DIY,  DIY | Decor,  Vintage & Antiques

How to Paint Old Vintage Lockers to Use as Home Decor and Storage

June 21, 2019 / 759 Comments

Storage is something I think all homes need more of. Rather than expose all your junk and toys or cram everything into your one cramped closet, why not hide them in some old lockers? The doors of the old vintage lockers will hide all the junk, and after an easy DIY paint job the lockers will also look like really cool home decor! Take a look at this easy DIY project and learn how to paint old vintage lockers to use as home decor and storage!

Before and After

How to Paint Vintage Lockers

The lockers I found were already a shade of white, but VERY beat up and looked dingy in real life. Not something I really wanted to display in my home! I knew I wanted to spray paint them. This would only take a couple hours and would cover them evenly. No matter what color you find your lockers (grey, blue, green, etc) they should be metal and easy to spray paint with the right kind of paint. I picked Heirloom White as the color and its perfect! Here is the before:

In order to spray paint such a large piece, you will want to work in a well ventilated space where you wont damage anything with over-spray. For us, this was our driveway. We laid the lockers on a drop cloth to protect the driveway and got to work.

You can see all the marks all over the lockers before we began painting. I did not prep these lockers in any significant way. I simply wiped them down and peeled away anything that easily came off. I opted not to sand off any stuck on parts – but you could clean up the lockers further if you wanted. Then we simply sprayed even long strokes across the surface of the lockers, working from the top down. It took 3 full coats to cover the lockers and any bleed through.

The sides here are in really bad shape before painting. Take a look how much better they look after the paint is applied!

Go over the whole piece again and check for any areas that need touch ups and then your done! Notice that all of the rust spots are completely gone! Let it dry for a few hours before moving it into your home.

The Reveal

This project only took a couple hours and 3 cans of spray paint, and now we have a cool set of vintage lockers in our home that works for storage and looks great as home decor! Would you believe it if I told you that I fit an entire closets worth of craft and art supplies into here? I sure did! Now the junk is hidden and the lockers look great here in our guest bedroom!

I love that these lockers not only have farmhouse charm, but they are excellent for organizing small things in the home as well. Take a look at some of my other DIY decor projects here! Happy creating!

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