Shake it!

I had been on the hunt for the perfect salt and pepper shakers for just about forever. I'd looked at what feels like thousands, and had come to the conclusion that they just don't exist. They are all either too cute or too boring, never in between.

But then!

A couple of weeks ago I was reading this great post at one of my very favorite blogs, Young House Love, and finally found the inspiration I was looking for in this photo:

image via Young House Love

They were showing off the lovely home of the woman who runs Restored Style, and that yellow Anthropology pepper mill was singing me a real pretty song.

Now, you might be thinking, "Vicki, as an avid reader of your scarcely updated blog, I remember you already did a pepper mill project a few years ago." You'd be correct, loyal reader! And since I don't need two pepper mills, I thought I'd try and capture the same bright and happy vibe Kirsten's got going on with my own two small leave-on-the-table shakers instead.

I swung by my favorite section of Goodwill (the wooden kitchen knickknack section, of course) and waiting for me there were two clean, darling wooden shakers. One for salt, one for pepper. I flipped them over and peeked with one eye to see if they still had their stoppers, and audibly sighed with relief when I saw they were intact and in good condition.

I got them home and gave them a light sanding, followed by a coat of some primer I had on hand. A few toothpicks filled the shaker holes quite nicely.

After that dried for about 20 minutes (I am the WORST at waiting for paint to dry between coats. I'll learn my lesson someday) I put on two coats of Rustoleum high gloss enamel spray paint in a bright canary yellow.

Those enamel sprays are the best. They stick to wood really well and look almost like an expensive powder coat after everything dries.

Perfect! And for $6 (shakers + yellow spray paint + tax), a hell of a deal!