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My Memorial Day weekend DIY project

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

My father was, as they say, quite the handyman. He knew tools, he knew construction, he knew how things go together. While I didn't exactly inherit all of his jack-of-all-trades genes, I got enough to be able to occasionally do something, well, handy. Case in point, I needed a clock for my bathroom.

See, my bathroom is done up in what I call sea-foam green. And I need a clock because I shower without contacts (and glasses, natch) and need to be able to see how late I'm running for work. I looked everywhere, both online and IRL, for a sea-foam-green-colored clock, but no luck. Apparently I'd have to take matters into my own hands.

Raw materials

I started with the basic clock from Walmart, only $3.88, and a can of sea-foam pistachio green spray paint, $3.96. Yeah, the clock cost less than the paint.

Some disassembly required

I disassembled the clock. I found the washer makes a pretty good workbench.

I'm masked, you can't see me

Turns out the clock face is glued to the plastic housing. Not wanting to tear it up, I went with Plan B (Plan A, obviously, being tear it up): I had to mask it. Since I felt it was very important to not get paint on the clock face, I did two layers.

First application

I may not be summa cum laude in the handyman department, but even I know enough to not try using spray paint indoors. To the backyard it went. Here it is after the first coat. The problem with spray painting in the backyard is the little bug things that think it's appropriate to land on wet paint. So there are a few blemishes where I had to scrape them off, but fortunately you can't really see them unless you know where to look thanks to subsequent applications.

Where better to dry than on a dryer?

Brought inside to dry, which was probably a good thing as it started to rain later. I found the dryer makes a pretty good drying rack, because of course I did.

Unmasked

The masked removed. Turns out my clock is none other than multi-billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne. Actually, it's just a clock. The paint edges look bad where the tape was, but it doesn't matter because there's a bezel to put back over it. (I chose not to paint the bezel as a stylistic choice. That sentence was awkward.) Plus, no paint on the clock face, so I guess I done good.

The final product. You can't see it here, but I put a battery in it, so it actually keeps time. And this morning as I stepped out of the shower, I was able to look at it and myopically see it well enough to know I was only going to be ten minutes late to work. Mission accomplished!