DIY: Clothes Hamper Planters

As you all know, I have been searching high and low for some reasonable, tall, and not super spendy outdoor planters. My search has been filled with planters starting at nearly $100 and reaching prices of about $700! Needless to say, those weren't coming home with us any time soon. Especially since David thinks I kill off all my plants {so not true, by the way!}.

However, on a random trip to Big Lots I got the biggest "ah-ha" moment I've had in a long time. You know, those moments Oprah claims to get all the time on her show!

We are roaming through the aisles aimlessly when I spotted it. "It" was a tall, woven clothes hamper. I immediately said, "Dave, do you see what I see?" As you can guess he wasn't nearly as enthralled as I was. I squealed, "I can make planters out of those!!!!" He replied with a, "How many do you want?" and "Can we get lunch now?" Gotta love my husband!

The best thing was that their combined price was $40! That's less than half of the price of ONE planter I had considered purchasing {and that was the cheap one!}.

After a tasty lunch at Arby's {their sweet tea is my new obsession} we stocked up on some black spray paint and came home and I sprayed all of the shutters and my new planters!

And, just an FYI, these hampers aren't merely just fabric. All along the inside the are reinforced with a metal structure. It's almost like they wanted to be planters, I tell you.

Our next step was to buy some pretty mums out at the pumpkin patch to seal the deal. Only problem was how were we going to get them to sit pretty and tall in the planters?

Well, good ol' Home Depot came to the rescue with their $2 buckets which just so happen to be the best planter-lifter-upper out there and the mums are sitting happily on their bright orange concealed perch.

The other DIY concrete planters below the new DIY woven planters are about to be moved, but those suckers are heavy and this girl needs some assistance in that endeavor. Oh, and any handle you see on the planter is now gone, I cut those off easy-peasy with some scissors. Less laundry basket-like and more planter friendly!

Thanks for reading! I am a happy little camper and can't wait to show you all the rest of our house as it moves right along with its mini-makeover.

Up next: Overstock rug, new house numbers, snazzy front door handle, fresh coat of paint on the front door, and garage lights!

xoxo

Bird's Eye View

A little birdie creature was sitting in our landscaping not.moving.a.muscle. today and totally freaked me out. I asked David to hand me my camera as I stood waiting on the porch, fully prepared for the birdie to attack me. Irrational, maybe...but his lack of movement was intriguing and weirding me out at the same time! Since he stayed put, I was able to snap a couple pics of him from about 2 feet away. Aren't those eyes just a little bit creepy? I know you're thinking it!

I at one point asked David, "Could this bird be dead? I mean, can birds die standing up?" The bird really was that still...don't laugh. ; )

Finally after I changed my settings on my camera and the flash went off, he hopped away. David claims he saw the same freaky little bird in the backyard the other day and he wouldn't move then, either. Weird, huh?

xoxo

DIY Planters

Last summer I blogged about some lovely little planters that I read about in the DIY magazine. Most recently you may have heard about this magazine by way of This Young House's John and Sherry who now contribute to it--congrats to them!

That magazine is my absolute favorite of all time because of the ideas I got from numerous articles inside, most notably my paint swatch art, that you can see in Niko's our guest bedroom!

Here are the DIY planters this Spring with their impatiens and spiky green thingies all ready to be in full bloom for this lovely summer to come! : )

Instructions and more info can be found in this blog post {with a link to the DIY website instructions for the planter project}!

xoxo

Rain, Rain Go Away

Ughh...the weather lately has left a lot to be desired. I desperately want to get out and about with my camera but good ol' mother nature has not been cooperative. I am ready for some sunshine!

I guess it was a good thing this weekend, though, because David and I had a 10 page paper to write for our master's class. We're both getting good because we each whipped out our papers in a day!

When I got home from my haircut yesterday I snapped a couple of pictures in our yard. I have been playing around with aperture settings after reading The Pioneer Woman's amazing advice. Bless her heart!

I know I have a looooooong way to go, but I'm really getting the itch! : )

And, one last thing for now, my greatest nemesis will not leave me alone. I hate them more than anything. Someone tell me how to get rid of these pesky little dandelions, please?!

I'm tired of spraying them every time one pops up! We are super close to calling a lawn service...anyone with me on this one?

xoxo

Plant It On Me

It worked! The DIY planters look pretty sweet! I was a little apprehensive because the 'glue' didn't seem nearly strong enough to hold heavy pavers together, but it did the trick. FYI: we decided to use Liquid Nails constuction projects bonder instead of the landscape adhesive because a guy at Home Depot said that it would be stronger and cheaper! Also, we upgraded to the Tuscan paver instead of the basic gray to give it a little depth and appeal.

I had to transfer my plants from my old planters to my new 'custom' {hehe} planters, so fingers crossed that they live through it! Right now it's so hot outside that my geraniums aren't in full bloom, so hopefully they'll pick up here again soon, and I'll get better pics.

Today we also celebrated my Mom's birthday with a trip to Lotawata Creek for lunch and a bowling outing after. Tom did awesome at bowling coming in first, with my Mom coming in second, then David, and rounding out the bottom was me! I had a hard time keeping it in the lane and missing the gutter--oh well! Maw Maw and Paw Paw sat this game out but gave some good coaching advice from the back! : )

2 down, 10 to go!

Tonight was the last class of our summer school graduate class. David and I both got an A+ as our final grade {notice the "+"...that means neither of us missed a single point--whoopdy woop!!!!}. Go us! Our professor bought our entire class pizza {how sweet is that?} and she requested that I make sweets for the class, so I brought these:

After class was over we had a get together at Casa Gallardo and the majority of the class came and had a nice time. It's nice to be done, although it was pretty painless and quite enjoyable {now don't think I'm too crazy for that last statement!}.

Today I finished the side landscaping, and it looks good, sparse, but good! I must remind myself that patience is a virtue and I will wait and hope that the plants I chose will eventually fill-out the space quite nicely! I took a picture, right before class, so it's still a little too shady to get the full effect.

I'll post better ones when I can remember to take them at good times! Tomorrow I think I'll start on my photo collage wall :-). Goodnight, lovelies!