DIY Dollar Store Planter Makeover

If you love thrifty outdoor decorating then this one’s for you! I popped in the Dollar Tree recently and found this amazing metal planter for $1. That’s right – $1! It’s shiny metal in its original $1 state, but not for long. Come along to see my DIY dollar store planter makeover. All you need are a few supplies –  spray paint, dirt, rocks, and some flowers.

Don’t overlook the dollar store when you’re shopping for new decor. Even if you don’t love it at first, if you can spend a few dollars and updating it the way you want – it’s so worth it!

DIY Dollar Store Planter Makeover

So here’s the original $1 version:

Not bad, but not exactly my style. I did a thrifty little summer porch update recently and I’m going for more of a vintage, farmhouse style look. You can see my $12 thrift challenge update – click here.  So I thought I would keep with the farmhouse style look and change this shiny metal into something with a little more vintage feel.

I dug through my spray paint in the garage and gave it a quick coat of oil rubbed bronze paint. But, it just wasn’t screaming summer to me at this point.

So I let it dry for about 20 minutes and then sprayed a quick thin coat of turquoise. Mine is Valspar “exotic sea” but any fun color will work. And I purposely did a thin coat because I knew I would sand it afterwards to “age” it a bit. I let the blue dry for about 20 minutes and then used a sanding block to go over the whole surface lightly. I paid special attention to the raised letters to get some of the bronze color to come through. And wallah!

Throw in some dirt and rocks and any flowers you want. I opted for a faux succulent stem and some faux flowers I had on hand. The flowers were part of a bunch from Hobby Lobby a few months ago and I just snipped off two small sections and added them to my planter. I used faux over real for this one because A. I’ll forget to water it if it’s real, B. It’s going inside the crate so it won’t get very much sun and C. I had these on hand already. The rocks are from a previous project and are also $1 for a bag!

It turned out a little brighter than I wanted, but it will fade with all the direct sunlight in the afternoon. I’m kicking myself for not buying two of these little $1 pretties! It was the perfect addition to my summer porch makeover.

Don’t overlook something that’s so inexpensive just because you don’t love the color or finish. Spray paint is a cost effective way of completely changing the look.

Do you have any favorite dollar store makeovers? Comment and let me know!