$16 urn makeover

i love a good urn, filled with plants and flowers spilling out over the edges...
in fact, i have a whole pinterest board dedicated to window boxes and containers, with lovely pictures like this:

my urns have been sitting empty for several months now. i usually fill them around mothers day, but things have been so hectic that i never got around to it. i finally decided that i needed a spot of color in the front of my house. the first order of business? sprucing up the urns a bit.



these urns are made of resin, which a LOT of planters and urns are made from these days. this is a great material because it is lightweight, and can mimic the look of cast iron and ceramic very well. my pots are supposed to look like cast iron, but over the last few years, they have started to wear down and the finish is coming off in some places. i found the perfect paint to make to help restore that cast iron look to my urns: a semi flat black spray paint. (i used the cheapest one i could find.) total cost per urn? $1. the semi flat paint has a very subtle sheen and does a great job of mimicking cast iron.

to fill the pots, i bought some potting soil ($5 per urn/$10 total), and went to lowes to see what they had. i will be honest....the selection was pretty slim. not at all like is is in late may or early june. however, i did manage to find some lavender ($5 per pot), and some mixed petunias (a bargain at $6 per  pot, considering how large they are). i usually like to mix at least 4 different kinds of flowers in my urns, and mix in some herbs as well, but i figured this year i would go a little more simple and affordable. i usually budget at least $50 just for flowers, and then the potting soil is another $10-15.

and here are my urns!

all spruced up an brimming with flowers! and all for $16 per urn, including the soil!

its small things like this that make my day happy. that, and a great song played really loud on my car radio can make me darn right cheerful!

oh, and in other happy news, our sod was delivered early this week!

 to save some money, we laid it ourselves. it was dirty and tiring work, but certainly doable as a DIY project. the money that we saved helped us pay for our irrigation system. if you are on a tight budget and you are considering laying your own sod, i would say go for it!

 it is amazing what a difference having grass makes! we are currently watering the fool out of it, and pampering it. new sod is kinda like having a puppy. it needs to be watched, fed, watered, and you can't turn your back on it or it might do something naughty. in this case, DIE.

its feeling less like a construction site and more like a home every week!