MCM Bible

Are you ready to see one of my all-time coolest thrift store finds?

Mid-Century DIY: Retro Planter

Are you sick of boring, generic plant pots from big box stores?  Tired of trolling Craigslist for mid-century planters and coming up empty-handed?  How about paying over $150 for a reproduction bullet planter?

Finding retro-modern planters can be an arduous and expensive task...

... but no longer!

Today I'm going to show you how to whip one up in a matter of an afternoon and at a cost of about $16.

Materials:

Bel Air Bamboo Planter (Lowes - Item #293923)

Ruler

Pencil

Drill

Drill Bits (1/16" and 15/64")

3x Waddell 3" Furniture Legs (Ace Hardware - Item #60536349613)

Fine Sand Paper

Danish Oil

Rag

Wood Glue

Step 1: Prep

I've chosen this particular Lowe's planter due to it's modern shape/color and bamboo construction, which should make it fairly easy to drill and work with.  Start by removing any stickers and remaining adhesive.  

Then you will need to draw drill guides onto the underside of the planter using your ruler and pencil.  I planned to attach 3 legs, and so divided the circumference of the bottom (circumference = 3.14 * diameter - Didn't know you'd be getting a math lesson here, did you?) into thirds.  Make these marks at least 1" (the radius of the leg) from the edge of the planter.

Step 2: Drilling

Now you're ready to drill baby, drill!  Using a power drill make small guide holes (I used a 1/16" bit) at the points you've marked.  Given the coiled-bamboo construction of this planter, starting off with a larger bit might result in damage, so don't get hasty and skip this step.  

Once you've made the initial guides, go back and drill out the holes with a bit slightly smaller than the bolt on the legs (I used a 15/64" bit) and clean up the piles of sawdust you've gotten everywhere.

Step 3: Preparing the Legs

Now it's time to get those legs prepped.  Start off by giving them a good sanding, but make sure not to scratch the brass ferrules.  I ended up only using a fine grade, as I'm not too picky about this sort of thing.  If you are looking for a smoother finish, start of with fine and then move on to successively smaller grit sizes until you get them to your satisfaction.

Then clean 'em up, grab a rag, and rub on a coat of Danish Oil (or your finish of choice).  Give the oil 15 minutes to soak in between coats (2 should do it) and let them dry for at least a couple hours.  

Those are some sexy legs, eh?  These things bring all kinds of possibilities to mind.

Step 4: Attaching the Legs
You're almost there!  I'd prefer to use glue in conjunction with a nut and washer to hold this thing together, but the bolt isn't long enough to fit the extra hardware so glue alone will have to do.  Dab a small amount of wood glue around the bolt on each leg, making sure to get it into the threads for extra stability.  Remember, I said a SMALL amount of glue.  We don't want a big sticky mess here.

Next, just screw the legs in and wipe up the excess (because you used too much, didn't you?  I did.).

Another little dab on the inside of the pot where the bolt penetrated should keep everything water-tight.

Step 5: Enjoy
Wait 8 hours for the adhesive to dry and BOOM, you've got yourself a swank retro-modern planter!

If you feel like changing it up, these planters come in a variety of sizes and colors, as do the legs.  I'd recommend 4 legs if you plan on using it for something tall or top-weighted, but 3 should be stable enough for most applications.

So, what'd you think?  It's not a bullet planter or architectural pottery, but pretty cool, no?  I'm considering putting together an arrangement of three in different colors and with different leg lengths to go next to the fireplace.  

Oops, I almost forgot step six...

Step 6: Gimme Some Blog Love

Head on over here, sign in (you can sign in through Facebook or other services if you don't want to make an account), and hit the "vote" button next to Mid-Century Midwest ;)

It puts the lotion on its skin!

I'm not a superstitious man, but I always keep the door to my basement locked and never go down there alone at night.  It is the CREEPIEST. BASEMENT. EVER.  You know those squealing, running women in horror movies?  That's me every time I scramble back up the stairs to safety.

The dim lights cast some pretty eerie shadows and that coal room at the back has like 4 padlocks on it.  Who needs so many locks on a single door?!  What did they keep in there?!  Who owned this place before, John Wayne Gacey?!  It creeps me out.  This Halloween, I might just hand candy out of my serial killer basement instead of decorating.

Notice the retro tile floor?  I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure that it's Asbestos.  I'm considering ripping that up (carefully) and putting down a layer of epoxy.  That and a little paint should go a long way in de-creepifying the place, but I'll have to wait until the bank account allows for it.

This weekend, the plan is to put in new light fixtures and fix up that work bench.  The basement currently has only one outlet near the washer/dryer stand, which isn't going to cut it.  With all of these DIY projects I've taken on, I'm going to have some serious electrical needs.  Instead of adding wall outlets, an expensive proposition, I picked up a few fixtures with built-in plug sockets.  They come in both 2 and 3-prong varieties and cost about $4 apiece at Home Depot and are perfect for areas where you need an outlet and you don't mind a cord dangling from your ceiling.  With a basement like this, that is the least of my concerns.

PLASTI DIY

Why did I not hear about this stuff earlier?  It looks AMAZING!

If you haven't seen Plasti Dip in action, its a spray paint-like substance (it also comes in traditional liquid form) used to coat hard-to-paint surfaces such as plastic, metal, glass, etc.

"What's the big deal? There are a ton of products like that out there," you might be saying.  Well, the differentiator is that Plasti Dip isn't really paint.  It's plastic, so it doesn't actually adhere to the surface and peels off easily, as seen here.  It comes in a variety of colors and looks pretty durable too, as my gear-head friends are using it to paint car bodies and wheels.  The manufacturer states that the product's life, when used outdoors, should be up to 5 years.

Don't like the look of that lamp?  Give it a coat of Plasti Dip (no sanding or priming involved).  Gotten sick of the color?  Peel it off and paint again.  

Just think of all the mid-century DIY projects that you could take on with Plasti Dip.  I might even give it a try on that very tarnished sputnik lamp.

Fauxdenza

I do love older homes, but boy they can be trying.

See those stairs at the back of the dining room?  They lead up to the master bedroom.  How am I supposed to get anything up those?  They're enclosed, steep, barely over a foot and a half wide, in a corner, and take a sharp turn right at the bottom.  I know that people/things were smaller in the 40's, but c'mon.

Once you get upstairs though, we do have an awesome master bedroom.  It's got tons of space (which is now being put to use as a storage/construction area due to the roof leak), but bedroom furniture just isn't going to happen.  I just about killed myself trying to lug that small Lane Acclaim coffee table up there, so I'd rather not attempt a credenza.  Therefore, we are going to need to find some sort of alternative storage arrangement.

I've been toying with the idea of building a fauxdenza to go along that wall facing the end of the bed (the one with the pitched ceiling).  The Brick House did a really good write-up on what seems like a fairly simple design, so I might give it a try. What do you all think? Fauxdenza or flat-pack?