Squirrel-y Goodness

I’m a huge fan of squirrels. I love watching them caper around and chase each other. I know some people think they resemble rats, or have horror stories of squirrels jumping out of trash cans on them, but I’ll never understand how a person could not find them cute.

I mean seriously. They are right up there with kittens and puppies and otters.

Photo by Tomi Tapio, under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike license

When I was at Home Goods a few weeks ago I noticed a brown squirrel, and commented on how adorable it was. I resisted the urge to buy it, as a cutesy painted figure doesn’t really fit in with the modern decor I’m trying to create.

Then I remembered I’d seen a few blog posts recently about how a bit of glossy white spraypaint could transform just about anything and give it a more modern flair.

Determined to try it out, last night I used spray paint for the second time ever. Yes, that is how non-existent my DIY skills are.

At first I sprayed a too thickly and ended up with a lot of drippy spots. After the first coat dried I sanded things down and gave it a few more light coats. It’s definitely not perfect, but given that the existing surface wasn’t perfectly formed or smooth, I think it turned out very nicely.

With just a few minutes and a bit of glossy white spray paint, I transformed this adorable squirrel into something a little less embarrassing.

He fits right in with the monochromatic palate in the library.

To continue the apparent squirrel theme of the room, I also saw this black metal squirrel at West Elm awhile back.

One night after I discovered it was no longer for available online, Jace did an incredibly sweet thing and went out to check the store for me. Sure enough they still had a few – and it was on sale. Success!