DIY:: A birdcage planter

Hello, World.  Happy Thursday.

Boy oh boy.  Life has surely been turned upside down lately.  I'm finding my way through it all but wow, has it been challenging.

Thankfully, house projects can be a wonderful distraction and I've been working on quite a few of them.

So, who here likes the use of birdcages in decor?  I've got to be honest.  I'm not a big fan.  Or shall I say, I wasn't a big fan.  Until, that is, I saw this:

Hello, Bri Emery's gorgeous dining room designed by the ever-so-talented Emily Henderson.  And hey hey hey, you sweet little bird cage/planter thingy.

Okay, so let's just forget about the adorable birdcage for a second.  Regarding Bri's dining room, I think we can all safely agree on the following: a.) That lighting fixture is ah-mazing, b.) I need that over-sized photo by Max Wanger right NOW, and c.) Her table and chairs are perfection.

All in agreement, say "Aye".

Alright, now back to business.  So for me, almost always I'm going to say no to a birdcage in the house.  A gold birdcage doubling as a planter though?  Well now you have my attention.  Emily used this lil' lovely from A+R.

It's great, right?  But kind of spendy at $150+.  Now, of course, you get what you pay for and the one from A+R is super fancy and beautiful, with a porcelain base to boot.  And the description on their website?  "A twee incarnation of a bell jar."  It's like they know me & are marketing straight to my heart!

Sadly, no matter how lovely it is, I just cannot swing $160 for a decorative gold birdcage at this juncture.  What I can do though, is make one!

Spotted: Birdcages at Michael's on sale for 50% off!

For this project, I decided to get as close as possible to the A+R birdcage, so I opted for the most plain of the bunch.  I left with this birdcage & wooden base, both pieces for less than $22.

I had this can of spray paint in the garage, left over from a different DIY project and I really like this shade of metallic gold.  You should try it.

The actual spraying took about three minutes.  Seriously.

And after a few brush strokes of on-hand glossy white paint for the base, I found myself here:

I like the design/texture of the bottom of the cage, don't you?  And although it was looking super cute at that point, I totally forgot about the screw pointing out from the very top.  I needed a finial, but again, keeping the A+R design in mind, I wanted to keep things simple.  So back to Michael's I went...  And that's where I found the perfect solution for less than $5.

Finial dowel caps.  Who woulda thunk it?  I simply spray painted one of these lil guys (which took all of 2 seconds) and popped it on top.  And then, voila!

Pretty, right?!   Now, keeping it real, I should let you know that I haven't actually glued the whole thing together yet.  Soooo, if I open the top, the dowel cap falls off and when I move it, I have to be really careful because the base isn't attached either.  I know...I know... Gluing or even using teensy nails to secure the base would take all of 5 seconds to do.  It's on my list, people.

In the mean time, she's the perfect home for one of my little green friends.  And I think she's super pretty whether she's officially "finished" or not.

This lil' gilded cage and company has moved around the house quite a bit but most often she's on the coffee table in the living room or perched on the table in the newly greened up dining room.  A gold birdcage/planter is a fun pick-me-up for any room and can be yours for less than $30.  Do it!