather than a black sharpie, my weapon of choice for adding the spots was a white paint pen.

I doodled away for about 15 minutes and here are the results:

Imperfect, irregular spots that were just what I was hoping for. They're kind of leopard-y, kind of polka-dotty...just right in my book.

I plopped it back under my desk and now whenever I throw something out, it puts a little smile on my face. Apparently I'm that easy to please :). I know this next photo isn't all that exciting, but this is where it lives!

If you're really observant, you might've caught a glimpse of my $2 upcycled light fixture terrarium up there on my desk. That's its home for now, but it keeps moving around, so who knows where it'll live next!


For more photos of and projects related to my office, check out these two posts:

• Gold Shelving and Other Little Updates
• Mini Bulletin Board