Painting a metal bunkbed

Part of our travel trailer make-over we realized that the twin over full bunk bed that we were going to get rid of would fit inside the trailer!  Talk about a perfect solution since we needed to build some sort of bed in it anyway.  But the problem was, the bunk bed was a bright blue color and the colors we were doing the trailer in were grey, white and teal.  So that blue color just wouldn't work.  Insert paint!  Here's what I did-

Using some of this special spray paint that's made specifically for plastic and metal I painted the bunk bed.  It was the same spray paint I was using for the accents inside the trailer already so it would be a perfect match!

The paint color is Satin Lagoon- and although it looks blue in this picture it's actually a pretty teal color.  You can get it at Walmart for just under $3.86/can, or on Amazon for $3.68. 

As with ALL painting done with spray cans, you want to do multiple light coats instead of one thick coat in order to avoid dripping or run lines in the paint.  It takes patience but the end result is worth it.  I REALLY like this Rust-Oleum paint, I've used it for a number of projects and it works great.

First I laid the bed frame out on the rocks (which side note my kids got a kick out of all the painted rocks when I was done)

I painted every angle that would be visible, let it dry for a couple hours then did a second coat wherever it was needed.  The bars where the bottom bed goes I didn't paint because no one would see those and it really takes a lot of extra paint..... by this time I was on about my 6th can of paint for the trailer project (probably took 3 to paint the bed).

After giving it a good 24 hours (and in the sun) to dry I flipped all the frames over and painted the other side.

Luckily I was painting teal on top of blue so any missed or thin areas blended well- if you are painting drastic color differences like red to black or something it may need more coats.

After it dried out for another good 24 hours we assembled it inside the trailer.  It's a perfect fit! And you can even open the top cupboards still!

Here's the after result, and a sneak peak of the trailer..... The trailer remodel post is coming so stay tuned!

I know it's hard to tell in this picture, but really the bed now matches all the other teal accents in the trailer.  It's perfect!!