Super Trendy Painted Bowls

I'm feeling really good about this painted bowl trend that I've been seeing all over everywhere.  I know you've been pinning them too!  There's no shame.

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It got me really excited because I cannot tell you how many ugly and plain wooden bowl sets I have casually passed by in second hand stores.  As if they had no potential at all...pfffff.  So I went out and picked up one of these puppies for a whopping $1.99.

BEFORE:

First thing's first, I did a little internet-ing to find out the best and most durable ways to paint wooden bowls.  I ended up using the following supplies:

• Acrylic Paint (I used Apple Barrel's 'Neon Pink' that I got at JoAnn's)
• Martha Stewart's High Gloss Finish
• 2 foam brushes
• Scotch blue painter's tape

I decided to play it cool with my first try at wooden bowl painting.  I just taped off a thick stripe all the way around the bowl and the end half of the spoon.  Using my foam brush, I painted on 4 coats of the neon paint until the color was dense, but you could still make out the wood grain beneath it.  That's the way (uh huh, uh huh) I like it.

When that was all dried I added two coats of my Martha Stewart High Gloss Finish for protection.  I let it sit around overnight to make sure it was fully dried, then removed the tape...

Ta-Da!

I love how this super simple little project turned out.  I can't believe how something I passed by hundreds of times could turn into something so modern and cool.  I think the tiny pop of neon is just the bomb.  It definitely needs to stay on display.  My eye is immediately drawn to it among the other very toned down colors in my kitchen.

I might have to try this out again!  (And again and again.)  Maybe with a bolder or more geometric design next time.  I may just go crazy and paint all the handles of the wood and bamboo utensils I already have!

What do you think??  Will you be trying this out any time soon?  How would you design your plain wooden bowls?