Bud vase revolution?

(from Style Me Pretty)

Since I'm momentarily obsessed with things I can spray paint... and weddings... Imagine my delight when I saw this wedding on Style Me Pretty. Aside from the gorgeous dahlia and succulent arrangements, I squealed a little when I saw the candlesticks being used as bud vases.

There were plenty of crappy ugly candlesticks at the thrift store last week. Wheels. Turning.

Spray painted vases, part III: painting

Here I am, continuing on my vase adventure. I started with this inspiration, and told you about my shopping here. Now for the fun part: painting! Or is it?

First, every vase got a good washing and drying. I'll admit, this was hard for me because I was super impatient. Next, I had to divide up the vases for which ones I wanted to try first, and whether I wanted to try painting the inside or outside. I decided to try several things. I tried painting the inside, the outside, and base painting with black and then painting with plum.

There's not much else to say, except what you already know: several light coats of paint, well-ventilated garage, rubber gloves...

And the end result? Promising. At first I hated them, but upon living with them a few days, they're growing on me. I figured these would come out different (given the varied paint processes). Part of me likes it. Part of me wants them more uniform. I'm pretty sure priming with black would make these more uniform. However, in low light, it may not matter at all.

In the end, I think these could be a real possibility for a wedding centerpiece cluster thingy... I may try matte black (more like the inspiration), or making the purple more uniform. In the meantime, these are hanging out on a weird shelf in my room and I have to admit, I kind of dig 'em (although I apologize for the exceptionally bad flash). Meh.

Spray painted vases part II: budget and shopping

(From StyleMePretty)

I've accidentally taken to multi-posting. Think of it as being in the loop to all my works in progress. But seriously, sorry for the Roman numeral overload.

Anyway, as I discussed here, I was inspired by Twig and Thistle's spray painted tablescape. A collection of textured vases + spray paint = cool centerpiece? We'll see.

First I went to Lowe's, since it's the only home improvement store in about 10 miles. I started off wanting dark plum, but based on the cap colors I was scared it might be too red. So I grabbed a standard black and "economy" white. To be as scientific as possible (and also because I didn't have a choice) each paint was in a different finish: flat, satin, and gloss.
Glossy economy white $0.99
Flat deep plum $3.78
Satin black basic $3.12
With tax, Lowe's total: $8.42

Next, off to one of my favorite thrift stores, the Village Discount Outlet. I looked at all of the kitchen and home wares and settled on two large vases, a weird blue vase, and a clay vase with a tree imprint.
Two big vases @ $1.50
Two small vases @ $0.60
With tax, VDO total: $4.49

I was a little disappointed that I didn't find any interesting bud vases, as this was more my original vision. So I made one last stop at Ohio Thrift. Jackpot! With a cart full of vases, a few women stopped to ask if I collected vases. Er, no? I guess it's a reasonable question since I bought 11 things. Mostly bud vases, but also three candy bowls (that's what they look like to me at least)
11 odds and ends $10.43
With tax, Ohio Thrift total: $11.13

I had originally given myself a $20 budget, and 100% freedom to hate it all and throw it away after the fact. I ended up spending $24.04, which is a little bit over my budget. But, if the purple works ok, I'll recoup $4.11 on cost of the black and white if I return them. That would put me at (fanfare) $19.93.

Next up: painting!!