Rustic Pebble Table From a Five Gallon Bucket

I wanted a couple of small side tables for our deck and decided to make them out of what we had on hand, which includes five gallon buckets, recycled pallet boards and Dollar Store pebbles.

Here's a link to the first bucket table I made with a blingy top of beautiful glass gems from the Dollar Store. I like it but it seems too...fancy for our front deck.

http://makethebestofthings.blogspot.com/2017/05/five-gallon-bucket-table-diy.html

So I knew I wanted to make something a bit more rustic and farm style. 

Back to the stash of five gallon buckets I go and add more salvaged pallet boards.

 Our nail gun makes this part quick and easy.

I put five nails in each board then bent them down for safety.

Our local Dollar Store has these bags of pretty polished pebbles in stock all year long. This project took two bags since I picked thru them for flatter stones. I added larger flat stones from our gravel garden paths and used silicone to attached them to a thrift store microwave plate. I think the plate cost $1.35 and I also got a discount!

I put a blob of silicone about the size of small cookie on the plate, then smooshed the pebbles one by one into the blob, giving each of them a twist to seat them in the silicone. The silicone dries clear and looks like the pebbles are sitting in water when you are done.

I really really really like the rustic look and country charm of this version of my bucket table!

The warm wood and colorful stones are just a natural pairing and with the silicone 

they look like they are floating in water. LOVE IT!

Perfect for a nice morning cuppa before the day heats up. I am liking this little 

table more and more as I keep looking at it.

 So here's the first version of my five gallon bucket table with blingy 

Dollar Store glass gems. I like this one too!

Plus, just like the other table, this pebble table is totally weatherproof 

so it can stay out side all year if I want. And the cost? Minimal.

Here is the breakdown....

five gallon bucket on hand 

reclaimed pallet boards on hand

one tube of  silicone caulking $2.97

2 bags of Dollar Store polished pebbles $2 total

2 hours of time with our nail gun and then with a caulking gun.

The silicone sets up quickly and after an overnight wait this little table is

 ready for use anywhere outside. 

I call this a win win!

Repainted Dollar Store Butterflies

I just couldn't leave well enough alone...so I repainted these metal butterflies for my garden!

Before.......................................and after.

I found these metal butterfly stakes at the local Dollar Store and immediately made plans to repaint them for my garden.

I used two colors of spray paint to give me more of a turquoise color to complement our front deck.

Using a fine paint brush I followed the contours of the stamped metal. I added the tiny vein details to each wing then added some white dots. You can see the veins in this close up but not so much when it's outside in the yard. I also added a bit of glitter paint.

Wow! I love the pop of color against the bright green. Notice you can't really see the glitter when it's outside. But in my colorful colorful garden this blue butterfly really holds it own!

And here is the Monarch version of my Dollar Store butterflies. What a fun project this has turned out to be!