Dollar Pail Project

Confession:  I started this post like two months ago but never got around to finishing it... so here we go!

Okay... who doesn't love the Target dollar aisle?  I mean, as long as you can ignore the cheesy dog clothes and awful toys... there are some good finds every once in awhile!  A few months ago, I was paroosing said aisle when I spotted these beauties:

Little galvanized pails for $1 each!  I bought 5... but wish I had gotten more!  They are so very useful for many different things.  My first thought upon seeing them was that they would be perfect to plant herbs in.  Last year we had gotten a basil and rosemary plant to keep out on our porch and I LOVED being able to walk out and grab a few fresh ingredients for our dinners.

So with this in mind, I decided to add a strip of blackboard paint to each pail so that I could label them with the herb they contained.  This was a pretty simple project and only took a Saturday afternoon to complete

Step one was to tape off the area I wanted to paint since I like straight, perfect lines... no eyeballing it for me!

Once all the pails were taped I gave them each a light sanding over the exposed area to make sure the paint would adhere properly.  I'm a big advocate of always sanding when painting... it gives the paint something to grip to so that it will adhere better.  I figure that if I'm going to go through the effort of painting something then I want to make sure it's done right and will last!  Unfortunately sanding is probably the least enjoyable part of any project... even if it's just a little pail.

My next step was to prime the pails.  For this I chose to use a spray primer that I already had in my stash.  Using a spray primer meant I needed to add plastic bags around each pail to protect the part that was not to be primed:

Lined up like this the pails were so easy to prime.  I did two very light coats and then let them dry for about ten minutes before moving on to the blackboard paint.  (It was a warm and sunny day so I didn't need to wait long for the paint to dry between coats.)  For the blackboard paint I used a flat, soft bristled watercolor brush that I had on hand so that I would leave as few brush strokes as possible.  The smoother the paint is the better it will be for the chalk writing when finished because it will be easier to read.  It took three thin coats to fully cover the primer on each pail...

Coat one:

Coat two:

Coat three:

 

 

As you can see I got excited after the final coat had dried and started peeling off the tape before remembering to take a photo :-)  Here they are with all the tape removed:

After they were all painted I had to do something that was oh-so-difficult for me... I had to WAIT 72 HOURS before I could write on the chalkboard paint!!!  GAH!  So loooooooong!  But wait I did (like a good little instructions-follower) and finally after trying to forget about the pails for a few days I was able to break out the chalk!

With chalkboard paint you need to prime the painted area with chalk before you write on it... this just means you rub the side of a piece of chalk all over the painted area like so:

Then wipe off the chalk with a dry cloth and it's ready to be written on:

Before I labeled my pails I quickly drilled a hole in the bottom of each so that water could drain out:

Ready to see the finished product???  Here they are:

Right now I have three planted with basil, rosemary and chamomile... good thing the labels weren't permanent since I hadn't planned on getting chamomile!

And now it's time for a weekend full of family!  My newly married sister and her husband are coming into town to see our newly born nephew... and there's a carnival just down the street from our house so we'll just HAVE to go to that I guess :-)

Have a good weekend everyone!!!


Thank you SO much to those who featured this project:

I've linked this post to the following: 

504 Main
A Beach Cottage

A Stroll Through Life

An Oregon Cottage

Be Different, Act Normal

Between Naps on the Porch
Beyond the Picket Fence

Bouffe e Bambini
Brambleberry Cottage 
Chic on a Shoestring

Coastal Charm
C.R.A.F.T.
Craft Goodies

CraftOManiac

Creations by Kara 
delicateCONSTRUCTION
Delightful Order

Faded Charm
Faith, Grace and Crafts  
Finding Fabulous
Fireflies and Jellybeans
Fishtail Cottage 
French Country Cottage

Funky Junk Interiors

Dittle Dattle

The DIY Showoff

The Girl Creative

Homestead Revival

Hope Studios

The House in the Roses
House of Hepworths 
Iron Violet Design

It's a Crafty Life
It's a Hodgepodge Life 
KojoDesigns

Ladybug Blessings

Laugh, Love & Craft

Life Made Lovely

Mad in Crafts

Making the World Cuter

Me Making Do
Michella Marie
Momnivore's Dilemma
My Romantic Home

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Ninth Street Notions
Paisley Passions

Reasons to Skip the Housework
Remodelaholic

Running with Glitter 

Sassy Sites

Savvy Southern Style
Serenity Now

Seven Thirty Three

Sew Much Ado
The Shabby Chic Cottage 
The Shabby Nest

Simple as That 

Skip to my Lou 

Someday Crafts 
Somewhat Simple

Sugar Bee Crafts

Sumo's Sweet Stuff
Suzy's Artsy-Crafty Sitcom

Tea Rose Home

The Thrifty Home

Tip Junkie

Today's Creative Blog

Very Merry Vintage Style
What Allie's Making Now 
WhipperBerry