Give An Outdated Vase New Life With A DIY That's As Satisfying As It Is Stunning

There are many reasons why a vase, or anything in your home, can seem outdated. Maybe it's obviously fashioned in the style of some bygone, but not yet coveted, "vintage" era. Maybe it's faded but functional. Maybe it was the vessel for a floral bouquet sent by someone from whom you've since been liberated. Or maybe you're just tired of looking at the thing. There are plenty of ways to update said vase to better fit the style of your home in any case. For example, lizfenwickdiy on YouTube uses tiles, flexible pole wrap, an adhesive, painter's tape, and grout to cover a clear glass vase. The effect is super cute, and you can use even fewer affordable but easily found materials to give your old vase a spiffy second life.  

Unless you're using it exclusively to make artificial flowers appear more real sans the H2O, or the vase you wish to upgrade is strictly decorative, you want to make sure that you're using waterproof components. Even with exceeding caution, its exterior is likely to endure a splash of water or two. So items like leftover tiles, paint, or bathroom-safe wallpaper could do. Something like paving pebbles (which will require a mighty adhesive) would also create a natural outdoorsy look. Or, for the polar opposite effect, you can lean into flash with our DIY mirrored vase upgrade. Whichever finish you're aiming to achieve, self-adhesive tiles are a terrific shortcut. 

Speaking of vintage eras, decorating with disco balls never goes out of style. Ok, maybe they seemed a little dated in the years soon after their peak popularity, but enough time has now passed that a little dance floor sparkle here and there is back in good taste. Amazon sells a 5,400 Piece Mirror Mosaic Tile Roll for under $10. It is waterproof, and the adhesive-backed glass tiles are intended to cover spheres, so they should work around the curves and angles of plenty of vase shapes.

For all the shine and reflection of a reinterpreted disco ball without the "Saturday Night Fever" vibes, you can find waterproof mirror sheets for around the same price. These flexible, cut-to-fit materials perform like the contact paper you might be more familiar with. They'll work best with flat, square vase shapes that won't fold, wrinkle, or otherwise disrupt what should be a smooth, glassy finish. Self-adhesive backsplash tiles can also be great when handling similar lines, given that they're considerably less flexible. These Alwayspon Peel and Stick Tile Decals are just one example of what you can find for this project. Good ol' peel-and-stick floor tiles, available in myriad patterns, can also get the job done with poise.