Pink Painted Vases

I'm not sure where today went but if you read my post yesterday, you may have wondered what I was doing with cheap artificial flowers. Personally, I think they are fabulous being low-maintenance and all.

Say hello to my "Smycka" flowers, purchased from IKEA for the princely sum of 99 cents each. They are available in a variety of colours and the height can be easily resized. Cut with scissors and then bend wire to snap off.

To accommodate them, I've painted more vases. This time, I chose the colour and didn't settle for the small selection available on the shelves. I chose a White Knight semi-gloss enamel and had it tinted to Taubman's "Cotton Candy" formula.

The junior at Bunnings paint counter tried to tell me that enamel paint couldn't be tinted but having done my research, I insisted that it could. So yes, you can definitely do so.

I almost think that I should have chosen a deeper pink but it's so hard to prejudge how the glass will look. It is highly reflective so perhaps choose a darker tint than you would like. On the other hand, the paler colour does make the bright floral colours pop which is the look that I wanted.

The various vessels were sourced from Op Shops and I paid no more than $3.50 for each. I think that one was a beer glass.

These two recessed shelves in our living room were originally open windows with a view through to our hall. All you could really see was a bright light on the other side. Totally useless as shelves too as there was always the fear of falling objects. So last Christmas, I asked the painters to cut a gyprock wall backing which was then plastered and painted. I have since painted the surrounding walls the light blue.

To colour your own glass vases or bottles, there is an excellent tutorial here.