Childs bicycle makeover, a new look on a low budget.
Kiki is growing so fast!! She only just turned four but with her long legs she definitely outgrew her trike and balance bike. While on the look out for a bicycle I spotted this little bike in my local charity shop for £10, a bargain! Only problem that the bike was black and green and Kiki had her heart set on a pink sparkly bike. The bicycle needed a makeover!
Have a look at the video below to see how we gave the bicycle a whole new look
Crazy what a lick of paint can do! For the frame we used a Rust-Oleum Universal All Surface paint in Rose. A paint I had left over after painting Kiki’s radiator, see that tutorial here. I also used it on her mud table, it’s a well used paint :D
For the saddle I used a Rust-Oleum Painters Touch Spray Paint in Candy Pink. I initially wanted to replace the saddle with a new one but thought I might as well try and see if I can spray paint it first. So far so good! The paint went on really well and as the saddle is rather hard I think it will last well. I’ll keep you posted on that one.
The bike cost me ten pounds and I spend fifteen pounds on the accessories. The paint I already had so for twenty five pounds Kiki has a pretty nice little bike. Especially as second hand bikes cost from a hundred pounds in my local bike shop.
The finishing touches in the dino bike makeover are for sure the basket and the streamers. I couldn’t find any locally so I ordered mine from Amazon, a kit that had a basket, a bell, the streamers but also some stickers.
My bicycle when I lived in Amsterdam was completely covered in stickers, it was to cover up an ugly bike but it was also a great anti theft device. Nobody would steel a bike that would take forever to de-sticker :D For Kiki’s bike I only put the stickers on the chain cover though, it would be a waist covering up all our lovely paint work.
When you paint with children always supervise them and never have a child near when you work with spray paint.
Like I said in the video I really am not into gender stereotypes, we are trying to raise Kiki as gender neutral as possible but unfortunately I have a girl who loves everything pink and sparkly while I prefer monotone patterns. So I am not saying a girls bike needs to be pink instead of the dino bike that I bought but it is just what she likes. If she wanted a grey bike or a yellow one then we would have painted it that colour.
So what do you think of our joint projects? Kiki was a great help painting the stabilisers and I think the bicycle turned out rather cute!
