When Tyler and I were poor college students, one of our favorite things to do as a date was hit up our local Cost Plus World Market and dream of the future. We knew that owning a home was far away, but enjoying the dream felt lovely anyway. A friend of mine was the manager there and she could attest, we were there more often than not. One day in particular while at World Market, I was chatting with Kenzie about another friend of ours, Melanie, who had hit it big in the blogging world. We were talking about the partnerships she had made and right out of my mouth I said, "Wouldn't it be a dream to partner with World Market?" That was 6 years ago and now I am in decorating heaven as I partner with them (that means that they pay me and provide me some of their products) to renovate and style 5 rooms in our new home.
First up is our outdoor space, which I converted into an outside art station for the kids! Head on over to the Cost Plus World Market blog to view the entire post and be sure to check out this Pinterest board which I used for inspiration!
In addition to a DIY on their blog, I thought it would be fun to partner each of my posts with an easy to accomplish DIY over here, too. My friend Kersey, has been telling me for years to try concrete and I finally decided to give it a go. I love the look of concrete pots in an outdoor space and was pleased that it really doesn't take much time or effort as long as you use the right materials (check the bottom of this post for a blogger fail story).
Supplies: bag of concrete, plastic cups, garbage cans, bins, boxes from a dollar store, water, concrete mixing tub, shovel, and some items to use as weights.
Process: Mix the concrete with water, according to the directions on the bag that you purchase, in a concrete mixing tub. Scoop the concrete into your forms, about 3/4 full, making the top as smooth as you can. Next, take a smaller container and press it into the concrete (this will be where the plant goes) and finish by setting something heavy like a rock or a paint can into the smaller container to hold it down. Wait overnight for the concrete to set, then remove from the form.
Time: Mixing, filling, and removing the concrete doesn't take long at all (30-45 minutes), but you do need to wait until the concrete is set which gives this project a total time of 15-20 hours.
Okay, so I originally wanted a huge concrete container and so I filled a large box with a full bag of concrete mix. Only, the box was made of cardboard and concrete is really heavy. As I was working to add the middle piece, the sides of the box busted open and concrete began to pour everywhere! Just imagine me, in a panic, with concrete oozing all over my hands and feet. Now picture me trying to lift the box full of concrete so that the concrete would spill back into my mixing tub. It was a total fail! So be smarter than me and just stick to small plastic containers!
