Easy Upgrade To $10 Walmart Curtain Rods

 We continue to hemorrhage money for the new house.

Yesterday I spent....well, alot.... for a new bed.

So when I was looking at purchasing four curtain rods today,

I definitely felt poor.  After checking Lowe's,

Home Depot, Target, Kohl's and Bed Bath & Beyond I dreaded the thought

that I might have to shell out between $22-$45 per curtain rod.  

Then I went to Walmart.  $10 per curtain rod.

But look closely at the above photo and you can see why.

Plastic finials. Sigh.

So I purchased my $7  go-to Rustoleum Metallic Spraypaint,,

this time in Flat Burnished Amber.  Love this stuff.

After a couple hours the cheesy plastic finials

looked like a million bucks

(or at least like $22 bucks).

#easyupgrade

Making Flower Containers That Survive Snow

 I don't normally do container gardening.

But since we are moving this summer, container

gardening gives us a chance to take flowers with us

(and save a little cash.)

 Since I can't afford (or carry) big ceramic planters,

I collected a bunch of cheapo plastic ones at auctions.

I tried textured Rustoleum spraypaint to spiff them up.

I found if you spray a solid matte base color on the

containers first (close to the color of the textured spraypaint), 

the textured spraypaint works much better.

Make sure you hit the top interior.

 I did three of these container pots for our open house on Sunday.

 Problem #1:

Snow forecast.

So I only purchased kale,

pansies and dianthus.

Problem #2:

The soil was rock solid frozen in these three

containers in front of the house.

So I just set the leftover plants in them.

(Easier to cover if I need to.)

They will have to wait their turn until after the open house.

In Love With Hammered Pewter Spraypaint

Rustoleum Hammered Pewter Spraypaint.  I am not an official spokesperson (or unofficial) for this product, but I find myself using it all the time.

My Make-A-Mess-Monday this week was centered around using it.  I had picked up an old fan last week that had good lines, but seen better days. The spraypaint covered the rust very nicely.  Hammered Pewter made all the difference.

Here is what the shabby gray base (and body)

of the fan looked like when I got it from the local on-line auction.

 

This is what it looked like afterwards.

And it would have probably looked even better

if I had actually cleaned the fan first.

 

It gives items a nice vintage look, but not flat. 

 It somehow creates the hammered pattern and I love it.

I also have recently used it on a wooden curtain rod and

metal curtain holders.  Love.