A Rin Tin Tin

When I was little, we used to have a German Shepherd named Shultz. And as enormous as this dog was (and believe me he was huge because he was also part Alaskan Malamute) my dad always insisted we give him a bath in the driveway in a galvanized tub. Seriously. A 100 lb dog in a drink tub. So every time I put out our galvanized tubs for entertaining, I am always taken back to my dad trying to squeeze this huge dog in that little tub when we could just have easily given him a bath standing on the concrete driveway. But this is about the galvanized tub, not the dog (which ended up being taken way because he bit one of our babysitters when she ignored the 3 "Beware of Dog!" signs posted up our driveway. But I digress).
So unlike my dad, I do not think these multi-purpose tubs were put on earth to torture our pets at bathtime, but rather I think they serve a much better use as drink tubs when entertaining. Now I know I am probably being snobby about this, but I just can not stand to go to someone's house for a party where I have to pull a drink out of a cooler, and dig all around in the freezing cold ice for a particular drink that may or may not be there. If we are hanging out at the pool, yes. I agree it is much more practical to pull the cooler on the wheels down there, but please people, not for entertaining! I feel pretty confident Martha would agree with me on this one too.
We have had our galvanized tubs for a long time and I love them. I think they looks great on either side of the buffet table outside, or just sitting in the grass on a quilt to house the beverages. But while making my "to do" list for our preparations for the Fourth, I decided to was going to personalize our tubs. I have been wanting to do this for a long time, but I just haven't gotten around to it and with our party around the corner, what better time? Our tubs came from Lowe's and if I remember correctly, cost under $20 each for the largest round size (which trust me, is very large and holds A LOT of beer). There are two ways to paint your tub. You can either buy the Rustoleum paint for metals, or you can buy the Rustoleum Primer for Metals, then paint with latex over that. You will have a far greater selection of colors if you use the later idea, but I still prefer the first if you are just doing a basic color like black. For my drink tins, I wanted to do a green and navy color scheme. Let me interject here and tell you that I think color choice is very important. Think before you buy your paint! Although I am using these tins for the 4th, I don't often entertain with a red, white, and blue color scheme, so I wanted to chose something more universal that would go with my outdoor umbrella and a broader range of table linens and themes down the road. Onto the painting...So I primed the tin with the Rustoleum for metals primer, then I put a few layers of the green latex on top. I opted not to paint the interior of my tub, because honestly I was just being lazy, but you could certainly do that if you felt inclined. Naturally, you know that monogram momma has to put her monogram on her galvanized tub, so I printed out my initial from one of the 800 fonts I have on my computer, then transferred it to my tin using Graphite Transfer Paper. You can buy this paper in packages of 8-1/2 x 11" sheets in the drawing section of your local craft store. This paper is a must have for self-monograming I have discovered over the years! So once my initial was on there nice and clean, I used a navy paint pen to outline it, then navy paint to color it in. I then decided I was going to do a navy band around the tub as well, so I used my blue painters tape and just followed the lines on the galvanized tub, then painted the center navy. Since I have not used latex on tin before, I decided It's better to be safe than sorry, and put a coat of water-based polyeurethane on the monogram and band, even though I'd primed the metal first. And Voila! As you can see, I think it turned out MOST adorable and will look great on my party table!
Aside from doing these beverage tubs, I am throwing in another small project I did in the Spring for our front door. You'll see I added a couple flags for the Fourth of July, but those can easily come out in a couple weeks. I followed the same procedure here, on a galvanized door bucket which I'd picked up at JoAnn's craft store. Right about now, my friend Kristi is reading this and saying, "that damn JoAnn's craft store!" She thinks I should just park a cot over there since I spend so much time at JoAnn's. Actually, not a bad idea! Anyhow, I really love this project, and you can see I did a much more decorative font for the monogram, since it adorns my front door. I can always change out the flowers to accommodate the season and of course, you know I will!"
As always I am including a few resources for you to purchase similar tins already personalized. The only deal with these galvanized tins is that they always tend to be SO SMALL, and monogram momma just doesn't do things on a small scale! But none the less, if you like this idea but don't want to go to the trouble of doing it yourself, you can find a smaller simpler version at Personal Creations. I've never bought anything from them, so I can't vouch for the quality. But they do seem to have a large selection of monogrammed and personalized gifts, which is of utmost importance to monogram momma and I'm actually thinking the monogrammed BBQ brander is a must have for our household! Now, I have bought plenty of things from Lillian Vernon, and they've got a nice personalized tub that even includes a stand, which I really love, so your guests don't always have to bend down to the ground to get their drinks in case you don't have a table to put them on. Their prices are always great too, and I've always found their shipping to be rather quick. They also have a smaller version to the one with a stand, that you can have an entire phrase put on too if you feel so inclined. The last link is for the ever popular Pottery Barn. They're galvanized drink tubs are enameled on the outside in colors, much like you can find at Target also. My only issue with these is that they aren't able to be personalized. But if you don't care about adding your monogram to it, then this is a good way to go. Or, like I said, just pop on over to your local Target and they've always got a full selection there in various colors (again, they tend to be on the smaller side though).
I know what you're thinking.. Who cares?! Well I do and apparently you do too (on some level at least) if you've read this far. But seriously, that's enough about the drink tubs. Today I am on to my next projects, which are preparing for my friend Kristi and her daughter, Little Miss Lydia to come visit for a few days. I'm sure it will be a regular "Moms Gone Wild" weekend while Mr. Monogram is out of town for the next 5 days, so stay tuned for some saucy tales of Baby Einstein and excursions to the pool. Still to come, Fourth of July party details and picts so I know you're on the edge of your seat waiting for that and in the meantime, don't forget to use protection! I'm referring to the poly on your galvanized tin to protect your paint of course, so you can get your mind out of the gutter!