Lets Get Baked: A DIY Redo of My Wickless Wax Warmer

What is a girl to do when her scentsy warmer is loved, but the color is not?  Well if that girl is me, and she's jonesing for a project fix, she paints it.

Okay so I have been in like with Scentsy for a while, but like many things I'm in like with I don't always free up the funds to really appreciate them enough to fall in love.  I'm like that with tons of things.  Just because it isn't an expensive habit doesn't mean I'm going to participate in it more.  It is usually one of those things that slips my mind, or is sacrificed to support my raging used furniture habit.  Looking for used furniture is my version of a drug habit.  Anyone know if there is a Craigslist Anonymous?

Anyway a while ago I had a Scentsy party (my first ANY kind of party), and I ordered all kinds of stuff (cause thats how I roll).  I got a few warmers, lots of different scents, and bought those adorable scented animals with zipper butts.  The horde is still loving on them.  Although Destructo Girl was mightily disappointed that she couldn't fit a small village of Little People in the rear end of her pig.  If you are reading this, Scentsy big wigs...my three year old would like to request that your stuffed animals have more junk in their trunks, or more importantly more space to shove junk in their trunks.

The only downside to rocking it out at parties, and partaking in catalog ordering (and internet shopping) is that sometimes there could be a slight color variance from the catalog photo to the real deal.  That was the case here.

I had thought it was going to be more of a turquoise and brown, but when it got here it was more of a purpley brown with a few blue accents.  Let me be super honest when I say I generally loath the color purple.  There are a few rare exceptions...this was not one of them.  So needless to say this simply would not do.   So I looked around, and did a little research.  I was going to get a high heat spray paint to redo this in, but I could only find them on the shelf in black, and I thought it might be nice if it was a shiny red to match Bertha.

Bertha is big and beautiful, and currently the ONLY red thing in my kitchen.  I however LOVE that she is red.  So I thought I would give her a few pieces to co-exist with so they could all rock the red together.

Okay there are a few things that I refuse to order online, and paint is one of them.  So I got to thinking, the bulb in my warmer is only twenty watts so I might be able to get away with regular spray paint, of which I had a buttload (technical term) in cherry red.  So after looking around on how to paint ceramic I finally decided to compile all I had learned, throw caution to the wind, and just do it.  I also decided to give a new finish to this navy blue utensil pitcher I have had since my wedding shower forever (almost 14 years) ago.

Ignore the mess around.  I would like to say this isn't an everyday occurrence, but then I'd be lying.  Also ignore the fact that I hadn't fully cleaned this prior to snapping my one and only before picture of this item.

Okay so the first thing I did was remove the bulb in the warmer, and then tape off the electrical cord (I didn't want that red) and the bulb socket, so it would stay clean and free of paint.  Then I cleaned them both really well.  I then took sand paper to both of them to rough up the surface.  I'll be really honest I didn't notice any difference.  Maybe if I had used something courser than 220 grit, but I was afraid of making too big a scratch that might compromise it somehow.  I wasn't sure if I scratched it too deep how well it would hold up being exposed to heat regularly.  So I left it be after using the 220 on it.  Next I used rubbing alcohol, and rubbed the outside of both down really well.

Then after I allowed them to both completely dry.  I took them out to the back steps, and I sprayed them with Krylon Cherry Red in gloss.

I've never used the paint/primer spray mix before so I'll let you all know if it doesn't seem to hold up as well.  I personally don't like regular roll on paint/primer mix, but then again that might make me weird (Don't answer that).  So that process looked like this.

We were having bitterly cold weather this morning, or you know it was more that it was in the low 50s with a pretty good wind chill going on.  Here in East Texas though thats as good as sub-arctic conditions...well for April anyway.  So I let them stay out there until they were no longer tacky to the touch. and then I brought them inside because the cold weather really isn't a climate condition conducive to good drying.

So after they had been in the house for a few hours I had a brilliant idea.  Whenever, they paint ceramics that fire it in a kiln.  I know that I didn't have ceramic paint on it, but I was wondering if I could use the oven to gently bake these to help set in the paint quicker and cure it faster.  So then I did a little more research.  There is always so much conflicting information out there that its hard to sort it all out sometimes.  Again though I compiled all my information, and decided to just give it a try.  I decided that the big warmer piece wouldn't go in the oven simply because I didn't know what the heat would do to its electrical.  So I untaped everything, put the bulb back in, and turned it on while sitting on a piece of cardboard to speed drying.

The other pieces I decided to place in the oven for 30 minutes at 150 degrees.

This was when I discovered what happened to the empty deodorant container I had found earlier this morning.  Thankfully it was my older girls and not mine so while my kids will reek I'll still smell awesome.

It was sitting on a piece of cardboard since I didn't want to leave paint on my cookie sheet.  I did this because I didn't want to try to scrub paint off my cooking surface.  When the 30 minutes was up I left it in there to completely cool in the oven.  This did give off a very slight smell, but it was super super subtle.  So not bad at all.

This is how the pitcher turned out.

It hard to see, but there are a few places that didn't get great coverage.

The inside is only painted part way down, but honestly no one is going to see that unless they are literally looking for it.  It looks absolutely fabulous on the counter, though.  When painting this there was one area that just would NOT take the paint.  It would smooth out everywhere but there, but its hard to see, again, unless you are looking for it.

All in all not to bad for something that holds the scrub brush by the sink.

Then there was the Scentsy Warmer.

There was an area on the scentsy warmer that also refused to be painted, but it is in the back by the plug and likely never to be seen unless some nosey nelly decides to look for it.

The only real eye sore was the underside of the wax plate.

I didn't want to paint over that completely because the good people at scentsy had seen fit to leave that raw and unfinished to begin with so I assumed they did that for a reason.  Also the ugly part isn't even visible when the warmer is fully put together.  So no big.

Total cost for this project was $0.  I used supply I had on hand, and remade things that I had had for a while.  This entire project used less than half a can of spray paint, and only took half a day for proper drying.  So far the warmer doesn't seem to be having any problems functioning as it was intended.  So all in all I'm happy.  I got to do a project that I have so desperately wanted to do, and it didn't cost a thing other than a few moments of my time.  Also thanks to the oven trick I learned I was able to thumb my nose at the weather, and proceed with a painting project that had been put off much to often due to the rain. Most importantly though now Bertha isn't alone but is now chilling out with two new red kitchen compatriots.

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