A touch of chevron

OK…if you’ve been around these parts for awhile you know I show you the good and bad and the ugly around here. (Go here for a REALLY bad one that ended good.)

Not every project turns out as I had hoped, and some turn out…but I just can’t quite decide if I love them or not. This is one of those.

I’ve planned to do this project forever and was excited to finally get it done – it was a simple little trash can redo for my office:

I’ve had this wood one for YEARS. I think it was my first Pottery Barn purchase ever, about ten years ago. It was on clearance and it’s a great little waste basket. After all this time the structure has held up great, but the outside was a little nicked up. So I figured it would be the perfect project to experiment on. :)

I started by sanding it down super fast in my “workshop.” That would be on the trash can in the garage:

I got that sander a few months ago and it makes sanding SO much easier. It’s the first one I’ve owned that doesn’t leave skip marks all over everything. I loathe sanding and I love this thing so that’s saying a lot.

After I wiped it down I gave it a coat of primer and then a couple coats of a satin white paint in my other workshop. Or on an old sheet in the front yard:

Next was the FUN part. :)

I let the paint dry for a few hours inside so it would hold up to some painter’s tape. This wasn’t just any painter’s tape though – it was chevron tape!: I work with the lovely folks at Frogtape so I have had this stuff for awhile – I’ve just been waiting for it to come out in stores so I could show you! I saw it at Lowe’s a few weeks ago.

I sat and watched TV while I taped off the trash can:

So I’ve mentioned a few times that I’m usually eons behind the latest decorating trend. Either that or I’m so far ahead of the trend it’s not even cool yet. (I was putting chalkboards everywhere before they were the thing.)

Chevron isn’t one of those trends I’m hooked on – I haven’t added it anywhere in the house yet. When I got this tape a while back I knew it would be fun to use it somewhere small to see if I liked it. Just a little spot, a smidge. A skosh of chevron if you will.

When I redid my office years ago I added in a few touches of pink in the space just to break up all the blue and beige in there. I picked up a pink paint sample (Sunrose by Valspar) months ago to use on another spot in the room and figured it would be a cute accent on the trash can.

I didn’t worry about great coverage on this – I didn’t want the color to be super saturated, so I just did one quick coat of the pink. I was kind of excited as I peeled off the chevron tape:

It was looking super cute!

But by the time I was done taking it all off…I didn’t like it. At all. It was too much.

I was doing this at night so I tried to get a shot of it in the bathroom:

It’s hard to get a good idea of how it looked – it was just too bright and SO girly. I mean, I love some girly touches but it was just a LOT. In a little girl’s room, it would have been perfect. For my grown up office? A little much. (For me.)

Soooo, I tried to figure out how to salvage it. I didn’t hate the chevron, the color was bugging me more than anything. I decided to try using the sander again to knock it down as much as I could. I used a 220 grit sandpaper and then a 120 to knock it down even more.

And whew…I liked it SO much more.

It gave it a washed, old look that I liked so much more! Cause you know chevron is on all the old stuff. ;)

Do I love it? I’m still not sure. I do like the look of chevron, I’m just not sure I love the look of it in my house. ;) It really is pretty cute though:

I AM love with my new mercury glass “vase” on my desk – it was a clearanced out outdoor candleholder at Menards. Three bucks!:

I think it will be absolutely beautiful with a candle inside too – but I’m obsessed with my hydrangeas right now. :)

But oh, the possibilities with this fun tape!! It makes it so easy to add this look to anything! I’m not sure of the exact shapes they have out, but I do have a wavy look too that I’m thinking of trying somewhere.

Are you a fan of the chevron? Do you have it in your home somewhere? I thought it may go away but I am still seeing it all over! I don’t think it’s going anywhere soon. So NOW I’m totally caught up with the trend. Finally. :)

**For more on my office redo, go here.