Spray painted flower pots are an inexpensive solution to buying expensive planters. Buy any color and paint to your desired color.

Since baby girl was born in May, nothing has been created. And I have been in desperate need to make, decorate or complete something, anything, for my own sanity.

Since we moved in, I’ve wanted large, blue flower pots in front of our house.

Have you ever purchased large planters for your home? Talk about sticker shock! When I find one with a price I can stomach, they aren’t the color I want. And when I find pots I love, well, they are so expensive I just can’t handle it.

Last spring I told myself I would wait and find some on clearance.

Of course I then forgot to look. So this year, spring rolled around and still, no planters.

Then wandering around Target with a sleeping baby I saw these flower pots on clearance for $15 each. I like the shape and metal handles.

As usual, the price was right, but not the color.

Still wandering through aisles, I stumbled upon matte Valspar Devine Color spray paint in pale blue. With paint and primer in one can, and good for interior and exterior projects, it was worth a try!

I returned home excited to paint. But the problem with spray paint is you need a day that is not too hot, not too humid, and not too windy.

A tall order in MN.

So the pots sat in my garage.

Waiting.

Finally, two weeks ago it was 75 degrees with little wind over the weekend.

One nap time and two cans of spray paint completed the project.  This paint coats pretty well, but definitely needs multiple coats. The handles were protected with painters tape while painting.

These planters are pretty light weight. Instead of filling them with dirt (which is hard to get rid of in the fall, and makes the pots unbearably heavy for me to move), we decided on a different plan. We bought cinder blocks for $1.05 a piece.

They didn’t fit as perfectly as I’d imagined, because I didn’t take into account basic geometry when I measured the pot…turns out 8 inch diameter means the DIAGONAL of the cinder block needs to be 8 inches, not the edges. Whoops. Not my brightest moment.

Thankfully my resourceful husband rescued me with a helpful and can-do attitude (and no complaining!). He used a hammer to break the cinder blocks up so they fit into the bottom of the pots.

The cinder blocks provide weight so the pots won’t blow over. They’ve survived some pretty severe weather in the past two weeks and I’m confident they’ll stay put in the wind. The blocks add just enough height so our already planted flowers in their pots could be placed on top of them.

Voila.

I’ll follow up in September to let you know how the spray paint held up outside for the season.