From Cows to Flowers

So with ranching and raising cattle, one of the ways we keep our cattle looking and feeling good is to supplement their diet with mineral and protein.  This is especially important when they are grazing pastures that may vary in grass content.  Even though our pastures are in pretty good shape we still like to supplement our cows because it's shown to help with fertility rates, as well as maintaining good body condition. With all of that said, we have lots of tubs laying around that the mineral and protein licks come in.

They look like this:

They're pretty boring, right?  Well, hubby and I had debated on what to do with all of these guys.  We thought about just chucking them in the trash, but that seemed like such a waste.  We do reuse the tubs that aren't cracked for water tubs in temporary pens.  But what should we do with the tubs that do have cracks.?

Well, here was my solution:

It was really easy and actually kind of fun.  I'm used to playing with acrylic paints, so when I got to whip out the spray paint, I got kind of excited!

Here's how I did it:

First, I washed and scrubbed the tubs.  They were surprisingly clean, so this took no time at all.

Second, I spray painted the tubs a dark brown.  I did this since the tubs were originally bright red and I didn't want it to show through when I used the silver.  I used one coat of Rust-Oleum Painter's Touch in Satin Espresso.

Next, I sprayed it with Rust-Oleum's Universal Hammered Paint in Silver.  This only took one coat as well.

Last, I took a star stencil and used Rust-Oleum Painter's Touch in Gloss Seaside.

I really enjoyed this quick and easy project.  It brought such a great touch to our landscaping.  I plan on painting a few more using the hammered paint in Copper as well.  I think these will be great in the backyard to store Sheridan's toys as well as a great place to coil up hoses.  Now I just have to wait on my mums to bloom!