Tiered House Number Planter DIY

So last fall I found all of these terracotta pots on sale- since they were really reduced (and my mind was already thinking spring) I bought them, just knowing I was going to do something fun! Well, I had this idea in my head about a tiered planter with our house number on it... and I really wanted it, but knew that I'd have to wait 6+ months here in Lovely Ohio to do it. I am not that patient.

I made a Halloween Tiered planter, which you can see HERE. It was cute, but definitely not what I was envisioning for these pots. You can read the how-to here.

The Halloween planter I did in October

I packed it all away and waited... and waited so patiently for spring. I felt like it would never come... but alas, warm weather rolled in and I got to work on the first day it was 49 degrees out. Yes, that is warm after an Ohio winter. Forgive me, I just moved here from Georgia. =)

I cruised through Lowes to gather my supplies- I already had the pots (diameters 14.5, 12 and 8.25) so I needed paint, brushes (which I had), dirt, plants and soda cans.

The blank (ugly) pots

For the paint I originally was thinking yellow and red- bold, bright colors. When I got to Lowes I found the little sample Valspar paints reduced to only $1- I found yellow and a bright PINK color- oh, my husband is going to kill me. I loved the look and decided he'd be happier with the savings, anyway. I picked out my plants (the most fun part, I think) and loaded up the car.

Painting the first coat

After wiping off my old planters I put them up on rolls of tape and upside down bowls so that I could get to the bottoms without them drying and sticking to the paper I laid out (a problem I had last time). I applied the first coat of paint, saw that it wouldn't be enough to cover my original dark colors, and painted a few more. When I was satisfied that they were covered nicely I let them dry and brought them to my porch.

The painted pots

From there I filled the bottom two pots about half way full of empty soda cans- none of my plants needed that much dirt- the cans will help drainage as well as the weight if I decided to move these later on. My last planter I used bricks in the bottom- let me tell you- those suckers didn't move anywhere! After putting the cans in I began to pour in the dirt...

Stacking and filling

This is trial and error in that you want enough dirt to hold up the next pot and be packed in enough to support the weight, but you don't want too much for when you start planting later. I decided it was easiest to just put it all in and then take it out as I added the plants later. When stacking the pots I knew no-one would really see the back of mine so I stacked them all in the back of the bottom pot so I had more planting room in the front. Once you have them all stacked and filled with dirt you can start to finally plant! Start from the top down so that you aren't flinging dirt into your plants below. Trick- after your first plant is potted use the plastic pot that plant came in to put your extra dirt in. 

Planting in Progress! It is messy!

I had my 2 year old help- which means this project was even messier than I had intended. I heard myself saying (over and over and over) no, don't dig THERE, ugh. The planting takes a bit of planning and moving things around. I found that I put my tall plants on top along with some "trailers"- I wanted some that would creep down and really fill in through the season and also some that would stand tall above that. I went with a yellow, purple and white assortment... but it was really hard to narrow it down- I fell in love with all of the flowers at the store. I seriously love spring! 

Add your house number!

Next you add your personalization and that extra OOMPH I felt I needed at the end of the project- your house number. On the site the decal HERE I picked gives you the option of both a house number or your family name "The ______ Family" where you can fill that in. I considered doing the family with "The" on the top pot, "Vargo" on the second and "Family" on the bottom one, but I thought for this purpose the simple number would be better. I want my plants to be the main focus on this one... maybe next year! 

The Finished Product!

I couldn't be more thrilled with how it turned out!! I've had neighbors come and ring my bell asking how to make this- so I knew I had to do a blog about it.

What would I change next time? I think I would go with my red color I was thinking and maybe even a light blue. I will try the Family part of the decal (which I saved) and I will go with a little less plants. I didn't want it to look empty, but now I'm thinking there is going to be some overcrowding in a few months when these suckers grow. I might have to get rid of a few, time will tell. What do you think?

-Samantha