how to make dollar tree coastal decor using a garden stake

As most of you know, we have purchased a condo in Florida! We are thrilled, and I couldn’t be more excited to start decorating with all things coastal! While browsing, I have come across many expensive décor items that are really simple designs. Recently, I took on the challenge of recreating things using Dollar Tree supplies! I may not use any of these in the condo, but either way- they are great inspiration!

For this project, I used the following supplies:

• Sea life garden stakes from Dollar Tree
• Block of floral styrofoam
• Waverly chalk paint in Plaster and Ink
• Apple Barrel paint in Warm Buff
• Chip paintbrush
• Nautical rope 10 mm diameter
• Hot glue gun or E6000 all-purpose glue
• Knife or tool to cut the Styrofoam

I found this pool noodle knife in the crafting section at Dollar Tree, and it worked perfectly for cutting styrofoam! You can’t beat it for that price!

I cut the styrofoam block into squares around 3″x3.” 

Once I had my square bases cut, I painted them with Waverly chalk paint in the color Ink using a chip brush. A chip brush is much better than a foam brush on the rough styrofoam surface.

Next, I painted the stems of the garden stakes with the black chalk paint.

The original colors of the seahorse and seashell were fine as is, but I wanted to create a more neutral palette, so I painted on a coat of Warm Buff. This gave them a nice tan base coat.

After the beige color dried, I took my chip brush and dipped it lightly in the “Plaster” colored chalk paint. You don’t want a lot of the lighter color on the brush when you paint over the darker base. You can always go over it again if you desire more color, but it’s hard to remove color. 

Brushing over it lightly gave the pieces a nice distressed look. It really highlighted the texture on them.

Next, I used wire cutters to remove the excess stems. You will determine how much to remove based on the size of your bases and how high you want the pieces to be. You don’t want them to be too top heavy.

I decided to wrap the bottom of the base with nautical rope. The Dollar Tree has two sizes of nautical rope, and I chose the 10 mm diameter, which was the smaller one.

I wrapped the rope around the base once to determine the length needed. Once you cut the cotton rope, it will begin to fray a bit. If needed, you can add a little hot glue to the ends to prevent fraying. 

After gluing the rope around the base, it was now time to insert the stakes into the styrofoam. 

I inserted the stakes in the center and then removed them. After doing this, I applied hot glue directly on the stake before reinserting it into the styrofoam. You can also squeeze the glue directly into the base. This helps secure the stake to the base.

Allow the glue to dry, and then they are ready to be displayed! I absolutely love the finished product! Since you can control the height, they will add so much dimension on a shelf or tabletop! The neutral colors provide nice clean lines, but how fun would these be in bright colors as well?! 

Do you like the neutrals, or would you do a pop of color?

Be sure to PIN this for later!

Last Updated on May 24, 2023