Oh.Scrap.That.: Treasures from the Trash

I think all of us crafters love the joy of taken old, abandoned items and turning them into our little treasures. Well I am no different, my friends. In fact, in this recent project I literally refurbished items that were in someone’s pile waiting for the beloved trash man to pick up.

A few years ago, my friend introduced me to a local program call Free-cycle. They have them in different areas around here and I belong to 2 or 3 separate ones. In one of them, there is a lady who goes into nearby “rich” neighborhoods and checks out their trash piles a few times each week. Not something I have time to do but it is totally awesome that she did. The awesome part is that she then sends out an email through Freecycle with the list of all the goods. People respond to her with what they want and when they can get it. I have traveled to her home at least 3 times so far to pick up goodies.

Imagine my excitement when I saw that she had some planter boxes up for grabs and I was granted them!! I was even more excited when I arrived that they were the longer ones- closer to about 2 feet each. Were they perfect? No. Did they need cleaning? Sure did!

Before I even cleaned them up, I knew I was going to paint them. With one being green and one tan, plus all the other dollar tree planters I had bought being tan, I wanted to make these POP a little bit. While at Lowe’s for another project I found Valspar All Weather Spray Paint in a gorgeous blue/turquoise color. I used this paint for my other project as well which I will share soon too, promise.

So one Sunday afternoon, I busted out the hose and some soap and a sponge to clean up these bad boys before spraying them.

They didn’t become totally clean, but definitely less dirt filled and ready to be painted once the water dried up. From there, I took them out back and took turns spraying different sides and all that until I was satisfied then let them out to dry while we headed to a family function.

Two days later, I filled them with wonderful plants I bought from Lowe’s- some on clearance for as low as 50 cents and others I paid $1.88 for. Overall, I paid about $10-15 for plants and the spray paint (outside of the $4 I spent on my other planters from the Dollar Tree).

The best shot I could get of the whole area

the little planters from down below, from Dollar Tree!!

My little steps... my 2 y.o nephew helped me put a little fake flower in the little girls bucket (no flowers successfully grow in there..they fry up!!

$6 Dollar General pot from 5 years ago.. looking a lot better

part of the side garden

a better view of the side garden .. back behind the lillies are growing tomatoes (or so I hope!)

So the moral of the story is... I now have a little haven of pretty that I can look out at and it makes me so happy. On cool nights, I like to open the door and plug in some outdoor lights and enjoy the summer evening.