Blog — diy

Last week, while brainstorming how to spruce up our coffee and tea bar, the idea to do some DIY with thrifted tea cups popped into my head. I set out to scour a few thrift shops to see what I could find and picked up some gold spray paint, determined to make some pretty things. Monday rolled around, and a woman who lives around the corner from us announced on our neighborhood facebook page that she had some offshoots of mini aloe plants that were up for grabs.

I love aloe, so I jumped at the opportunity for free plants and walked over to her house to pick a few of them up. When I got home, I realized that I had already filled all of my indoor planters with various flora, and thus, the tea cups became planters. While this wasn't the original idea that I had envisioned, I'm actually happier with the outcome-- funny how things work out that way sometimes!

What you'll need:

• tea cups (I purchased mine for a whopping 50 cents each at Goodwill)
• gold spray paint
• clear coat glaze or sealer
• newspaper
• painter's tape
• potting soil
• small plants of your choice (check out the sale section of your local home improvement store-- I've found some inexpensive options many times there!)

Use the painter's tape to seal off the areas of your tea cups that you don't want to be painted. I opted for two triangles on one of my cups and a painted top and bottom portion on the others. Seal them well, so the gold paint won't leak!

Set up the taped cups on a layer of newspaper in a well ventilated area. Spraying evenly, about 10-12 inches away, coat the cups with the gold paint. Wait for about 15-30 minutes, and paint a second coat. Once the second coat is dry to the touch, peel off the painter's tape.

Let the gold paint dry for a few more hours, and then evenly coat the cups with the clear glaze to seal the paint. I used several coats of the glaze in healthy doses, to make a nice smooth finish. Let the cups dry overnight, and then fill with potting soil and plant.

Are you as obsessed with that gold spray paint as I am? I think I want to spray everything with it now! These were super fun to make, and have added a little life to the dreariness of January.

Have you taken on any DIY projects lately?

When we first moved into the row house, we had what was called a parking pad at the rear of our house. I say "what was called" because the space was advertised as such, but in the real estate flyer, a Mini Cooper was pictured out back. While we both drive compact cars, there was certainly no way that we'd be fitting either of our cars in that tiny space, nor was it ever our intention.

Let's take a look back to what things were like on the day that our initial patio renovations began.

We battled designer concrete with a jackhammer, erected a cedar pergola and fence, and finished the space with new pavers. For the past two years, we have been enjoying our patio and deck as shown below, but we were craving a more open and contiguous space.

Our original plan was to lower the existing deck and build a stair that ran the width of our yard. In addition, the air conditioning unit, that was precariously positioned on a steel platform attached to the deck, needed to be moved. Ultimately, we decided to remove the entire first floor deck and use the existing concrete pad below it.

Over the course of two weekends, we removed the entire deck, had a new air conditioning unit installed, and gave away most of the deck boards and beams to others via Craigslist. We did, however, save some of the wood to patch our roof deck and to build our new stairs.

Aside from the new air conditioning unit, this project has cost us only around $100, which was spent on wood for new stair stringers, screws, and many brackets to help construct the stairs.

Generally, the space now looks much like it does in the last photo, but the pile of wood is significantly smaller, the concrete pad is much cleaner, and the stairs have been finished and closed on the front. Our next steps will be a trip to the dump with the remaining debris and painting the concrete pad.

Already, it feels much bigger than it was, and we're excited to make this renovated space our outdoor oasis.