Soap Dispenser Re-Do: FAIL!

As a last minute addition to our crafting weekend, Mrs. A and I decided to try a simple project that involved painting soap dispensers with spray paint. The project was supposed to turn out like this:

































Instead it turned out like this:


We followed the directions, but obviously something went awry! Here are the steps we followed.

Step One: Remove stickers from soap dispensers. Mrs. A used SoftSoap and couldn't get the labels off so left them on. After all, it was a trial run. I used a soap container from the dollar store so didn't have any stickers on it.

Step Two: Spray prime the dispenser. The directions we used said to do the pump, too, so owe complied.

Step Three: Spray paint the dispenser a color of your choosing. We chose red because it's Christmas!

Step Four: Well...we didn't quite get this far. After priming and spraying the dispensers, we put them back together only to have half the paint flake off the pump. Mrs. A's idea of not removing the label didn't work so well either, as you could obviously tell it was still there. (Duh, right?) At this point she decided to abandon the project and I set mine aside for later.

Later, when I picked it back up, I noticed mine was also chipping on the sides and front. In an effort to jazz it up a bit and possibly salvage it, I painted a chalk board paint circle on the front. My circle painting skills leave a lot to be desired! I consider this project a bust, but would be willing to try it again in the future. And I promise to follow ALL the directions next time!

Lessons Learned:
- Spray primer needs to cover the ENTIRE project.
- Priming and painting the pump isn't necessary and will likely flake off.
- Dollar store soap dispensers don't hold the spray paint as well as the SoftSoap containers.
- Removing the labels is essential to an aesthetically pleasing project.
- Goo Gone would have been a great help to remove labels.