Rusty File Cabinet Cactus Planter

Hello Everyone!  I’m back from a blogging hiatus with a fun, colorful project to share.  If you follow us on Instagram, you’ve already seen a sneak peak of this project.  If not, well, I can’t wait to show you our Rusty File Cabinet Cactus Planter.

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I’ve been obsessed with admiring rusty metal in recent months.  I’ve seen numerous planters, sculptures, etc. at local restaurants and public places that have me swooning.  A little research led me to COR-TEN steel, which is a type of steel that rusts on the outer layers, but keeps its inner strength.  You’ve probably seen this material around:

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Did I also mention that Cor-ten is also out of my pre-construction/non-existent budget?

So, per usual, I was sitting on the couch trying to figure out how to get the COR-TEN look for less and come across a filing cabinet on Craigslist for cheap.  We drive two blocks to pick it up.  The man and his wife who sold it to us were in the process of selling all of their belongings in order to travel the country in their R.V.  It has been a dream of theirs since they were newlyweds.  How fun is that?

Anyway, we brought the beast home.

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Ugly Heater Upcycled Into Fiery Succulent Planter

EditedHeaterSucculentHeader How did we get the hair-brained idea to upcycle our ugly wall heater into a fiery succulent planter?  When Aaron and I bought our house, we inherited a few things of note- One of which was a gas wall heater.  We tried several times to turn it on, but each time it set off the fire and carbon monoxide alarms.  We said to each other, “Um… I think we’ll take our chances with freezing instead of using the wall heater.”  Well, Winter came quickly and we froze managed…for one day.  Then we got smart/desperate and installed Central Air Conditioning and Heat.  Woo-Hoo! We tried to sell the gas heaters on Craigslist, but we could not even give them away. On one of my work trips, I suddenly felt convicted to either purge stuff laying around, use it or sell/give it away.  I decided to give the Heater Planter a go.  I couldn’t find any remotely related tutorials, so I made it up as I went. Continue reading