bucket | This Old Colonial Home

I don’t know about you, but I love a good galvanized bucket. Whether it’s new or old, rustic or freshly painted — they can serve so many purposes. You may recall that I blogged about a rusty bucket that I turned into a planter last Fall.Before I really knew what I wanted to do with it, I had turned to Hometalk for opinions. So many great ideas were tossed around — like filling it up with rolled towels for the bathroom, or holding wood by the fireplace, or even serving as an umbrella stand. So when Hometalk recently approached me about curating a board on upcycled buckets, I knew I couldn’t say no. I mean look at all the possibilities!There’s everything from a centerpiece, to lamps, to an Advent calendar, to even a bathroom sink!

Turning them into planters tends to be the most common. But I love how Jeanette from Snazzy Little Things took it one step further and used small buckets filled with succulents as wedding favors. What a great idea!Marie, who can often be found at Flea Market Gardening, took gardening with buckets to a whole new level. She crafted this tipsy solar fountain! How cool is that?!Buckets are also a fun way to keep things organized. Melody over at My Passion for Decor cleverly created a caddy for kids’ crafts. (Say that 3 times fast!)If I was forced to choose a favorite (which is really hard), I think it might just have to be this creation from Laura at Finding Home. Who would even think to create a Christmas “tree” using different sized buckets?! I love that!For more inspiration and to see the rest of these fantastic ideas, head over to my Hometalk board.

What have you created using buckets?

A few weeks ago I snagged a rusty, metal bucket at a garage sale. (Where else?) It has this cool German and English writing on the side.I don’t know its history, but I loved it too much to pass it up, so I bought it even though I didn’t know what to do with it. (Story of my life.) I took to Hometalk to get some ideas. A few dozen people offered up some great suggestions. Danke schon!

My original thought was to turn it into a planter, and I decided to stick with that. It would be a great addition to my fall décor! So this weekend I finally tackled the project.

I started by giving the bucket a good cleaning – using the hose and bar keepers friend. Jamie then drilled some holes in the bottom for drainage.The bucket is kind of deep and I didn’t want to use a lot of potting soil (I had a limited supply), so I put some milk jugs in the bottom.Gardening is not really my thing, but since I don’t know what this container used to hold, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to use a plastic bag as a liner. I cut holes in the bottom of that too and then put the soil in it.Once I had enough soil in place, I inserted potted mums that I had bought and then filled in more soil around it.Afterwards I cut off the remainder of the bag that was visible. And that’s it! This was such a quick and easy project! That’s so rare. I just hope it works out for the flowers!

So — for now at least — we have this fun, new piece on our front steps among a few other mums and pumpkins. What do you think?What would you have done with this rusty piece?