Customizing My Cute Pink Computer Tower ^.^

9:48 PM

As a graduate of industrial design, I have a huge appreciation for the design of products. I'm someone who likes to surround herself with things that are visually pleasing and not just eye-catching, but things that make me smile. My kitchen is filled with shark-shaped oven mitts, tea towels with surfing dinosaurs embroidered on them, and a toothpick holder that looks like a rabbit coming out of a hat. You could say whimsy and cuteness are the themes of my style.

After years of working in the shop cutting, sanding, painting, sawing, and gluing, I've really come to appreciate things that are handmade and personally customized. This is why I decided (against the better judgement of my husband--oh you of little faith!) to customize my freakin' amazing computer tower. I spent so much time nerding it up on the computer that it made perfect sense to me to make it pink and girly! Mind you, it's not finished yet but I wanted to show you a little peek at my process and where it's at now. :D

This is what I started with, the Antec Skeleton computer tower. Pretty cool design but very masculine, don't you think?


This was the most meticulous part of the process, taping off everything that can't get paint on it. I double-wrapped all wires and important hardware inside with plastic, then sealed off the inside with more tape and plastic. Pretty sure hubby was rolling his eyes at me during this section. ;)


Next, I borrowed my parents garage to spray paint. We placed the computer on top of a few crates with plastic so that the garage wasn't sprayed pink and also so I could get low around all of the undersides and crevices. It took 2 cans of baby pink spray paint and 4-5 good coats. I also went back over it with a few coats of a sparkle top coat that I bought at the auto supply shop!



I wore a pink hoodie so that any flyaway spray paint wouldn't look so obvious. Hehe. The SARS mask was so that I wouldn't get even more sick than I already was. (Bad Jen!)


After I let my baby dry overnight I carefully peeled off all of the tape and here was the result! Baby pink goodness.


Hubby was darn impressed, if I do say so myself. Thank you, thank you. -brushes shoulder-
In return for my hard effort, he may have actually put the guts of the computer together for me. :p


I know this isn't the best shot but I wanted to show a close-up of the holographic goodness of the top coat. The sparkles are so fine, it's hard to get it on camera but if you look in the middle of the photo here you can see a bit of the rainbow effect.


I decided to record a video showing the SUPER AWESOME EFFECTS of the color-changing fan and the sparkly rainbowy goodness of the finish. Please do watch as the photos themselves do no justice to all of the crazy lights playing around the real thing. :D


Wahahaha, I am a crafty one but what can I say? I love my pink.

:3

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39 comments

  1. THATS SO COOL!! :) you're so pretty & i love reading your blogs!

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  2. Wow, that is really cool!

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  3. That is truly impressive and techy. you go girl!

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  4. That is extremely cute, Jen!! I'm super impressed and would stare at you in admiration if I could. I don't think I'd be able to do that (in terms of putting it together, etc etc). But you choose the most awesome case! xD Honestly, that tower is so cool, I adore it even without your customizations but now it just looks even better. Super cute. <3

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  5. when i first saw the antec, i thought it was a stove for the outdoors or for camping. lol.

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  6. wow i've never seen that kind of computer tower before! you did a pretty awesome job with the spray painting! :) love the spray painting gear hahaha

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  7. LOL...this is awesome. Kudos for taking on such a challenge. And double kudos for the sparkle paint.

    Do you do custom orders? My Mac would look fab in Louboutin red. =D

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  8. Funny that this was posted today. I was just thinking about the fact that the only way I'd be able to find a teal monitor and keyboard would be to paint them myself.

    This looks great!

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  9. great job! and its a nice kind of finish! i love it!

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  11. Wow that's awesome! That's the first time I've seen a tower shaped like that. Very cool. :) (weird glitch my computer somehow deleted my first comment :P)

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  12. Guys really think that us girls can only stay pretty and put on make-up... Little did they know that we can also paint and do mechanical things like them!!! Hahaha!

    Good job, Jen! ^__^

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  13. how cute! love the color..great job!

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  14. Oohh Love it Jen! Love the finish!

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  15. HEHEHEHEHE. That is sooo, soo awesome!! :D :D :D

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  16. Wow, that's so cool!

    Love the outfit btw. It looks so comfy ;) and you look so cute in it.

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  17. That's some pretty mad awesome modding. :) The colour is so lovely!

    I'm looking forward to seeing the end product. x]

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  18. That's so cool =) Great job, it looks amazing! =) Very original! x

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  19. Love your pink computer and I love DIY stuff! Cute blog!

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  20. LOVE it! I'm in the middle of assembling my tower, too!! Never thought of spray painting the casing though... seriously tempted to do so now. =D I was just going to put in pink lights!

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  21. i'm confused, how is that a computer? haha someone please explain...

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  22. That's amazing! I'm impressed! :O Didn't know you're in industrial design. That's so cool! :D

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  23. i love it!! i love things that are customized. puts some personality into inanimate objects! good job!!

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  24. I did pinked out my PC tower too when I was in college and everyone thought I was crazy!

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  25. Haha my aunt has that antec skeleton! It's done her well and she really likes it so yeah. :)

    Awesome that you customized yours and spray painted it baby pink!

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  26. i love how you layered the pink so it's more 3-d! your computer is so awesome!

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  27. Thats such a unique computer tower you have. I like. The baby pink and glitter makes it look so much more personalized. :)

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  28. haha PIMP YOUR COMPUTER WITH JEN!

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  29. jen i just started following your blog and i'm so impressed by your mechanical side! love a girl who can be handy and look cute!

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  30. I just kept thinking of my boyfriend and how he would react if I did that to his computer.... >:D

    So tech-savvy~ amazing! o_o

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  31. OMG- I LOVE IT! Pink is my fav color and you did such a great job!!!! :)

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  32. Love it! I have never seen a computer tower like that. I would imagine the open air design helps a lot with cooling the computer.

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  33. heyy fellow industrial graduate! wooo partayy haha
    did you manage to stay in the industrial design field or no?

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  34. oh yeah so cool, I love pink :D

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  35. Very cute. Nerdy girls FTW. I am impressed with your Industrial Design skills. I am a Product & Digital Design student ^_^.x. The pink shimmer is very sweet I am going to look for something similar now for my PC.

    Take Care,
    - KK. ^_^

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  36. wow! i never knew you're an industrial design graduate!! so am i!! =]so i guess, spraying is part of what a MUST in that course! all the best in life Jen!!

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