Trashy Tuesday New Idea for that Metal Bucket

Trashy Tuesday New Idea for that Metal Bucket

You know, the one you threw in your garbage last week?  The one I pulled out of your garbage when I was out walking my dog….

I realize you threw it away because you thought you had no use for it.  And, it was a little wonky on the bottom.  You didn’t realize you could PAINT IT and fill it with flowers!

Lucky me, I did see its potential.  The first thing I did was try to undo the wonkiness by pounding on it from all sides with a hammer.

Pounding on it from all sides actually made it worse.  I then tried pounding it from each side to make it “even”.  This did not quite work out either.  I realized I had spent 5 minutes pounding something that is stuck in that not quite symmetrical and even shape.  I went with it.  After all, I am slightly off center and often not even in my thinking, so I could relate.

Maybe it is all the green we have around us here in Northern California.  A color most foreign to us due to the severe drought we have been experiencing.  This year, we got a major El Nino rainfall and everything is a gorgeous hue of green.  My garden has never looked this good.

I wanted to bring some of that outdoor inside, and more than just my cut roses.  I mixed up equal parts of CeCe Caldwell’s 100% Natural Chalk + Clay Based paints, Emerald Isle and Spring Hill Green.  Perfect! It is the hue of my grass (or was last week, now it is threatening to go yellow again.  Water rationing you know. 

I painted 2 coats, then smoothed it with 320 grit sandpaper.

I can’t leave well enough alone and needed to spell out what the container’s job was.  In case it was wondering what it’s purpose was in this upcycled world of mine.  

I painstakingly (pretty much eyeballed to see if the letters lined up) taped the letters to spell out “fleur”. That’s right, I speak Franglaise.  “Flower”, for those wondering.  I painted the word “Fleur” on with CeCe Caldwell’s Carolina Sun Yellow, because that is how I was feeling.  Like Sunshine.  

This time, I burnished the entire thing with a piece of brown grocery bag.  Yep, that’s all you need to get a super smooth finish.  Brown grocery bag is like super fine sand paper.  If you want to see this in live action motion, you can check out my video on How To Use CeCe Caldwell’s Endurance.

I then applied a thin finish of CeCe Caldwell’s 100% Natural Waxing Cream.  I LOVE this stuff.  Just a dab will do you and you can buff it right away.  No waiting for it to dry and set up.  The wax will provide a little water repellent.  

I rounded up some old jars that were not doing more than taking up space in my cupboard.  Cut some fading roses from my yard, and voila.  I have a new vase.   

The whole thing took me about 15 minutes total.  Not including the walk home when I found it plus drying time, which was fast because it was sunny out.

It took me at least twice that long to clean up the mess I had made.

Next time you want a quick pick me up, go look in your neighbor’s trash.  There just might be something in there that wants to be painted and plopped down in your kitchen.

That’s it for Trashy Tuesday this week.  Hope you have the trashiest week full of good garbage.

If you liked this project, you might want to check out what else I have pulled from the trash to hold my flowers.

Crockpot Flowers

Master Bathroom Makeover 

Dumpster Floral Makeover for Halloween with Mod Podge 

How to make flowers from old magazines