Cheap Modern Planters: A Simple DIY

We wanted to add some plants to our mid-century ranch so I went on a hunt for some cheap modern planters. That's when I found out that cheap modern planters don't really exist. There are modern planters and there are cheap planters, but there aren't many good-looking, inexpensive planters. Sure, Target has the Room Essential planters, but we wanted something that wasn't plastic. 

That's when we decided to get crafty. First, we found some terracotta pots that had a shape we liked. We went with these simple circle pots from West Elm.

We didn't like the marbleized look, so we grabbed a can of white spray paint.

And we ended up with something that looks a lot like a case study ceramic cylinder planter (without the wood stand).

It's high class at a low cost (less than $20 per planter). Here's what our collection of inexpensive modern planters looks like.

And you could do make the same modern-looking planters with any terracotta pot. Just pick one with a simple, modern shape like a square

Or this wavy look

Or a straight long tom planter

And grab a can of white spray paint. The end result is a cheap modern planter that looks like you paid a pretty penny for it.

Random Mid-Century Pictures from ATX

I've amassed another collection of photos that are interesting enough to share, but not cohesive enough to build a full post around. So here are some pretty pictures to look at.

A red vintage screen door with a mid-century door behind it.

Another wooden mid-century front door. I've said it before and I'll say it here because these two doors make good examples, authentic mid-century exterior doors have bigger windows than their modern counterparts.

And a red mid-century modern front door, although this one does have pretty big windows.

Some modern landscaping with gray stones and cement slabs. I love the clean lines this creates.

An old apartment building in my neighborhood with a collection of mid-century globe lights.

The same complex had these large modern rusted-metal planters.

They're a great look, but probably a little big for most mid-century homes.

My mom recently picked up this vintage metal tea holder.

And this red and white Belgium apothecary jar.

And finally, I came across this bench that had the wood replaced with old corrugated metal. It made for interesting look and the fresh blue paint is a nice contrast.

Done: Put in Sprinkler System

Part of redoing the entire backyard was making sure our atomic ranch had authentic mid-century landscaping with GRACE and the other, more practical, part is making sure that everything we do stays alive and looking good.

So before we lay down the new grass we put in a sprinkler system. Grass does pretty well in our yard because there's a good amount of shade, but this is Austin so you have to be sure every inch gets water in the summer or spots will die. So this sprinkler system ensures that.

And because there's always one problem on a big job like totally redoing a backyard, so we predictively ran into a bit of an issue. There was an old plumbing permit still active on the house and we had to get that permit inspected and closed before the city would inspect and approve the sprinkler system. That meant tracking down a plumber who worked on the house sometime in the '90s (when the old permit was from) or hiring a new plumber to look over the work, fix anything that might be wrong, open a new permit and then get both permits closed. Luckily, I was able to track down the original plumber and he was nice enough to come out with the city inspector and get the work signed off on and get the permit closed.

All in all, it only cost me a few hours on the phone, but it set the project back about a week – waiting a few days for the inspector to come out, waiting a day for the old permit to clear so the landscapers could their permit, waiting for the second city inspector to come out and approve the sprinkler system.

In the end, it could have been worse, and I suppose it was kind of a good thing. I know for sure that there are no more open/pending permits on the house and I know that the plumbing of the house still passes inspection.

Done: Remove Tree Stump

What once was a giant tree stump became a medium-sized divot in the ground, with flags in it so no one twisted an ankle. That divot was then filled with dirt so grass could soon grow.

Besides grinding down the stump, the crew cleared out the area behind and to the side of the carport, and then put down a weed barrier and river stones. This area was just a mess of mud, random weeds and accidental scrubs (aka weeds that grew to the size of bushes years ago).

Done: Remove Wood Walkway, Ground Lights and Stones

Once the professionals get involved, things really get moving. In a day, the old boardwalk has been completely torn up.

The ground lights that once spotted the yard and all the electrical have been removed.

And the stone that filled the yard has been hauled off. The two remaining plants will be transplanted to a different area so this section can become all grass.

They also smoothed out the bumps in the terrain and graded it for proper drainage. It's a bit odd that a dirt lot looks better than the old yard, but even in this condition, the yard is already improved.

Done: Remove Fence Around Hot Tub

This is what our backyard looked like when we moved in. 

Then the nandina on the left grew like the bamboo that it is, weeds started coming up through the stone, the hot tub in the back broke and the boardwalk started to show it's age. Plus, we wanted a place that our kid could run and play, and a boardwalk, hot tub and stones didn't really fit the bill. So we decided our next big project would be to totally redo the backyard. 

In the first weekend of work, I got this done.

The second weekend, the rest of the fence sections came down and I started to remove the boardwalk. 

That's when I realized that there were about 20 screws per board in the boardwalk and no easy way to pull out chunks at a time. Plus, we still had to figure out what to do with the hot tub. That's where craigslist came in.

I put up an ad for a free broken hot tub and four frat boys and a pickup truck showed up the next day and took it away. I'm sure it's living in the basement of some nearby frat house now. Next I put up an ad for free wood to whoever would remove it themselves. The next day, a guy, a dog and a pickup truck showed up and removed about 75% of it.

Then we called the professionals. We got a few bids and picked the company that best understood the aesthetic we were going for. Their crew was able to do this in a day.

I can't wait to see what they get done in the next week.

Mid-Century Landscaping Resources

I mentioned what plants I plan to use when we re-do the landscaping for our mid-century ranch, but I forgot to mention the outstanding resources I used to find them.

If you're in Austin, the city has a great Grow Green site that will help you pick plants that use less water and chemicals. And no matter where you live, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center has a recommended species page that can help you find native species for your state.

They're pretty great tools for finding native and adaptive plants for your next GRACEful and authentic mid-century landscaping project.

Mid-Century Flower Beds

Being accepted to the City of Austin Lawn Remodel program got me thinking about the yard again, specifically our flower beds. I want to make sure they have GRACE as well. We have three beds in front of our mid-century ranch home: front, back and side.

Because of the record-breaking heat we've had in Austin this summer, everything in the front bed is dead, most things in the back bed (except the giant tree) are dead and the palm in the side bed is on its last legs. We'll do our best to save the palm, but its too big for that space so we're planning on moving it either way.

Here's what I'm thinking:
In the front flower bed, an entire bed of clover, either Slender Yellow Wood Sorrel (native)

Or White Dutch Clover (adaptive)

In the back flower bed, Blackfoot Daisies (native) to go with the white of the house.

In the side flower bed, something shorter than the palm so we don't cover up the porch and something that adds a bit of texture, either Basket Grass (native)

Or River Fern (native)

I also plan on redoing the woodwork and the sprinkler system (the pipes you see in the photo above), but one thing at a time.

City of Austin Landscape Conversion Incentive

Today's post is more of a public service announcement: Know what's going on in your city, and know what incentives your city is offering.

For example, we just got accepted to the city of Austin's Landscape Conversion Incentive: Lawn Remodel Option. Long government web page short, when we replace our dead grass, the city of Austin will help supplement the cost if we replace it with drought-sensitive or Texas-native grass, which goes along perfectly with landscaping with GRACE.

Authentic Mid-Century Landscaping with GRACE

I've been piecing together how I want the front of our house to look. I searched through authentic mid-century exterior paint colors, and finally picked a gray and blue. I ordered our Westhaven Crestview Door and it's waiting with some other materials that I hope to get installed soon. I've picked out a mid-century mailbox, a mid-century door knob and I'm deciding on our mid-century address numbers.

The last piece of the puzzle before I start putting everything into action is figuring out what the planters and plants will look like. So I went in search of some authentic mid-century landscaping. There are limited, but great, resources: Mainly, Eichler for Sale's post on Eichler-style landscaping and Mid2Mod's post on landscaping for mid-century homes.

With those mid-century landscaping resources in hand, I want adapt things so that they'll work for my mid-century house in Austin. And that means a few things:

1. No water hogs - I'm in Austin and you need to be conscious about your plant selections or you're going to run up your water bill trying to keep plants alive that will probably die on the first hot summer day.
2. Not much maintenance - I'm just not a yard guy (especially on those 100 degree days).
3. Look good with my ranch house - Colors, height and style of plants will all matter when I'm making my choices.

So I came up with a little acronym that will help me remember the tenants of mid-century landscaping while I'm walking through the nursery: GRACE

Geometry - Plants should work with the geometry of the house. Hardscapes should be clean, straight and geometrical.
Repeat - Repetition of both plants and hardscapes.
Adaptive - Native, adaptive and water-wise plants that will stay evergreen throughout the year.
Carry - Be sure to carry hardscapes, plants and designs from the front yard into the back yard.
Everything - Have a mixture of materials, textures and colors.

Maybe it will help you remember to key pieces of authentic mid-century landscaping as well.

Curb Appeal for a Mid-Century Ranch Home

Retro-Luxe recently used Curb Appeal Concepts, and after digging around their site for some curb appeal tips for my mid-century home, I came across this wonderful quote:

Ranch homes were specifically designed without adornment. Their color schemes should reflect the more subdued colors found to blend in with natural surroundings. Usually only one trim and one body color are warranted, with perhaps a third color used sparingly, if at all. The front door steps back demurely from the view of the street. The end result should be a palette of ecologically inspired, low-key hues.

Drama, interest and individuality are expressed in artful, well-tended landscaping. The elongated house is but a quiet backdrop. Nature and people are the main characters in a predominantly Ranch neighborhood, not the houses themselves.

It's just as wonderful a concept now as it was then.

I think that's the perfect way to express the concept of a mid-century ranch home. And it falls exactly in line with what I found for authentic mid-century ranch exterior colors. Sadly, it's what Curb Appeal Concepts has to tell clients who own mid-century ranch-style homes who don't want to live in mid-century ranch homes (who are these people?).

Lucky for us, it falls in with our exact idea of how we're going to paint our house. We picked final colors this weekend. Now that the hard work, of picking colors, is over we need to get to the actual work, of painting.

The Best Backyard Plans

We were finally getting to a point where we knew what we wanted to do with the backyard. We had picked a mid-century walkway design, we had a pretty good idea where the plants were going and I had a rough idea of what the new light covers were going to look like.

Then we had the hot tub repair man out for an annual cleaning. The hot tub has always been one of those "nice to have, but we would have never put it in" things. The previous owners put it in, and up to this point it hasn't been any trouble. But after many years and a winter of sitting the tub needs some work. Too much work.

So now all of our backyard plans are out the window. We'll take out the hot tub, which means we no longer need a walkway to the hot tub, or ground lights to light the way. We'll probably also rethink the plant layout once the tub is gone. In the end, it will probably be best because it will give us a lot more grass/open area for the little one to play in.

When you own a mid-century home, sometimes it's best not to make plans too far in advance.

Mid-Century Landscaping

I'm not in love with everything they did to this house, but as someone who has big plans for his backyard, I like to see mid-century landscaping ideas.

Mid-Century Walkway

Added to our to-do list recently was to take out the current wood walkway and put in a new one. The current walkway is nice(Sweet animal statues moved with the previous owners.) But with a little one running around now - or more accurately in a few months, we'd like some more green space.

So we're going to lose the walkway from the back patio area to the hot tub (the one coming towards you in the photo) and have a single walkway from the carport. We're also going to get rid of a good bit of the stone, only keeping the section against the fence where the plants are, and change the covers on the ground lights (the things that look like upside down pots... because they are upside down pots).

Thinking is cement block form, I drew up some possibilities

Then I went online to find pics of what things might look like

I still can't decide, but I think we're got some good options to work with, once we actually start the work.

Last image thanks to Retro Renovation.