Want a wow factor in your garden? I’m sharing how to repurpose a dresser into a planter that will be the talk of your garden. Giving my tips on painting and how to make the dresser weather the seasons. The perfect way to repurpose a vintage find for any gardener or green thumb. Dress up your plants with a dresser.
I painted and planted …
in the rain.
Talk about a bad hair day!
All to get ready for our The Great Outdoors link party on Tuesday.
Remember my $6 Thrift Shop Dresser Score?
Well, she got a makeover – lip gloss, spanx and a shiny new tiara.
She’s even wearing her favorite Behr Peacock Blue dress …
and a chalkboard bird brooch.
Want one of your own?
The deets:
* Clean the dresser with TSP (thanks for the tip, Karen from Redoux)
* 2 coats of outdoor paint (I used Peacock Blue – Behr)
* Line drawers with plastic garbage bags using painters tape
* Punch a few holes thru the garbage bags and bottom of drawers for drainage.
* Put something heavy in the backs of the drawers (I used 3 bricks in each) so the drawers don’t tilt down.
* Fill with dirt and plant away.
Her bustier is filled with herbs and her swing skirt with geraniums.
Update: Here’s what she looks like all filled in!
Do you love to repurpose vintage finds. Love gardening? Share your stories in the comments so we can inspire each other!
Kelly, she’s a hottie!!
leave it to my JERSEY GIRL to ROCK it out of the park! This is fabulous and how much do i LOVE that blue — well the skies the limit! sensational and over the top! she is a beauty! (hugs)
i have to find a dresser–this is too cute!
Very cute! I’m finishing my project this weekend.
This needs to be filed under “why didn’t I think of that?” I love the blue and the bird looks great! Seriously. This is such a cute idea! I’m pinning 🙂
:). me
How cute Kelly! Love the color too. Have a great weekend.
Kelly! This is so stinkin’ awesome. You painted and planted and I pinned. 🙂
That is a great idea and a great color! I would love to have something to contribute to the party, but the weather has been miserable for the last week and now they’re calling for SNOW! I have a vintage, square pedestal sink I planted in the backyard and have been waiting to fill it with flowers. At this rate, maybe July?
Looks great! I also love your little milk box…I have a collection of them stacked up in my kitchen…they are great for storing my kids’ art stuff 🙂 Chat soon, Laurel
Just adore this! How fun and flirty and you (bad hair day and all). And I love how you told us how to create our own …
The bricks in the back of the drawers? Brilliant!
🙂
Linda
This might just be my favorite project of yours.
~Bliss~
Love this….saw it done at a store on vacation last year ~ but love your dresser better 🙂 Lovely!!
cute! i love the watering can, too!
So are we sisters from another mister or what? I just posted my $5 thrifted dresser planter yesterday too….getting ready for the great outdoors party myself. I do love that dresser with the long legs! and the blue is awsome.
and actually the dresser only cost $4!
Oh Wow!! She IS ready to party!!! I love her dress!
Looking pretty superFAB! How fun. Poor thing would rot in a week at my house 🙁 Can’t do stuff like that, so I’ll just look at YOURS =)
I LOVE this idea! Pinned. 🙂
Kelly!!!! I am so proud. I feel like I had a little teeny hand in this. But then my pride runneth over a bit too much. This is so cute, and I love the way you gave it so much personality. I would have never thought to put the bricks in the back so the drawers wouldn’t fall out. That is a genius tip. I am gearing up to clean up my side patio so it is picture worthy for you the big link up party. Happy Memorial Day weekend!
Seriously Kelly! This is incredible! Love, love, love it!!
Oh wow! I love your dresser turned planter.
Dee
Wunderbar! The color is fabulous! I spiffed up our front porch just in time for the big party. I’m so excited!
Well I love gardening and I love painting furniture – sounds like the perfect project to me! Really, really cute!
What a fantastic idea Kelly! I would have never thought of that. She sure is a beauty!
gasp! that is so freakin’ adorable!!! I wonder if my hubby would let me get away with it, or if he would think I’m crazy!!! Thanks for the beautiful idea!!
What an amazing transformation! Are you available as an imagination donor?
Oh I like that idea! Imaginations for sale!!
What a fabulous idea – love the color, too!
Looks like we were on the same wavelength this week! Yours turned out great. Love it!
Liz
Did someone say SNOW! It is so oppressive hot here in Carolina that unless you get to working at six in the morning, your projects don’t dry and the plants wilt. Now there is a tropical storm coming – I really want that for the rain we need. Whine, whine, whine… I need to finish something. Miss Peacock Dresser is strutting her stuff. I love the matching milk box! By the way, how did it get to the end of May so soon?
Distressed Donna Down Home
I LOVE this idea!
Brenda
Thanks for stopping to leave a fun comment at Quirky Vistas about my plant dresser. My little guy is still on probation and I’m keeping the rascal away from the girls until he proves he’s rehabilitated! I think he’ll be a fine and upright match for your little lady one day. And my goodness, she’s quite the eye candy, and probably has a beautiful aroma with those herbs planted in her bustier. If the sandlot rascal saw her he’d be head over bedside table legs. Loved your description of her. So cute!
Liz
Ooops, you said long lost twin. I read, “get them together” and went off on a tangent. Ha! Yes, as twins, they should get together for sure!
Liz
Very very cute! I love the little bird you added. She looks like she’s landing on the geraniums.
Wow! You have inspired me. Love the color of the dresser.
OMG is that ever cute and charming and a great score! Plus I love your paint color!
GORGEOUS!
Love her! She’s totally hot and rocking that dress:)
Jessica
stayathomeista.com
Geese Louise- Are you going to make me pin every one of your projects? 😉
Another great one- the color is A-MayZing!!
xo Becca
Awesome! Love the color and the idea!! You really know how to dress a dresser!
Love this! And that blue is absolutely gorgeous! Now I want to find something that needs a coat (or three) of Peacock Blue.
It called to me – I only bought that color and loved it! What are the odds?!
What a fabulous idea for “dressing up plants”!!!….Love that dresser and the color is terrific. I have an old wagon on my porch that I place plants in, but that dresser is the greatest…I can imagine lots of possibilities…
Holy Cow…this is so awesome, I could just spit. Doon’tchaknow I am on the lookout for a dresser now.
So sorry, but you have become my #1 Project Hero and i aim to stalk you until I can stalk no longer.
Stalk so I can copycat. :))
I foolishly didn’t know about this party so I can’t play today….but maybe next time.
Oh my goodness, so creative. LOVE it!! And that fun milk box! I’d say it was definitely worth the bad hair! 🙂
Very cute and I love that you painted the drawer pulls the same color.
great dresser planter, i featured one similar to yours this week, love it!
Lauren
I was wondering how you kept the wood from going soggy – plastic!
This looks really fun I bet its a real conversation starter when people come over 🙂
The drawers are lined with garbage bags – glad you like
This is such a pretty color and thanks for the tips on how to make my own! I’ve been on the lookout for the right piece to use. This is a good manageable size!
Too cute, love it! I would love for you to share this (and any other creations) at Pin It and Win It Wednesday @ http://www.cheapcraftymama.com– where you can win free ad-space on my blog!
This is just darling! I love the color, the bird silhouette, the flowers and herbs, everything! A great tutorial, too. I’d never have thought to put bricks in the back of the drawers. Really spectacular!
Such a cute idea. I know about bad hair days- we have had a lot of wind and rain and it doesn’t do much for the look!
This is so great! I love the color. If only I had more room on my back porch…
This is so cheerful and creative! The bricks for ballast is a great idea — filing that one away.
I am telling you now you just got a STICKER!
This is AWESOME!
Kelly, I love this. I love the color and the whole idea. Thanks for sharing at Wow.
Wow! This is such a cool idea! Love the color, too!
Oh my god that is just FABULOUS! What an awesome idea, and that color is perfect! I really wish I had a deck so I could do this, but right now my plants are confined to little pots in a windowsill 🙁 I have a brand new link party going on right now and I’d be thrilled if you’d share this over there so everyone else can marvel at it too!
http://practicallyfunctional.net/2012/05/the-fun-in-functional-link-party-1/
Ok…crazy creative Kelly!! Love the colors!! 🙂 thanks for sharing at Uncommon!
What a fantastic use of a dresser – I never would have thought of it. The blue of the dresser brings a great pop of color to the outdoors. 🙂
Stopping by from the Outdoor Extravaganza. 🙂
Love your ideas
This is darling! Thanks for linking up and sharing with the rest of us gardeners! xoxo, tracie
Your creativity knows no bounds!! Love this! Had to feature on Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Igottacreate/100573240032625
Thanks so much for linking up at I Gotta Create! <3 Christina
Ooh, thanks for this project! I am always bringing cheap and discarded stuff home to rescue, and I definitely want to try this. Just came over via Funky Junk’s SMS 🙂
What a great idea!! Such a pretty pop of blue, too. I’ve pinned this and just shared on FB! Thanks for the inspiration!!
What a great idea for a dresser! I may just have to watch for old dresser deals! Better yet – roadside. Thanks for linking to the Summer Fun Party – I am one of the cohosts from TheStuffofSuccess. Feel free to stop by and say hello. Enjoy your week. Athena
I love it! Thanks for linking up 🙂 I pinned it!
Love the blue and the idea of using a dresser as a planter. I think I saw this through Karah or Linda, and love it more still!
Thanks so much for linking up and linking back. Good luck and feel free to follow us on facebook for all the contest updates!
SO clever and looks fabulous! Added to the BHG board 🙂
I am not very crafty but just absolutely love this dresser. I will be at the op shop early Monday morning, fingers crossed I can get an old chest like this. Thank you for your ingenuity. Marilyn
This dresser is so cute. How inventive!
How adorable! The vivid blues are wonderful, a truly unique project.
love the dresser’planter idea- But l feel so sad for the woman who posted that she wonders if her “hubby would let her get away with it.” WHO is he to judge what she wants to do in her home in her spare time…. wake up, sweetheart- life it too short to give it away to some jerk you happened to marry. It’d YOUR LIFE, not his!
This looks great. I bought an old dresser today I’d like to do this to. How long did the dresser last? I asked a friend who said it couldn’t be done 🙁 Doesn’t matter, I’m going to try anyways!
The dresser was out in the elements all year – snow, rain – so it only made it one year. If you bring it inside or have a sheltered area, I’m sure it would last longer. Enjoy!
Beautiful.What lovely ideas.
i hope you see this at some point — i’m curious how long your dresser lasted outside. 🙂
So cute! (but won’t the water drain into the wood and then just sit in the wood and rot? Newbie here)
I lined the drawers with garbage bags Elle!