For while, I’ve been eyeing the painted planters John and Sherry over at Young House Love have on their front porch, although I believe they are now another color…. And by “eyeing,” I mean, desperately trying to find a cheap planter that I can spray paint into something lovely.

I’d love to just buy something lovely, but alas, nice pots are usually way more expensive than I’d prefer to pay. Thus, I’ve been hitting up the discounted, cheapo plastic ones at just about every store we’ve been to, with pretty much no luck.

(I did find a cute one at Home Depot that I gave you guys a sneak peak of in this post.)

Anyway, when I was visited my parents last week while Hubs was at a work event in Chicago, I figured I’d ask if they had any old, ugly ones they didn’t use anymore. And yes, yes they did!

Ta-da! It’s an ugly, old yellowed, used-to-be-white, plastic planter box!

Ok, I know it doesn’t look like much yet, but through the magic of the blog world, you’ll get to see it transform into something lovely in the next few seconds it takes you to read to the after picture below.

Be patient though, we’ll get there right after I show you the in-progress photo:

We picked up this can of Dark Walnut 2-in-1 Rustoleum spray paint (my favorite kind because it covers so well) at Walmart for about $2.50. And since the planter was free (thanks, Mom and Dad!), this project was super-duper cheap!

Here’s how it turned out:

We made sure to paint the inside down a few inches because the soil won’t go all the way to the top, and we didn’t want the white to show.

As far as plant choices go, I went with a hosta from Home Depot and a white-flowered perennial called Saxifraga Touran from Walmart that I’ve never seen before, but that looked healthy and full and had a good price. (I’m not sure it will bloom all summer, so I may add in something else for color later on.) Both of those should come back every year (at least for awhile) if I take good care of them, which means this should be the planter box that keeps on giving, if you know what I mean.

I also stuck in a few dusty millers, for added texture and filler, and again, I may add another, brighter bloom in there as the year goes on. All of these will be find in part sun, part shade, which our back deck should provide, but I plan to keep an eye on them as this is the first summer in the new house and I’m not sure where the best place is to have my potted plants hang out so they don’t fry in the sun.

I’m really happy with how this first flower pot of the season turned out, from it’s paint job to the plants inside it.

And, let this be yet another friendly reminder that spray paint can give even the ugliest of yard sale finds (or family hand-me-downs) a fancy face lift!

Have you joined Team Spray Paint yet? What’s the best thing you’ve transformed with this miracle spray? Any exciting spray painting projects for spring in the plans?