Habitat bright ideas with Fleur Thorpe – DIY projects
Paint your favourite sneakers with a glow in the dark pattern. Fleur Thorpe shows you how.

Step 1: Start by removing the laces from a pair of plain canvas shoes. (Photo 1).
Step 2: Paint the canvas parts of the shoe in a white paint. Fleur used Resene Quarter Delta. It doesn’t matter what colour your shoes are to start with as the shoes need to be painted white for the Resene FX Nightlight to work best. Fleur left the tongue of the shoe unpainted as she liked the original colour. (Photo 2).
Step 3: Paint the area around the lace eyelets in Resene Surfs Up. (Photo 3).

Photo one

Photo two

Photo three
Step 4: Next, paint a small triangle of Resene Wet N Wild. (Photo 4).
Step 5: Carry on painting blocks of colour around the shoe in Resene Meteor, Resene Waiouru and Resene Blue Diamond. Make sure you leave a gap between each colour block so that the Resene Quarter Delta shows. (Photo 5).
Step 6: Finish by using a thin paint brush to apply three coats of Resene FX Nightlight on top of the Resene Quarter Delta, allowing each coat to dry before applying the next coat. (Photo 6).

Photo four

Photo five

Photo six
Step 7: Charge the shoes up in the sun and enjoy wearing them at night! (Photo 7).
Top tip: For the best glow-in-the-dark effect use Resene White as the basecoat colour rather than a tinted colour. Fleur used Resene Quarter Delta as she preferred this as a contrast to her other colours rather than white.

Photo seven

Detail - Nightime

Detail 2 - Nightime
Project and images by Fleur Thorpe. Feb 2021.