Plain glass vases seem to accumulate at our house, probably because they are such a great deal at the Dollar Tree and thrift shops. They can be pretty on their own with gorgeous flowers, but there is a limit to how many I need around.
In the reader survey, many of you were looking for inexpensive home decor ideas, so I decided to round up a bunch of vases and give them stylish makeovers.
For the short Dollar Tree vase makeover, I wanted to try out etching cream. I’ve had some in the craft room for years, but hadn’t been brave enough to test it.
I cut a stencil on my Cricut, but you could use stickers or pre-made stencils for the same effect.
I globbed the etching cream onto the vase and 20 minutes later washed it off according to the package directions.
It worked even better than I had hoped. Now I have an awesome monogrammed vase for my desk that looks like it cost a lot more than $1.
Next up, I wanted to create something fun and geometric. I grabbed some washi tape and started masking off sections in triangles and quadrangles.
I also ran some tape around the inside lip so I wouldn’t accidentally paint the inside. For extra protection, I stuffed in some paper towels.
When I was done taping, I gave the vase a few light coats of gold spray paint.
After letting the paint dry for several minutes, I carefully pulled away all the tape and was left with a super chic modern vase!
It looks great with branches cut off our peach tree. But let me tell you, April is apparently when the bees fertilize the peach tree. They were EVERYWHERE. I kinda felt like I was risking my life for these branches. Once I got back inside unharmed, I decided the beautiful end result was worth the risk!
For my last glass vase makeover, I wanted to give one of the vases more of a pottery look.
This one ended up being my favorite and it was also the easiest! I started with a couple of light coats of spray paint on the top 2/3 of the vase. I used a side to side motion so the paint would end around the same spot all the way around. It doesn’t have to be perfect though.
While the blue was still wet, I added gold to the bottom. The best technique I found was to start spraying before the bottom of the vase, then sweep up, stopping once a little blue was covered. I repeated the bottom to top motion all the way around.
I wanted the intersection of colors to be very natural and uneven. The plan worked perfectly. I don’t think anyone would guess that this was a clear dollar store vase!
Bonus Tip: Rust-oleum now makes a mirror finish spray paint! You can see in on my nightstand below. Instead of using the large mirror vase for flowers, I use it to hide an ugly kleenex box!
If you want to try out any of these techniques later, you can pin the image below as a reminder.
Leona says
I love the monogram vase! Would be fun to make an entire set of drinking glasses like that too. I will try Finish to clean up cloudy looking glasses and clear bowls. Thanks for your bl0g.
Melissa George says
Yes – an entire set of glasses like this would make a great gift!
David Fultner says
I have problems with oatmeal drying on bowls. I also was in a twitter party for Finish two days ago and it got great reviews.
Mary says
Lovely! I really like the gold patterned one, and it looks like a project I could manage!
My worst problem in the kitchen is getting my drinking glasses sparkling clean, rather than clean and spotty!
Melissa George says
Thank you – You can definitely manage it!
Christine GW says
I have old (24 years old) white (used to be white anyway) dishes that could use a good cleaning!
heather fox says
great ideas
Dana Truitt says
My curios cabinet and hutch are full of crystal glasses and dishes that are gorgeous and all need a wash and I know this will make that crystal shine!! I’m excited to see the results!!
Seida Hood says
I love all three creations! They’re so easy to complete, but look so nice. You would probably pay at least $25 for the gold triangle vase at a regular store. Great DIY!
Melissa George says
Thank you do much Seida! It’s so fun to incorporate trendy pieces to our home on the cheap!
David @ Spiced says
Wow! All of these vases turned out amazing. But if I had to pick, I think I would go with the gold one with the angles all over it. We are just about to (finally) have some spring flowers, and these vases would be the perfect way to display them. #client
Michelle Conn says
These all turned out great! Can’t wait to try it out on the dozens of random vases I have acquired over the years.
Melissa George says
I had a hunch I wasn’t alone with this big vase collection 🙂
rita leonard says
My silverware always seems to have spots. Would be nice to get them out of the wash without any spots.
Lisa Coomer Quee says
I have a set of monogrammed glasses that I would like to try the cleaner on.
Michelle James says
These are gorgeous but my fave is the etched monogram.
Jeffrey says
I have some dishes that have to be handwashed. Manufactured in Occupied Japan. Excited to use Finish because I have always had great results with this product in the past.
Ashleigh Hall says
I am so excited to see how awesome the etching cream worked!! I have a plain set of glasses that I would love to clean and use this on!
Brandi Lang says
I really love the monogrammed vase – very classy!
Eloquence says
I too love to pick up vases from the dollar store — they could certainly use a nice cleaning to get sparkly!
Harmony Burmeister says
All dishes I use for pasta dishes could use a good cleaning
tina olsen says
I have been into gold everything, so I think I want to try the gold base with geometric shapes!! Looks fantastic!
Julie @ Life of Bliss says
Love all these makeovers! So cute!
Emily says
So cute! These would make such great gifts too! (BTW are the hydrangea from your garden as well? Beautiful!)
Melissa George says
I wish I could claim the hydrangea as my own. But my blogger secret is that I couldn’t even find a stemmed hydrangea to buy so I actually bought a small potted one and pulled it out of the dirt! A bloggers gotta do what a bloggers gotta do to get the photo in their head onto the screen.