A friend reached out to my husband the other day asking if I’d like to have a watering can that she was getting rid of.

Most of you know that I have a thing for watering cans, and I have quite a few in my non-collection (so called because I’m in denial that I collect things).

But I usually stick to vintage watering cans, and Cecelia was discarding a new watering can.

Still, she was giving it away, and Mr. Q was happy to go pick it up from her.  We hadn’t seen Cecelia in quite some time.  So I said yes.

Cecelia had purchased this can planning to actually use it for its intended purpose, but in the end it wasn’t really very functional.  The water sort of trickled out and dripped all over.  I know how she feels, I purchased a new (and rather expensive) watering can myself last year intending to use it for fertilizing my flower pots with a water soluble fertilizer and it also doesn’t really work very well.

I know, I know, you are now wondering why in the world I would purchase a new watering can rather than using one of my many vintage ones.  Well, that’s because most of those don’t actually hold water anymore.  The bottoms have rusted out, or the seams have deteriorated.

That being said, I did find one at a garage sale last year that works beautifully.

In fact, I considered it my find of the day back then because it’s perfect for my fertilizing needs.

So now the expensive new one is gathering dust in my workshop.

But I digress, back to Cecelia’s watering can.

As you can see in the ‘before’ photo, the finish was pretty slick and shiny.  So rather than attempting to paint it with my usual Dixie Belle paint, I decided to spray paint it.  Spray paint will do the best job of sticking to a surface like this one.  Plus, I happened to have a can of the Rust-Oleum Chalked paint in Serenity Blue on hand.  I have to admit, if I’d had to purchase the paint I probably would have come up with another option.  Have you seen the prices on the Chalked spray paint these days?  The cheapest I’ve found is $10.39/can at Target, but most places are charging nearly $12 per can.  And one can doesn’t go that far.

Once the paint was dry, I added one of my favorite Classic Vintage Labels transfers from re.design with prima.

I did a little light sanding on the edges to add some slight distressing, and then finished it all off with a coat of clear wax.

Next I filled it up with some of my earliest peonies.

I took these photos last Saturday morning, and as of then only my old-fashioned pink peonies were open.  These are peonies that came with the house, so I have no idea what variety they are.  Plus, they are at least 34 years old, and likely much, much older than that.

As seems to be the case nearly every year, the opening of the peonies coincided with a hot spell, which speeds up the peonies.  By Monday morning I had flowers open on almost all of my peony plants.  I’ll be sure and post a peony update sometime later in the week.

But for now, how do you like this quick and simple watering can makeover?  It may not work well for actually watering things, but it makes a great vase for peonies!