Hello Peoples! How are you guys doing? It’s Monday, and I have a really cool project to share with you plus another awesome giveaway – you can thank my pals at Ace for that! It’s finally starting to be porch season, the weather is coming around a bit, and things are starting to feel ah-very nice (ala Borat). We’ve been hanging in our porch whenever we’re not doing the million other things that we’re always doing.

I always get antsy for a project after getting back into porch life. I just can’t sit in there and relax, I look around the space trying to figure out ways to tweak it and make it better. This spring I’d been looking for a few ways to add another layer of awesomeness to it, and this months project from Ace was the perfect excuse to go for it. I got inspired by a new color palette which is a mash up of OPI nail colors in latex paint format. How did this happen you ask? Well, Clark+Kensington have been teaming up with OPI at the paint studio for the past few years bringing some of OPI‘s most iconic nail colors to DIY projects everywhere. I picked the Creative Genius palette for obvious reasons. Honestly though, I was smitten by how it was heavy on the green side. Although I love the blue, green is my fav color. Plus the color “Bubble Bath” might be my new favorite shade of pink. I was happy to focus a project around this perfectly porch-suited (and summery) color palette.

I knew that the porch was lacking in lushness and I figured what better way to get some green up in this light filled space then some modern beaded macrame-ish hanging planters. I did something very similar in my kitchen last year and I figured I could apply the same ideas, but with more color (and beads) for the porch. We don’t have tons of surface space for planters in our porch – utilizing vertical space with hanging planters is the way to go, plus it helps to create a bit of privacy from our neighbors porch.

So how does one make a planter you ask? Don’t worry budz, I will tell you so you will know the secrets too. I could sense that you were a little worried about that, so let me just put your mind at ease and let you know that I am including photos and words to help illustrate how to make these cool things right here, in this post, on this website!

I used a bit of that awesome pink (bubble bath) I mentioned above to do a quick DIY crux table runner with a bit of scrap fabric I had stashed away. I like it mucho.

Creative Genius, the truth and my color muse. OPI colors for Clark+Kensington from top to bottom: Barefoot in Barcelona, Bubble Bath, Jade is the New Black, Green-wich Village, Marry Me.

I wanted my standard-issue-craft-store wood beads to be colorful so I painted them, dur. How does one paint a tiny sphere though? I dunno, but I kinda figured out a way. I used a bit of pipe cleaner and strung the beads across a cardboard box to catch the drippings. I laid it on thick with the paint, and then just rotated the beads every 15 minutes to avoid drip marks – picture a tiny bead rotisserie if you will without all the deliciousness of one.

Hey – These instructions are for a six stringed planter – if you want the instructions for the other 8 stringed planter shown also in these pics, go check out this link, bros.

I’m excited to be collaborating with Ace Hardware as a part of their Ace Blogger Panel! Ace has provided me with compensation and the materials necessary to complete this project! All opinions are my own. Thanks a biznillion, Ace!