Vintage Scale Re-Vamp

  I haven't posted any new paintings in a while, but I have been busy! I decided to share some of the other things that I've been working on.
  I wanted to try this chalk paint that is all the rage, so I bought a sample jar and experimented on this retro scale we picked up at a yard sale. They threw it in for free when we bought a couple fishing rods! I almost didn't take it because it was so unsightly. It took some serious elbow grease, but turned out to be a cute little piece for the new bathroom.
  I took photos along the way...

This is how it looked when I started. There were segments of the original grippy plastic top that needed to be chipped off. It was heinously dirty and I didn't realize how many nooks and crannies this thing has until I started cleaning.

 

It needed a layer of something on the top to cover the holes and make it more comfortable to step on. I was hoping to find something jazzy rather than just replacing the plain black top and when I came across some leftover paintable wallpaper I got exxxxxxcited. This stuff is easy to cut with a blade and has a sort of squishy 3-D texture which I thought would be nice to stand on.

 
  To make a stencil, I chose a tracing paper with a weight that was easy to bend but not easy to tear. I didn't get any photos of this step, but It was relatively simple. I first tore a line down the middle of the tracing paper where the handle comes down. Then I was able to slip the paper underneath the handle and have flaps on either side that came up high enough to meet the grooved chrome area. Then I traced the perimeter of the area I wanted the wallpaper to cover, slid the tracing paper off the scale and cut it out with scissors to create a stencil.
  The next step was to choose the placement of my stencil on the wallpaper pattern. I played with it a couple ways and decided on my favorite. The wallpaper cuts much better upside down because it is an untextured paper on the back side. I attached the stencil to the back side of the wallpaper with double-sided tape and cut around it with a sharp blade.

  This is how it looked after a coat of 'Old Violet' Annie Sloane chalk paint. I bought it because I really liked this color, but at the time I didn't have a project in mind.

The scale had lots of dings and scrapes on it so I masked off all of the chrome and glass and gave it a coat of semi-gloss spray paint.

  I had to fold the wallpaper a bit to get it under the handle. Then I put some spots of rubber cement on the underside of the wallpaper and stuck it down to visualize the finished product.

 

I am in love with this color and the scale came out great, but I decided they don't suit each other.

 

  So I re-painted it matte black and voila.