Don’t you love it when the title tells you what to expect in the book?  That’s exactly what I did to my old plant pots!!  And what a difference.

What I started with…

AFTER!!

So let’s dig in, shall we?!

Gather your supplies

• A bucket for mixing
• Feather finish concrete from Home Depot (or Ardex which is a bit more expensive)
• Gloves (not shown but strongly recommended)
• Mixing attachment (not required but it’s so cool!)
• Concrete tint (not required, but I used black and bought it here)
• A concrete sealer, I used Acrylacq from the countertop project and a paint brush to apply it
• A sanding sponge

First things first.  You must remove a good amount of dirt from the edges of the pot.  You will want to concrete into the pot so that you don’t see any “seams” later.  Save your dirt, you’ll put it back of course!

Put a protective sheet or paper under your pot (or whatever it is you’re going to concrete over) and mix up your batter!  Now, folks I do not measure a thing.  I know that doesn’t help much but it’s the consistency you’re looking for… you’re going for a custard, so that you’ll have time to apply it (and you can add water if it’s getting too thick).

Stir it up…nah, nah…the boys are waiting… Yes.  You must sing the milk shake song.

Put on them gloves and “finger paint” your pots.  Get dirty!  Here’s my first coat…

This would have been ok, but I wanted to smooth it a bit.  Insert a second coating… it’s drying here and it doesn’t look much different, now that I’m looking at it

At this point I gently sanded it using a sanding sponge, just to get all the chunks off.  And I actually went to a plastic sheet under the pots for the sealing process.  Once you’re happy with the look, seal it!  Make an extra effort inside the pot (try not to poison the plant) and on the bottom where water can sit.

It’s not perfect?!  Of course it’s not!  It’s more Gaudi looking, which makes it special.  This isn’t a pot your friends will see at Target.

To finish out the entry, I added a long sisal runner from Ikea.

The proportion of the other rug drove me nuts every time I looked at it, but it was a housewarming gift from my in-laws and I was nervous to remove it.  Well, when they came over a few days ago, they said they loved the new rug!  Phew!!

Or was that trickery?!?!?!?!!?

Nevertheless, I am so much happier with the look!!  It’s like a real entry now.

Here’s a before

And NOW!!

A little paint, some new glass door panels and a new rug.  Oh, and let’s not forget the cutest doorbell ever!  I didn’t change much but it looks so different!

Before

AFTER!!  I added rosemary to the pots and I hope they hang over the edge!  I’ll let cha know.

Ready to concrete something?!

Hi Friends!

Are you super excited?!  It’s a loooong weekend and I for one am stoked.  I’m absolutely down for a lazy, warm summer weekend since I have started to feel the turn to fall.  Ahhh, another hot one almost gone and I’m going to do my best to enjoy it until the bitter end!

This year has certainly been the year of the exterior upgrades and my gosh, I’m so loving every bit of it!  What a difference each little detail makes.

This here is a small one, but hey, it’s a step in the right direction.

Remember my entry before??  If not, here ya go

Man, oh man that looks most unwelcoming.

That sea horse bench is one of the last few remaining pieces from the old owners.  No one really comes over and sits in the entry… That bench’s raison d’être is to hold packages from Amazon.  And sad as it was looking, it was doing pretty well at it’s job.  So, after thinking about this bench (WAY TOO MUCH) I decided to keep it and just give it a facelift.

You can see the details better here and a bit o’ patching that I did to the front.  Since the seat is wood and the sides are a casted metal, I used an exterior paint on the wood (after primer for durability) and Rustoleum’s hammered metal spray paint on the sides.

That hammered finish is pretty dope.

What a difference a little paint can make, huh?!?

Just seeing these photos gives me a bit of a boost to keep up the momentum on the entry.  I will get it looking beautiful before a single holiday!!  Cross my heart!

Now I just need to find some art… have you heard of this artist, Kai Chan?

He does some amazing installations, and I’m pretty much obsessed with this one

Wouldn’t it be AWESOME?!  It’s called “Sun Down in the Desert of Jaisalmer” and it’s made of twigs and balsa wood.

Since we’re chatting, here’s another one of his pieces I’m kind of dying for

This one’s “Birth of Venus.”  Oh no, wait.  I want this one too…

My god.  That red is just powerful.  And you’ll never guess that it’s called!

Did you say “Silk?”  Damn, how’d you guess?!!

Anyway, have a great weekend ok?

And then we can get back to this entryway next week. It’s a date!!

Somethings gotta give with those pots!!

Need some tags in your life?!

Don’t we all!!  Well, I just wanted to share some cute and super easy tags I made for a summer birthday party we just had for my twins, that turned 4.  Wow!  How time flies when you’re chasing around twins!!  Seems like only yesterday these little dudes couldn’t even talk… and now I’m racking my brain on how to get Cruz to stop dropping the F-bomb.

Shrug.  Hey sometimes I have some major parent fails and other times, I just make some tags and call it a good day.

So let’s do that, eh? Continue Reading