So, what's the best way to customize a guitar yourself?

Hey guys. So I've been thinking I want a fun crazy loud colour guitar - it would be a fun project to cutomize I think and it would be nice to play an acoustic that was well..yellow, purple and stripey I think. Something different!

I'm not sure how to go about it though. I certainly won't be able to make it from scratch. So are there any reasonably priced kits out that you can make into good quality acoustics? Like say just for example if I could buy a Martin guitar of some kind, put it together cheaply myself, paint, apply my own strings etc? Like a blank canvas buy. Or do you think it could be worth risking experimenting painting my old guitar? That's if it would work with finish already over the current paint job?

Another thing - are steal coloured strings any good? I do have spare sets of regular steel strings already but I just thought it would be cool to have some coloured ones. But I think I heard before coloured strings tend to rust quicker but I'm not certain if that was about steel strings or not.

Thanks guys!

When i get a chance im gonna hand paint my Ibanez. But idk what kind of paint to use.
Maybe get a custom pickguard
Ive never seen colored strings anywhere. I dont mind the worn silverish color anyway.

Is this what your looking for?