I am an unfinished work, and so are many of my projects. This blog is just an odd collection of things I make and do.

Sunday, February 14, 2016

Something's fishy around here

I really should post before/after pictures, but I forget.  Then I'm done--or even halfway done--and realize I should have taken pictures.

So...imagine with me, a trip to the fish store and buying a pretty betta fish for my husband while he picks out fish for his big aquarium, and then the other fish pick on Betta and we have to isolate him.

Now imagine a little cheap flimsy tan corner stand.  I say tan...more like that old crayon color usually labeled "peach" or "flesh" which was lighter than anyone's skin that I know...that's about the color of this beat up little cabinet, which I picked up on the side of the road a couple of years ago, much against my husband's wishes, I might add.

Now imagine me spending hours on the computer picking out fish and designing paper...







Only to figure out later that I could have just googled "black and white fish wallpaper" and found great designs already done, like the one at this link.

Fast forward...
to this:

A can of spray paint, semi-gloss black rust-oleum, a water-proof top for the stand, and a fish tank with colorful plants and rocks and Betta has a new home. We just need to top up the water. We have some in open jugs waiting the required 24 hours for the chlorine to dissipate. 



The cabinet top is simply printed paper, attached with spray adhesive to a foam board. I wrapped it over the edges and around to the back side, then covered the whole thing with clear Con-Tact paper which I keep on hand for just such things.  You never know when you might need it. I set the completed topper on top of the little cabinet. When I someday re-purpose it for something else, it'll be easy to remove the fish topper and just have a black cabinet.

His colors don't show well here, but there's Pretty Boy down in the corner of the tank, bottom left.