I *love* a good DIY craft. No building required, just a little paint for a big transformation. Here's my before!

After a few larger projects, I'm ready to focus on a couple areas in the house that need decor, not a renovation! I've been browsing for new accessories and decorative items that catch my eye, and I've been loving the look of vintage and textured vases and crocks in the kitchen. BUT I cannot get behind some of these price tags! 

SO I decided to do a little vase transformation to get the look that I wanted. I had this old glass vase sitting around and I kept trying to put greenery in it and it just never looked how I wanted it, so before this post it was sitting in a closet! I knew that I could paint it and turn it into something I enjoy.

I've seen many DIY posts that do something similar, and they have all used different methods! There are many different ways to achieve this result. I did a bit of a combination of a few methods until I found what worked for me.

You might not like it....

I used DIRT. (ha!)

Ok grab your vessel that you want to transform! This is a tough one to write instructions for because it's very subjective based on how you want your end result to look, but here are the steps I took.

1. paint a base coat of black

This step is optional, but I wanted this piece to look more worn and vintage, so I thought a base coat of black that could show through would be great.

2. Pick your texture.

How textured do you want your vase to be? Some people want it subtle and some want super noticeable. I was somewhere in between so here's what I did.

I started with Baking Soda and white paint. I didn't measure, but just eyeballed and added maybe 1/2 cup baking soda to my white paint tray (maybe it had 1 cup of paint in it). Mix it up and see how much it thickens with the addition of baking soda.

Use whatever color paint your want your final product to be. Start with that. Use a brush to stipple on your paint and use different direction brush strokes to keep it looking random and more vintage.

Do one coat of that and see how you feel.

3. Add more texture.

If you want to kick things up a notch, you can add more texture. While your paint is still wet, rub some dirt onto your vase! I had some seed trays nearby while I was doing this project, so I had easy access to dirt and gave it a shot. I loved it. I patted on a few handfulls of dirt then went back to my paintbrush and stippling on white paint to blend the dirt in. Success! 

4. let dry

Give your vase at least 24 hours and then evaluate. Are you happy with the texture or do you want to add more? Can you see any of the black paint? You can grab some sandpaper to even out your texture or to reveal a little more of the black base coat.

Ta-Da! Easy easy transformation! Add some greenery to make a fun statement or leave it empty!