Cell phones even with light use get beat up easily, and over time they get all scratched up. And these days more people are electing to stay with their old phones instead of upgrading to a new one every 1 to 2 years. It’s not that a new phone costs that much, and in some instances upgrades are free; people just get sick and tired and having to learn a new phone because it is like learning a new computer each time.

You’ve got this old scuffed-up phone. It works, and you love it, but it looks crappy. An easy solution is to simply paint the battery cover. While this won’t cure the scratches and scuffs on the front side, it’s better than nothing.

What you need

1. One can of metallic flake spray paint
2. A clean work area, preferably outside
3. One AC socket plate

The first question you have is probably, "What do I need a power socket plate for?" I’ll answer that in a moment.

The paint

Cell phones with plastic battery covers rarely have flat paint applied, and the vast majority of the time the paint has some metallic flake in it.

Model spray paint used for painting things like model rockets, model cars and so on is the best thing to use.

Here’s a selection of metallic colors; they will apply correctly to the plastic battery cover of your phone.

Should you match the original color?

That’s up to you. It’s OK to pick a color that doesn’t match the black or gray chassis of the phone at all for that cool two-tone look.

The work area

All you need here is a table in an open space. If you’ve ever built models of anything, you already know the type of space you need.

The AC socket plate?

This is what you use to test the paint on before applying it to the battery cover itself, as it’s roughly the same type of material used for the battery cover.

Buy a cheap plastic AC socket plate (or 2 or 3) at your local hardware store, do a test paint job on that, let it cure for an hour or so, then come back and see if it looks good or not. If it does, you’ve got a winner and can apply the paint to battery cover.

Are battery covers treated to resist paint?

Not that I know of. Whatever paint applies properly to a cheap plastic AC socket plate should apply the same to the battery cover.

If however you have one of those plastics that just won’t hold paint properly, there’s plastic primer for that.

Should you paint the front of the phone?

I highly advise against doing that because it’s too easy to get paint on the keys or on the screen, however there is something else you can try.

Note before continuing: This only applies to "candy bar" style phones. If you have a flip phone, I don’t recommend taking those apart as they can be a serious pain to put back together.

When you remove the back cover of the phone, you’ll see tiny screws holding the whole thing together. These can be removed with a jeweler’s set of screwdrivers, and as far as I know the majority of phones use cross-head (a.k.a. Frearson or Phillips head) screws.

The "guts" of the phone (screen and keypad) should be easily removable once the screws are out, and what you’re left with it the front bezel. The only issue you may encounter is if the phone has side buttons and/or ports that stick out, so you’ll have to be mindful of those when removing the front part of the phone.

Once you have that front bezel in the clear, paint it the same way you did the battery cover.

While true the keys and screen bezel will remain the same color, the surrounding plastic bezel will at least match the back. If you get the paint right, it will be shiny, metallic and very new-looking.

Tip 1: If you want something seriously classy looking, use a metallic white paint. For whatever reason, people really think white phones are ritzy. Remember when the white iPhone came out? Well, you may not have an iPhone, but the white is just oh-so posh looking.

Tip 2: To really make a splash with the color of your new phone, match it to the color of your car, so it looks like the phone was made as an OEM accessory for it. Your local hardware store will have the color code for your make/model of car. Ask for the "paint chip" book and you can find out exactly what the color is that way.

"I’m afraid I might screw this up…"

Talk to someone who builds models made of plastic and asks how he or she paints them to get some sound advice. Or alternatively, flip them a few bucks to paint your cell phone’s plastic for you.

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