Prettying Up the Front Stoop

Remember way back in April when I told you all here that I had won a pretty awesome giveaway from Roeshel at the DIY Showoff?  I promised to show it off when it arrived, but then totally didn't.  My bad.  The problem is I had plans for my prize, but went in a completely different direction once it arrived.  I'm wishy washy like that.  Look how pretty Roeshel had wrapped my prize.

And this was what was inside.  I had won a blinged out tea towel(Love!) and my house numbers in vinyl.  She had surprised me by adding in that fun monogram vinyl, too.

I had planned on framing up the house numbers and affixing that plaque by my front door, but the monogram had me thinking, and I ended up doing something totally different.  I don't have a large porch, just a small stoop, outside my front door.  There's just enough space off to the side for a few plants or pumpkins at Halloween.  Here's what it looked like last year.

I grabbed a plain square planter from Lowe's for the house numbers.

Vinyl is really easy to apply.  It goes on like those car decals that you're forced glad to buy from your child's sports teams.  You peel off the back,

apply it, and smooth it on,

then peel off the front.

After I applied the vinyl numbers, I filled the bottom of the planter with some styrofoam packing peanuts and a little dirt.  I cheated with this planter.  I bought a hanging basket with a nice mix of plants,

removed the hanger, and placed the pot directly into my planter.

I just filled in around the pot with more dirt, this way if I accidentally kill it, I can just put a new hanging basket in there.

My second planter was a much cheaper one all around.  This was for my surprise monogram, so I wanted to use what I had.  I grabbed the wastebasket from my guest room, and drilled some drainage holes in the bottom of it.

I spraypainted it and then applied the monogram.

This improvised planter got plants dug up from our yard.  Here they both are by my front door.  I love putting out fresh color for the summer.

Thanks for popping in and putting out some summer color with me.