Free Trees!

I love free stuff.  I'm not gonna lie.  I use coupons, search clearance racks, and shop at thrift stores.  There is nothing like finding a bargain.  But even I was shocked to hear that Lowe's was giving away free trees a few months ago.  I mean trees?  Really?  That was a new one to me.  And all you had to do was show up - no coupons or minimum purchase requirements.  So easy.  Except  that I am running a household with four kids who all needed to be shuffled around all day.  So I didn't actually get a chance to go to Lowe's until after dinner. I thought for sure they'd be out of trees by then.  But - much to my delight - they still had some!  And the best part was that the sales guy was trying to get rid of the 100 or so he had left.  So he gave me two!  Yea!

I'm not sure what I was expecting from this giveaway.  I have never scored free trees before.  But I was handed small tree saplings in brown paper bags.  I was instructed to plant them inside - for a year - before moving them outside.  Ok.  I'll give it a try.  And this is what I did:

I quickly grabbed two planters, tossed in some soil, and put them in front of the window.  Done.  Except they didn't look great.  The pot on the left was painted by one of my kids in pre-school (I'm not even sure which kid - it's been eight years since any of them attended pre-school.  Yeah - my memory from those days is a little cloudy). The pot on the right is from an arrangement sent to me a long time ago.  And, yes, it's plastic.

Everyday, when I water these guys, I think I should really make this whole space look a little nicer.  But, I just haven't gotten around to it.  Until now.  I found a copper pot at the Salvation Army Thrift Store:

It was marked $1.49 - but I got it half price.  I think it's totally worth 75 cents!  The shape is so similar to the little blue plastic pot I already had. So, outside they went:

I used one of my favorite colors - Rustoleum Oil Rubbed Bronze -

And now I have two cute planters for my little trees -

That's a pretty nice improvement - and the whole project cost 75 cents (I already had leftover paint from this project).  I think they look great together.  I just have to keep those trees alive until spring...