How to Paint a Cooler

I bought a cooler to take to Bristol in August. I saw a cute zebra print cooler while shopping a few weeks ago, but the cooler was too tall to be allowed in at the race. When I found this plain blue cooler I was happy that it had wheels so I don't have to carry my drinks. But sad that it wasn't as cool as the zebra one. I had the bright idea to paint it. I love spray paint. I have no fear when it comes to giving something/anything a coat of paint. Once I decided to paint the cooler I was super excited to get started transforming it from plain to fabulous. This is a several day process so make sure you have a week of nice weather otherwise your cooler will be sitting on your washing machine while it dries. Not that happened to me all three nights.

Materials: Rust-olem plastic primer
Krylon (my spray paint brand of choice) Top is Grape bottom is Watermelon
scotch blue painters tape
black n decker palm sander
Spackle (not really needed)
xacto knife
stencils
Various colors paint pens
Krylon  fusion for plastics clear uv protection

Step 1: I covered the Coleman with Spackle and let it dry over night.

Step 2: Give it a roughing up with the sander wiped it off with a damp cloth and then lightly covered it with Plastic primer. Don't you just love all the paint it left on my fingers. Let dry for about an hour.

Step 3: I sprayed the top with Krylon Grape. Painted the bottom with Krylon Watermelon. I taped the back where the handle goes. That remained black but the handle itself I painted grape. I let this sit overnight to dry.

Step 4: Taped the stripes off and gave the top a coat of watermelon. Let it dry about 2 hours.

Step 5: I printed the H off from my computer. You can do this anyway you want but I looked for a monogram H in a google image search. Then cut using a xacto knife it out to make a stencil I traced the H with a paint pen and then filled it in. As it was drying I used a circle stencil on the base using lavender, lime, tangerine, and blue. I bought a variety pack of paint pens.

 

I still need to cover it with the Krylon Fushion UV protection. I want to let it sit overnight to dry once again.

I'm working on Greg a Dale Earnhardt cooler I'm hoping to have it done soon.