OK. I admit it. Sometimes I drive behind furniture and decor stores and look to see if they have any goodies hanging out next their trash bins. Weird? Maybe. But every once in awhile, I see something cool. Like this awesome concrete-esque planter. Of course, I had to grab it.

When I brought the planter home, I immediately went online and attempted to look it up on the store’s website. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find anything listed regarding this particular piece, probably because it had been discontinued. However, after doing a Google image search I found out that it wasn’t even a planter at all, but some sort of storage stool. Interesting, but whatever.

It had a lot of cracks in it, as you can see. And a cat too! Oh wait, that is just Rowan helping with me. He does that sometimes.

Since I still planned on using it as a planter, I wanted to make sure to fill the cracks in a bit to deter dirt and water from leaking out.

My hubby brought home concrete mix for me and I got to work stirring it up with some water.

Using disposable gloves, I applied a layer of wet concrete to the cracks on the inside of the planter. I left the outside of the cracks alone, since I wasn’t sure how well it would match the existing color and texture.

Once the concrete patches were dry, I added a few packages of river rocks (from the dollar store) to the bottom of the planter for drainage.

Finally, I added some dirt and my trusty Fiddle Leaf Fig Tree. To keep this Rowan proof, I added an extra layer of river rocks to the top of the planter too. This keeps mischievous kitties from digging in the dirt and using it as an extra litter box.

Doesn’t this planter look great?

I love the character that the cracks add and we hope that this holds up and allows our pretty plant to grow bigger and stronger!

Between Emily and I, there is a lot of DIY going on in each of our homes. One of our favorite ways to fix something up and make it our own is to slap a little paint onto it. So, it is only natural that after completing a bunch of projects, we have both found a few go-to items. Here is a list of our favorite painting tools & supplies that we love to use.

No. 1 – Benjamin Moore Paint – One of our most favorite paint brands is Benjamin Moore. We love how these paint colors look in different lighting and have not come across one that we’ve used our homes and didn’t like. Great for walls, trim and furniture.

No. 2 – Dollar Tree Paint Brushes – We like to use these brushes for stain and oil based paint projects because they are so inexpensive and if you don’t want to spend time trying to clean them up, you can just throw them out.

No. 3 – Zinsser Oil Based Primer – This primer is the bomb. It sticks to pretty much any kind of surface and creates a wonderful base for paint to stick to.

No. 4 – Black & Decker Mouse Detail Sander – Power, precision and smoothness all packed into a tiny little sander. Who could ask for more?

No. 5 – Purdy Cub Angled Paint Brush – This may just be the best brush ever! It is so perfect for cutting in and works great when trying to paint smalls spaces or decorative molding.

No. 6 – Minwax Wood Finish (Special Walnut) – If you are looking for a great stain that is not too warm or cool in color and covers pretty evenly, this is the stuff.

No. 7 – Rustoleum Universal Metallic (Oil Rubbed Bronze) – This spray paint gets a huge amount of use from both of us. We’ve used it on door handles, curtain rods, table legs and even a light fixture. (Tutorial to come soon!)

No. 8 – Restoration Hardware Paint – We are also obsessed with Restoration Hardware paint because their velvety colors look good in pretty much any room of the house.

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One of the items on our to-do list for 2015 is to work on our kids’ rooms. Our daughter, Pinky, is going from a little girl to a tween, so her room needs a little updating in the form of functional furniture and decor. Luckily, her space is in pretty reasonable shape and she has inherited my Mom’s childhood dresser and a painted desk (pictured below.)

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We got the desk for the amazing price of $FREE.

Hey, I can’t pass up a good deal and the previous owner was just going to throw it away! It was in pretty good condition, minus a few drawer pulls, but we knew we wanted to give it a little pizazz to make it work with the other furniture pieces in Pinky’s room. Plus, it has plenty of drawers, which is great for storing diaries, loom bands, and random love letters, I’m guessing.

Since we couldn’t use the original drawer hardware, I searched high and low, offline and online, and found some fun library pulls. To attach them, we first had to fill in the old holes with wood filler and sand the surfaces.

The entire desk received several coats of primer and paint (Behr Premium Plus Ultra Interior Semigloss Enamel in Polar Bear) applied with a sponge roller. I also used a paint brush to get in a few nooks and crannies, but I like the smooth look the roller delivers, plus it makes everything more time efficient. Bonus!

I had the hubs drill some pilot holes for the new hardware screws…

And we attached the library pulls, along with a few new knobs along the top.

We also bought a piece of plexi-glass, fit to size, to help protect the top of the desk.

Overall, we think it turned out great and most importantly, our daughter is in love with it! She can’t wait to do homework! Seriously!!

And there you have it. The first makeover and update for Pinky’s room. Although there is still some work to do in here, having a workspace for her is a great thing to have marked off the checklist!