Good news! If you follow me on Snapchat (oliviawhalen11, if you don't) then you already know, but if not, I finally caved and bought a DSLR camera! From now on, I'm going to have a much easier time getting good (clear) pictures to post since I won't be taking them with my iPhone, which means that I'll hopefully be able to post much more consistently! 

Now, for what this post is actually about... COOLERS! It's formal season, so I've been helping friends paint coolers like crazy for the past week or so, and I thought it might be fun to write a little how to post on painting coolers. So first off, we'll start with what you'll need:

First of all, you're going to want to find a cooler that is as smooth as possible, because any ridges or designs in the cooler will make it much harder to paint. I recommend igloo, because other than their logo there aren't many ridges or anything on them. These are my two favorites: Personal Size, Full Size, but I'd go to Wal Mart and get them there because the same ones are like half the price. 

The first step is going to be to make sure to sand your cooler down really well. Basically, you want to make sure it's not shiny anywhere. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP. I made that mistake with my first cooler and all of my hard work peeled right off. Learn from my mistakes. Sand your cooler. If you are doing a big cooler, I would also try to get your hands on an electric sander, because they will make your life SO much easier. You can rent one at Home Depot for around $15!

After you sand, you're going to want to tape it. You'll need to tape off any area you don't want painted. With the bigger coolers you'll want to tape the handles on the sides and around the rim between the cooler and the lid. The one I did for this post was a mini Igloo cooler, and so I actually took off the lid and then taped the handle and the rim around the top to keep it white, and then sprayed and painted the lid separately. 

Once your cooler is all taped, it's time to prime! The primer I used is this one by Krylon, but really any spray primer that bonds to plastic should work. You'll want to make sure you spray an even coat of the primer over the entire cooler, and then let it dry. It should look like the picture at the top of this post. Basically just all white or gray, depending on which color primer you chose. If you have a choice in colors, I'd recommend white!

Now that you have a primed cooler, it's time for the fun part: painting! For the cooler pictured, I actually freehanded everything, but if you do have a more complicated design or you don't feel like painting, you can trace your design onto tissue paper, tape the tissue paper onto the cooler and then trace over the design with a sharpie and it will transfer onto your cooler! Just be super careful when you peel the tape off, because you don't want to peel the paint off with it. 

In case you do want to free-hand it, I thought I'd show you step by step how I painted the Lilly patterns onto my cooler! 

As you can see, all three of these patterns are super easy when you break them down! You just start with the basics and continue to add detail as you go! 

Once you're done painting, all that's left to do is seal it! I use Mod Podge and usually just paint a couple of coats on, but if you want something a little more heavy duty you might want to try epoxy resin or even seeing how much it would cost to have your local auto body shop seal it for you! 

I really hope these tips helped! If you have any questions feel free to let me know in the comments, or send me an email at oliviasheastyle@gmail.com!

XOXO, 

Olivia

PS. If you want a cooler for Summer, but don't feel like doing all the work, I will be giving away a customized mini cooler on my Instagram this week! All you have to do is follow me, @OliviaSheaStyle, like my giveaway picture and comment tagging 3 friends and telling me how you'd use a cooler this summer! I'll choose one winner next Friday to design and paint a personalized mini cooler for.