Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Avengers Assemble! – a Tricycle

I had planned to get Will a cycle of some kind for his birthday. It was a long debate about getting him a big wheel, a tricycle, or a two wheeler with training wheels. Decisions, Decisions. It just ended up being what I found for the best deal. Thankfully, I am addicted to Goodwill. Yes, it smells a little funny… but that’s the smell of a deal lurking around the corner!And even more thankfully, it’s right next door to the grocery store. So I push my luck, too often, with Will in tow, run into Goodwill to see what’s there… God forbid the day when I find a killer dresser for $30 that I have to have and try to shove in the back of my Rogue. Hubby will come home to quite the surprise that day… “Honey…can you help me bring in the groceries … and the dresser?”

Well, lucky be this lady that this cute Radio Flyer tricycle was $14.99 at Goodwill. I snapped a pic, texted it to Hubby, and made Will sit on it while I called Hubby to see what he thought. Spoiler Alert – Hubby said to grab it! This little baby retails for around $66. Ouch. $14.99 is much better.
Iron Man Bike

You’re probably looking at the pics above going Oh! Cu- Oh my god! Why did you take it apart?!

Well, we can’t just leave things alone in this house. I asked Hubby what he thought about spray painting it. And since Will is still obsessed with Iron Man, the obvious choice was to make it an Iron Man trike. So Hubby go to work…

After he disassembled the trike, he taped up the black wheels. Those were the only parts not getting sprayed.
DSC02948
The arsenal:DSC02961

Primed:
DSC02950

The trim was gilded:
Iron Man Bike-001

Then Hubby taped up the gilded hubcaps:
DSC02955

Time to get our Rustoleum-Glossy-Colonial-Red-On!
DSC02958

Ta-Da!
Iron Man Bike-002

A quick recap of the before and after:
Iron Man Bike-003

I think one of these will be added to the lid on the “trunk”:

The added bonus to taping up the wheels was when we took the tape off, they were clean! The trike was in great shape from the get-go, but this made it look even more spiffy.

It turned out to be a great birthday. It wasn’t a surprise. Since we have thismuchroom to do spray painting and DIY stuff, Will saw the whole process. But I think it made the whole thing more fun. He’s walking around asking Hubby when his Iron Man bike will be ready. “Dad! My Iron Man bike?! It’s so cool!”

Cost Analysis:
- Trike – $14.99 Goodwill
- Rust-oleum Primer – $3.87
- Rust-oleum Gloss Colonial Red Spray (2) – $3.87
- Krylon 18k Gold spray paint – had it, but $5.99 at Joann’s, and use a coupon!
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Total – $26.60

Not too shabby, if I do say so myself. Smile We definitely put the $39.40 we saved (since buying a brand new trike would’ve been $66) to good use for other fun gifts that were a surprise. Squinkies & Star Wars Fighter Pods are taking over my house…

Have you revamped a Goodwill/Thrift find lately? We love a good deal and a good makeover combined! Please share!

3 comments:

  1. So amazed! I love how you made your bargain SO much better as Iron Man! Keep up the great work. I am always left inspired after reading your blog!

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  2. LOOK at that bike! It's the best tricyle I've seen! And making it personal gives it that extra special touch! Good job guys!

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  3. Quite the amazing before and after! I never would have thought about giving the bike a makeover - looks like a million bucks!

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