Dude, Where's My House?

 

We had one of those solar powered house number things out front for the longest time to identify our domicile. Then one day the numbers started walking away. Pretty soon, we had none, and the Chinese food delivery guy kept driving right past us. I started looking into permanent numbers, but again I wanted something unique and personal. Unique and personal is not cheap.

While haunting the garden department at Kmart, I found the perfect solution: two plastic garden urns on clearance for $3 each.

You'll also need:

Contact paper

A computer and printer

Spray paint in your choice of colors

If your urns are plastic, use plastic primer. I'm majorly unimpressed with plastic paints

A sheet of glass

A flashlight

Scissors

Painters tape

First, determine the size of your urn. Mine are 14". The colors I wanted to use were a no-brainer, Apple Green and Spa Blue, get used to it. You'll want a color that contrasts sharply with the color of the pots, since the color of the pots will be the color of your house numbers. Then I went to the computer, decided what I wanted my urns to say, chose a font size and printed it out. Make it chunky; it'll be easier to work with.

Trace your printed numbers and words onto the contact paper. I cut out the numbers from the paper at first, then came up with the brilliant plan of putting a sheet of glass on my lap, laying the contact paper on top of the printer paper, and shining a flashlight up through the whole thing. Tracing was easy, but remember, glass is sharp and blood-red stripes might not be the best decorating idea for this project.

Next, cut out the letters and numbers from the contact paper. Decide how you want them positioned on the urns and mark lightly with a pencil. Peel off the back and carefully position them. Smooth them down completely flat and double smooth the edges.

If you're using plastic pots, prime them according to the directions.

I used two colors, so at this point I applied my first color, the green, and let that dry. Then I taped the green and painted the urns blue; as always, I used three light coats for each application, allowing it to dry in between.


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Using a butter knife, I carefully pried up the contact paper and peeled it off. Let this dry overnight, and the next day create your front porch statement!

The Budget News:

2 Urns $6

Plastic Primer $4.50

2 Cans of spray paint $7

Contact paper $3

Totally Cool Receipt: $20.50.