I have been searching for a while to find metal gym lockers for our mud room/laundry room.
It is quite narrow and I needed a better solution for our coats and shoes.
Although there are only three of us in this house it still can get very messy.
Plain and simple it was driving me nuts!
Shoes were piled on a shoe tray and coats hung on a coat rack that was mounted to the wall.
It never looked neat it was always an unorganized mess.
Does this sound familiar to any of you?
As I was searching for vintage metal gym lockers they were either way out of my price range or I would only find one or two.
Just recently while out shopping with a friend at a garage sale I found this set of vintage metal gym lockers for 50.00!
Actually they were 60.00 but I talked him down to 50.00.
The color was all wrong and they were filthy dirty and I mean grimy nasty dirty.
First I cleaned them up with oxy clean .
After I cleaned up these metal gym lockers I had to decide how I wanted to paint these.
They are very heavy and taking them outdoors to spray paint was not an option.
So I thought do I spray paint them inside?
But the mess that it would make not to mention the smell the answer was no!
And I had a color in mind.Using spray paint you can really can’t mix a custom color.
I decided I would use a paint that had a primer in it and use a few paint colors I already had on hand to make a custom color.
I wanted the color to look vintage and a bit faded.
A color that when you looked at it you could not tell if it was white or gray or blue.
I went to walmart and bought glidden 2in1 paint and primer in egg shell finish.
When I was ready to paint I mixed the 2 in 1 glidden paint with Annie Sloan duck egg blue and Louis blue until I got the color I wanted.
I was not looking for perfection.If this chips it chips and will look more authentic and vintage.
Another reason I did not want to use spray paint is that I was not looking for a factory finish look.
Remember I love that chippy vintage look and I am hoping in time it will begin to chip and look authentic.
I only painted it because I did not like the color.
This is what these metal gym lockers looked like before I painted them.
Not very pretty.
And here is another photo of how these metal gym lockers look now.
I don’t know why my walls look yellow it is the same color I have in all of my house.
That metal bread box stores our cat food.
We now all have a locker to keep our coats,hats,and shoes in.
And the best part for me is that my daughter can also keep her back pack in here!
It is so nice not to have clutter in here!
I added a few of my white ironstone pitchers , a vintage baby scale and those blue ball jars on top.
I am sure this will get changed often.
That cow print above was a recent find.
Love the detail on this frame it was already painted white.I may sand it down a bit to age it as it is a vintage frame.
It’s hard getting a shot with out the reflection of myself or the window.This room gets lots of light with only a partial lace curtain.
I am planning on sharing the whole room reveal but I still have some things to do.
So stay tuned for more on this room.It may not be done until after summer.
A bit of advice something I learned the hard way.If you are painting lockers with spray paint or brush on paint make sure you DON”T paint over the mechanical part of the door.
I did not realize I was doing that and they were painted over.At first I could not use the handle.I had to use a razor blade to slice through the paint.All is well now but I should have been more careful.
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Oh I love these, they are fantastic. What a super find and I really love the color. The vignette on top is fabulous too. Hugs, Marty
What a lucky find and what a beautiful job you did in painting them. Perfect for your needs. Love it.
Anne I love the lockers!! What a great find. They look perfect In your laundry room.
Happy Mother’s day!! Yes, I bought the cups at a garage sale:)))
Kathy
Your lockers look amazing!! I have a set but I left them green-I’m loving your white!! And I also love your new cow print! 🙂
Susan
Awesome look, awesome price. Plus, they’re substantial in weight, so I take it they didn’t need to be anchored to your wall. BAM!!
Rita C.
I love these in a mud room ……it’s the perfect storage and I know your daughter thinks it’s so much fun to use. We don’t have a mud room and there are always shoes piled in the front foyer. When family is here it’s so funny how many pairs of shoes are thrown there. I have taken photos to do a blog post about it someday. Hope you had a wonderfully sweet Mother’s Day Anne. xoxoox (p.s. did you get my email?)
Those are really cute! They look just like I’m back in school now. Glad you were able to revamp them and use them to organize your things.
Glad I stopped by, I had bought metal file holders and haven’t done anything with them but now I at least have an idea at how to go about painting them. Thanks for sharing, I really do love yours!
Hope you had a great Mother’s Day!
Anne!!!!!!! I love these lockers. I think this is one of my new all time favorites you have done. What a fantastic way to have storage for each of you in the laundry room. Adorable, functional and brilliant. You did a great job painting these too. I love the color. This is great. Hope you had a great Mom’s Day.
Kris
I so love these lockers! What a great storage idea, and the color is perfect. I like the way you decorated the whole area.
Michelle. thebashfulnest.blogspot.com
These look fabulous!
Wonderfully displayed.
Tam
Anne,
Hope that you are having a wonderful Mother’s Day. Your old lockers look outstanding..luv how you have added the goodies on top of them.
Blessings,
Linda
Absolutely beautiful! Did you say you painted them blue? they look white. They’re gorgeous and what a great find at a great price.
xox
Hi Anne ,
The lockers look fabulous and you think just like me, I also love the age of old whites and whites that look like they have taken on that grey oxidation to its tone giving it the blue, grey, whitish look.
You did a great job using your creative mind in mixing paints and the type off paint to get the right look in hopes it will chip, I can never wait long enough for the chipping and distressing process so I find every way I can help the aging effect along.
Your gym lockers add the right kind of rightness to your laundry /mud room , a perfect place to store up your daily wears 🙂
Next you will have to look for some vintage locks so you can then lock them up!
Thank you my sweet friend for taking the time to visit me adding joy to my Mother’s Day evening.
See you soon and all the amazing finds you restyle.
Xx
Bisous
Doré
Love it, Anne! Be sure to let us know how it wears, and if you like the results. They look great now!
-Revi
I would kill for these! I have three kids, and the mess is an endless battle. NO official mudroom, just an entryway. I have a three cubby “coatroom-like” organizer I got from LL Bean years ago, but they’re getting too old for it. I. really. want. these. lockers. lol
Great job, love the color.
I’ve been looking at lockers myself Anne – don’t have room here – but if we move, I’d love to have them –
You did a beautiful job- and I agree – IF they chip, it will only enhance them!
XOX
Those are so cute! I can’t believe how different they look compared to their original putty color. I wish I had a mudroom. Maybe I don’t really need my washer and dryer and I can turn the laundry room into the mud room?
Lucky you! What a bargain for $50! They look really good all cleaned up and painted. I love the cow print as well!
Love these!!! I adore practical storage that is also super cute! Good for you for having vision because they were pretty uuuugly in their before state and they are so CUTE now!
These look so great, the color is perfect and so is the vignette on top. Now things will be nice and neat with beauty.
Cynthia
What a great find!!! The color is PERFECT, as is the styling on top!!! Love that cow picture too!
Great job on the lockers! I can’t believe you found them for $50.00. I bought some about a month ago and thought I was getting a decent deal but your deal blows mine away!
The locker, redo’s are wonderful…and the $$ was good too. I love this idea, wish our laundry room bigger for this great idea..I like the whites also! 🙂
Okay, I am seriously jealous. I go to a LOT of garage sales and I have seen all sorts of things, but never a set of lockers. You are so lucky and you did a wonderful job redoing them. And not just jealous of the lockers, but of the mud room too!
These look beautiful Anne! I have a gray set in the garage and would love to paint them!
Absolutely wonderful! I love the painted white look. You did a fabulous job….didn’t realize they where not the original paint till i started reading! So very happy you got the look you wanted! …..and who wouldn’t!
I wish I knew someone who wanted lockers like these! Several years ago, my daddy – always looking for a bargain bought several from our school. They are still in the barn – rusting away. 🙂
Beautiful job!
Blessings,
Ava
Your lockers look great. What a terrific idea. I wish I had the room to do this. It definitely will cut the clutter.
What a great addition to your mudroom, Anne! The lockers look so much better in the color you created for them. I know how wall color can change with the light. I used the same color paint in our dining room, foyer and stairwell, and in some light it takes on a pink tone and others a yellow tone. I like the contrast between your lockers and the walls.
Anne, I have been looking for lockers also. Just spent time last weekend looking on Craigslist, but could not find anything reasonably priced. You would think those people were selling brand-new lockers built by Cadillac. But, no, the pictures showed grimy, dirty, sitting in the yard lockers priced in the hundreds with a note that said FIRM price! You found a great deal, and the results are fantastic. Green with envy!
Judith
Your lockers are awesome. LOVE them. I have a loft with no closest. We converted the closet to a half bath. In order to call it an additional bedroom, I have to have a closet so I have been looking for lockers. Nothing has been in my price range. You scored and you made them look beautiful.
Oh these lockers are amazing. You scored indeed, and your makeover is first-rate. I have been looking and looking but I have found nothing I can afford.
What a great look. I don’t really have any space for lockers, but after seeing yours, if I come across any, I am buying them and figuring out later where I will put them.
Wow Anne you scored big time between the lockers and that cow print! Thanx for sharing at THT!
These turned out gorgeous! I love the color and all your pretty accessories on top.
Those are so awesome. Great price, too!
i just LOVE the lockers, anne! what a great, useful find for your laundry! love the stool and bread tin, too!
Love, love, love the lockers! What a deal!
Wow…those turend out great!
Oh Anne…………..how wonderful! I LOVE, love, LOVE your lockers. You’ve done a beautiful job. Wish they were mine!
Blessings,
Spencer
Soo cute~ I have a set of vintage lockers that were in my grandfathers shed that I have been contemplating bringing indoors too. Love yours~thanks for linking up at Feathered Nest Friday!
Hi! I came across your blog when I was searching for how to refinish old school lockers. I love what you’ve done, these look amazing and have just the look I’m going for. I found some on craigslist but they’re pretty rusty. I wanted to ask you if you had very much rust on the back. Your before pics look like they were in way better shape than I’m dealing with here. Also, I wanted to ask you if you removed the handles completely to paint them? Thanks!!
Hi Elise! How lucky for you to have found lockers! Mine were in very good old condition.It had very minimal rusting inside in spots but that is it.And no I did not remove the handles.I was very careful and use an angle brush.
Hi Anne, you have done such a great job. Noone can say that, these are the second hand gym lockers. The way you think about paint color and the way you tried to paint it, is awesome and phenomenal. I really appreciate your hard work and that is the reason why they looks good right now.
Thanks so much Sara!