little birdie spa retreat

When we moved into our house 2 years ago, we acquired quite the set of random “left-behind’s”.  Like four garbage cans of varying sizes, an old framed (not cute) print with a hook that seemed totally inefficient, an entire bathroom chock full of lighthouses - lighthouse clock, lighthouse shower curtains (two different kinds!), lighthouse pictures (I think I would have left them behind too!), lots and lots and lots of EXTREMELY dusty fake flowers, branches and vines full of cobwebs living up above my kitchen cabinets, an old green plaid sofa bed... that kind of thing.  

Well, the plaid couch has been slip-covered to look like this (it’s not usually that shlumpy - I just didn’t want to ask mr to move.  You get the idea - beige is a much better color scheme than green plaid).  

I got rid of the flowers and vines - except for these which I washed up and combined with some cherry blossom branches. 

 And you’ve already seen THIS bathroom - which is now, thankfully, lighthouse free.  

Here’s the old ucky frame now, which I took apart and painted, added better hooks, and put in a family photo (which desperately needs to be updated, I know).  

And I won’t show you the garbage cans.  Mostly because I threw them away - except one that stays in our garage for all our outdoor garbagey needs.

Anyway, we also inherited this:

And I kind of never really liked it.  It just sat by the side of the house, like an afterthought.  There are stains all over the top, from water with who knows what chemicals in it (what the heck makes stone look like this?) and it definitely not my decorating style.  

This summer, we redid our front garden bed and I decided to move it up there.  Maybe it would grow on me.

I looked at it everyday, and I remained unconvinced of its worth.  I kept it because, well, we have ZERO in the way of outdoor decor.  

Suddenly last week, I had an epiphany.  I could spray paint it!  I could spray it a nice cheery color that would go with the flowers we’d plated and then it wouldn’t look all stark and classical!  Brilliance!  (Why did it take me so long to reach this conclusion?)

I moved it into my garage and started cleaning it up.  

This is what it looked like before I scrubbed it.  

This is what it looked like after I scrubbed it.  Hm.  

Then I sprayed the whole thing white.  This is what the top looked like when I was done.  Hm, again.  

I was second guessing my decision now.  I’d thought it couldn’t get worse.  But this weird, mottled, pink-y peach coloration was definitely worse.  Should I stop?  Should I try to scrub it off?  Should I swear off spray painting forever?  I seem to run into a lot of problems with spray paint.  

I chose to forge ahead.

And this is what the stand looked like when I was done with two coats.  Well, that looks ok.  Maybe it’ll be alright.

I left it for awhile and took a break.

When I came back to it, the white was dry and the discoloration was gone.  What?  Yep, gone.  Well, that’s cool.  I chose a super cheery yellow.  (It’s called “bright idea”.  So true, so true.)  Yellow happens to be my favorite color.

I decided to do a fun contrast color in the bowl.  I chose an aqua blue.

I did two coats of each.  I blocked off the yellow and sprayed the blue, 

but some of it seeped on to the yellow anyway.  I thought I’d just leave it.  Then I decided I better block off the blue and redo the yellow around the edge so it didn’t look like crap because I cut corners.  

And of course, I sprayed my hand both blue and yellow as well.  Wouldn’t be a spray paint project without spraying yourself a fun new color.

I let it dry.

I moved an extra paver over to the bed and put the bird bath on top.  

I plunked some big rocks around it, 

and voila!

My new and improved, CHEERY bird bath.  

I mean, what bird WOULDN’T want to chill and relax in this spa??  I kind of like it now!

And I think the birds do too.  Just hours after setting it back up, I discovered THIS:  

I can only conclude that the poor bird family swooped down from their long flight to the vaca home in Altanta for some much needed r & r, only to discover that the cool, quiet blue they assumed was a well-kept pool was some strange stone painted in a clever, albeit CRUEL, joke.  And they left this present for me to exact revenge.

I cleaned it up and filled it with water.  Sorry bird family.

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