Outdoor Centerpiece That Wont Blow Away Or Need To Be Watered

The Weather has been so nice here in Michigan and I’ve been ticking off all the outdoor things on my to-do-list this week.  One of the areas that needed a little attention was our fire pit area. It’s on the back side of the house where no one ever sees it, so it’s easy to let it get looking a little shabby.

Hubby uses that area for target practice, putting together projects, cutting wood, and other projects.  The ugly folding party table somehow has made its home on the patio. And by ugly I mean it’s covered with paint in several different colors. Theres dried on glue, and the legs are starting to rust. It’s not pretty in any way but it is functional for what hubby uses it for.

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Last year I gave the table top a coat of chalk paint just to make it look a little better but over the winter it started to chip and peel. So this year I decided to buy a cheap $3 plastic tablecloth and carpet tape it to the table. I told myself one of those plastic tablecloths would never be something used in decorating but here I am using one. 

I was at Walmart so I had go with what they had. It was either something in a color scheme that doesn’t fit the cabin or this plain grayish tan one. So of course the grayish tan one was the winner. When I got it home I was surprised it was a perfect match to the color I’d painted the basement walls a few years back.  

I wish the tablecloth would have been a tad bit longer but it was the only one they had and I wasn’t about to stop at another store just to look for one, so this one will have to do.  After I added the tablecloth I though the table looked pretty plain and needed a little something as a centerpiece. Something that hubby could move when he needed to use the table and something that didn’t require any maintenance over the summer.

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So I started thinking what did I have that wouldn’t blow away (because it’s always extremely windy at our house) and something that wouldn’t need to be watered, and something I didn’t have to buy.

All I could think of that would be heavy a was rocks, something that wouldn’t hold water would be a wicker basket, and something that didn’t need to be watered would be a faux plant. So those are the things I started looking for in my decor stock. The wicker basket was a garage sale find last year and I paid 50¢, the rocks came from our rock pile on the property (when you live in the country every farmer has rock pile), and the faux plant I’ve had for years and I believe it came from Hobby Lobby.

Out to the rock pile I went carrying my wicker basket. I picked through the pile and filled the basket with what I needed and then went back to the table to put it all together. And when I say put it all together I mean plop the plant in the basket and toss the rocks in around it. Cheap, easy, and it works.

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It won’t blow away, I won’t have to water it, and I had everything I need to put it together. Now I agree a beautiful potted plant or flowers would be ideal but I know they would be neglected as the summer went on so this is what I’m going with and I have found I always like the outcome when I use what I have and make things work.

Of course I could spend a bunch of money and make something I like equally as well but I get satisfaction out of creating with what I have, and nature never fails when it comes to supplying beautiful things.