“You’re Resourceful Nikki, and this is the perfect opportunity for you to be resourceful and make your own base” that was my husband telling me that I should write a post on a DIY patio umbrella base. It’s the fourth of July holiday, and like millions of other people, I have been working on making a beautiful outdoor space.
But I didn’t want to be Resourceful Nikki for this situation. I wanted to be Nicole, who buys everything. I just wanted to spend the holiday weekend sitting under my umbrella. Why did I not order a base when I ordered the umbrella? Even though I was against this idea, I later came to find that my husband was right. He has now been right twice in our marriage, and this was time number two. With great resourcefulness comes great responsibility!
I Tried To Find An Umbrella Base
The next day I searched for a patio umbrella base. I told my husband I felt as if I was on a quest for the Holy Grail. Side note, I just learned what the Holy Grail was ten years ago, and I am ashamed to admit it, but I trust you not to laugh at me. Anyhoo, I went to more than five different stores and still could not find an umbrella base. Come to find out; there has been a delay in stock being shipped. Bummer! If I wanted to enjoy my new umbrella with the solar-powered LED lights, I would have to create a DIY patio umbrella base.
I knew what I would do. I had two options; use some barbell weights or use a planter. The barbell weights are on backorder, and there were none in stock in the stores in my area. Besides, I was worried about the hole being too small or too large, how to keep the weights stacked on top of each other, and how to make it snug. The whole idea is to make sure it fit to keep the pole in place. My other idea was to take a terra cotta pot, fill it with sand and use it as a base. Bingo! Let’s get started.
You Will Need:
- A Terra Cotta Pot
- spray paint (color to match your pole)
- Sand
Why not use cement or rocks, Nikki? I thought about making a cement mold for the pole. However, I have this thing about scratching up the base. I could see myself now scraping the black finish of the pole in order to make the mold snug enough around the base.
So, I found a pot for $3 at Walmart. I already had sand leftover from my DIY Portable Sandbox. Two items, and that’s it! Well, three items because I wanted the pot to match my table. If you have read my post about the ten things I always have on hand for DIY, then you know that I keep specific spray paint colors on hand. So not only did I already have sand. I also had black spray paint. Win-win! Technically I had to spend $3 just for the pot. The rest I already had at home.
Spray Paint Your DIY Umbrella Base
I started by taking my spray paint and painting the pot black. I decided to do this outdoors to make sure that I had adequate ventilation.
Terra cotta pots have a hole in the bottom, so I took a piece of cardboard and covered the hole. No rocket science here!
The hardest part was deciding how to get my umbrella pole in the center of the pot. It took some moving of the table and the pot to have it directly in the center of both.
After centering, my next step was to pour the sand around the pole. You could have just put the sand in the pot and then stuck the pole down in it. Ugh, yes! My mom, Momma Resourceful, always said I liked doing things the hard way. In my defense, though, I wanted to make sure that the pole touched the bottom of the pot with no sand in between.
Pack the sand very tightly around the pole so that it doesn’t move. Yes, you can add a few large rocks for some extra stability, then. cover them with more sand.
And I am done with my DIY patio umbrella base! This terra-cotta pot will serve as a temporary base until I can purchase one. I can then easily remove the pole and use the pot as a planter on my patio later.
Do you know someone who needs a base for their patio table umbrella? Please share this post!
