My Bike, Lolita

Guys I have the best news! I finished my bike this past weekend, and I love her sooooo much. I've decided my green beauty with her red name plate just has to be called Lolita. It fits her no? This has been one of the longest DIY projects I've ever undertaken and the time, and patience required to do it really paid off in the end. I almost didn't share this post with you because the lovely Kaylah painted her bike the exact same color, and it looked so good. But, you know what I've been planning this since March, it has been a huge part of my summer to-do list, and I'm proud of what I've done so who cares if another blogger had a similar idea? You can see the first part of this project here.

   

I finally settled on spray painting the bike celery green, with cream accents. The light green and cream really accentuated the buttery brown seat and handle bars I'd bought, and made the chrome details really pop. The first step was taking the bike apart, which I did ALL by myself. I made a point to put all of the nuts and bolts in a special tray to avoid losing them in my tool box.

Next I taped, covered, and bagged anything I didn't want to prime or paint and went to town. Priming ended up taking a lot longer than I'd initially planned because of our daily afternoon showers. After priming I lightly sanded everything with a really fine grade sandpaper and wiped it clean. Then it was time to pull out the pretty paint. 

I worked in sections, painting the front side and then the back side, letting each coat dry a full 24 hours before working on the next. I had to sand some areas a couple of times to get the finish as smooth as possible. All in all I used 1.5 cans of the celery green and probably did a total of three solid coats on the bike. After I finished painting the green I painted the chain cover and back rack cream. Once the final layer dried I applied two coats of clear varnish to seal everything and make the bike shine.

Once I was sure that the bike was ready to go I asked for Ryan's help to ensure that I didn't scrape off hours of work reassembling it myself. We reattached the chain, tires, and added the front basket and back rack to balance everything out. I love love love the way Lolita works and I've already given her a twirl in the neighborhood. The only thing not pictured is my goofy white helmet I wear to keep my brain in tact.

Have any of you recently finished a huge project that seemed to last forever? Anyone out there refinished a bike? I'd love for you to link through to your summer projects, so I can see what everyone has been up to. big kiss, bekuh