News / Guinness

I love it when the sun shines, its my chance to work outside, which let's face it, rarely happens in Ireland!

I managed to get my hands on some old beer kegs from a local pub. The kegs had been damaged slightly where the tap fits and so the suppliers would not take them back as they were unusable for them - that is where I say yes please!! :)

These kegs have gone through a complete transformation...

First things first, they needed to be emptied of any remaining liquid - which is not as fun as it sounds and involved using a crowbar and brute force, which resulted in my clothes and dining room window being covered in beer as it sprayed from the top! That was my lesson learned that day! They then needed to be prepped before attempting any sort of painting, so they were washed down with sugarsoap with any rust spots sanded down and treated pre-spraying.

Next came the spray paint. I work with spray paint a lot so am used to the varying brands and the finish they produce. If using for the first time, I would suggest doing a tester on a scrap of wood/metal or whatever you plan on spraying to get to grips with the distance you need to hold the can away, how fast and how much paint comes out, coverage, drying times etc. Always remember with spray paint that less is more, you can always add another coat, but you cannot go backwards in the process! If you spray too much paint or too closely, the paint will run and leave streaks and ruin your project. Using small burst sprays I find works best as you have much more control over the coverage this way. I decided to use a matt black spray paint for the Guinness keg (I love matt black, gives a lovely depth and texture when used) with a high shine gloss green for the Heineken as I wanted to stick with the brand colours. 

After a couple of coats of spray paint with some touch ups, next came the most painstaking stage which was to pick out the lettering with white gloss paint by hand. This took 3-4 coats on each keg, a lot of patience an incredibly steady hand to complete! 

Then on to the seat pads! I wanted the seats to be able to be used indoors and outdoors so the seat pad needed to be removable. I sourced some mdf, foam and some cream leatherette to make the pads. I picked cream as I wanted the Guinness keg to look like a pint when finished. Out came the jigsaw to cut the circles from the mdf. The jigsaw was and recent and much loved gift! Who doesn't like a girl with power tools?! :)

After cutting out the mdf the foam was attached and the leatherette cut to size. I wanted the seat pads to be fully removeable and so had to think about how that would work...I measured out the distance needed under the mdf circle to allow the tabs to fit through the handles and be held in place. I then cut and hand sowed some tabs to the to the leatherette that would then be fed through the keg handles and affixed to the mdf underneath. The leatherette was then stapled down all around both foam/mdf circles ensuring the tabs were in the correct position. I then fixed a leatherette circle to the bottom of the mdf circle to tidy up the underneath and hide the staples.

And voila! The perfect addition to any garden or home bar! Now let's just hope we get the weather this summer to use them, we can but hope! 

#LookAtThingsDifferently

Beer Kegs Before:

Beer Kegs After: