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Pottery Barn Look for Less Ceramic Vase

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It is no surprise to know that I absolutely love recreating high end decor for my home whether it is for the holidays or for everyday decor. As a matter of fact, I don’t remember the last time I just purchased something for my home that did not require a bit of DIYing (unless it was a perfect thrifted piece that just required cleaning).

Rarely do I ever go into a store and just buy something new at the given price and call it a day. It’s just not my thing.

So as you would guess, I try to hit thrift stores as often as I am able and see what treasures I can find. Recently, I went out and I came across the vase below. It was originally $7.99, but orange was half off the day I purchased it.

I wasn’t fond of the colors, but I did like the size and shape.

For a video tutorial and a chance to see even more DIYs you can watch the video at the end of the blog post.

I recently came across the Emilia Ceramic Collection at Pottery Barn and I just loved how the pieces looked so I thought I would try and recreate that look with products I already had on hand.

Before I started I gave it a good clean with a half water half rubbing alcohol mixture I keep on hand. I like to keep it in a spray bottle.

Then I began to add wooden half rounds. I had both large and smaller ones, but I ultimately went with the larger ones for this piece. I attached them with gorilla hot glue.

Then once they were attached, I took the vase outside and spray painted the entire piece with primer.

Then it was time to paint. You may notice that the wood half rounds are closer in the image below. That was because after I had primed the piece, it was still looking “off” to me. I couldn’t put my finger on it until I referenced the originals again and realized the wood half rounds were a lot closer together so I added one more in between the original ones.

For the paint, I took some DIY paint in the color Sandy Blonde and added Plaster of Paris to it to make it thicker. I added on quite a bit throughout, keeping the finish rather rough to give the piece texture. I used my hair dryer on low in order to dry it fast and build up the texture with more paint.

Next, I watered down antiquing wax and applied it all over with a damp paper towel and then a brush. It did get rather messy and there were several drip marks, but I find that the imperfect nature of the wax helped give it an aged look.

After that layer of paint/wax dried, it was time for some white wax. I added it throughout all of the nooks and crannies with a smaller brush.

I used a larger brush and ran the wax along all of the raised areas of the vase, this way those raised parts could really be highlighted. You want to do light strokes around the surface for this, no dabbing.

I waited at least 24 hours for the piece to cure and put in on my front entrance credenza alongside the vase I made over this past holiday season. I added some florals that I had on hand and I think it turned out perfect for Spring and Summer.