Painted Cinder Block Planters

Pinterest made me do it!

I’ve seen seen this pin on Pinterest in various forms – strawberry gardens, planters, raised beds, etc. As luck would have it, when we were cleaning up our backyard we found a few cinder blocks under our deck that we had used to keep the dogs from digging.  As Hubby was throwing them into the junk pile I immediately yelled, “NO – I’m going to turn those into planters!” to which he looked at me like I was nuts.

This is a great project to do with kids. Spray paint is such a simple, easy update to boring, gray cinder blocks ESPECIALLY if you have this handy gadget:

You slip it around the spray paint can and it makes it SO MUCH EASIER to get nice even strokes – even a 5 year old can do it!

The steps are pretty explanatory but I’ll offer a few insights and tips.

Tip #1: No need to clean the dirt of the blocks since it’s going to be covered by paint anyway

Tip #2: Cinder Blocks soak up ALOT of paint. I had to keep this in mind while Miss J was spraying to her heart’s content as we only had one can of pink paint.  See how porous  the stone is below:

Tip #3: Paint the best looking sides (smoothest) no one is going to care about the bottom of the Cinder Block is painted. . .who’s going to pick it up to look?

Tip #4: Let go. . .if your 5 year old wants to spray paint one side dark purple and the other light purple because “it will look good that way.” Who am I to argue? This project is for her and her alone.

and wouldn’t you know it?   She was right! It does look good!

Master Bathroom Makeover

I am so excited to show off the work we’ve done in our master bathroom. We started this project back in February and let me tell you it wasn’t without its own set of challenges. If you’d like to see what this room looked like before the makeover please watch the video below from our YouTube Channel (and take a minute to subscribe if you haven’t already ). Otherwise if you’re all about the “after” pictures please scroll down below.

The walls are Sherwin Williams Sea Salt (used Olympic One Paint + Primer) and the trim and doors were painted in Behr's Brilliant White.

We also replaced the light fixture and added moulding around the mirror.  One day I will write a blog post about changing the light fixture. . .it was probably the most stressful DIY project we have ever done.  What was supposed to be an easy replacement ending up involving electrical junction box, drywall screws, drywall, joint compound and so on.  It taught us that in an older house (our house was built in the early 80's) you NEVER know what you will find behind the walls.

Mrs. Debbie and her daughter Brooke took me to Home Goods to help accessorize and finish out the room.  Those ladies can fill up several Home Goods carts like no one else!

We also replaced the 1980's globe light with a recessed canned light.  After taking down the original light we discovered that a roof joist was right next to the junction box of the original light. After telling my Nerd he COULD NOT use the sawzall (My Nerd's favorite tool) to cut the roof joist (HELLO?! It's a ROOF joist for a reason?) we ending up purchasing a 6" Hole Saw and drilling a new hole for the recessed canned light. We patched up the old hole and still have to paint over it.

We also replaced the shower rod and curtain with a 96" long curtain that runs from the ceiling to the floor.

The rug is a square rug purchased from Overstock.com.  I was little uneasy about purchasing a large item online but the rug turned out great! It is soft and did not shed a bit!

For links to all the products we used and purchased please visit our Pinterest board : Nelly and her Nerd's Master Bathroom Home Improvement Project