DIY Planter Makeover
Okay, so some of my planters were looking a little tired and it became evident I needed a DIY planter makeover. I have been hearing about chalk paint and I have been seeing a lot of things painted with this and they are looking pretty amazing! My son has a dresser in his room, which is screaming for a makeover, but I wanted to try this paint on something smaller first. So I bought some of the chalk paint last week, thinking I would use it for my planter makeover. Of course, if these are to be used outside there has to also be a final coat of polyurethane.
The first thing I had to do was clean the poor pot, before painting it. It really did need some special attention. I used Dawn dish soap in a tub, scrubbed the pot with a brush and rinsed, and left it to dry on the deck. The chalk paint suggested cleaning with alcohol, but on the foam pots, I chose to use the Dawn.
Apparently, I am a beige kind of girl. I love color, but the neutral grays and beiges call my name and truthfully, they do make a great background for a pop of color from the flowers. So the neutrals I chose were Truffle and Plaster from Waverly and Savannah from FolkArt. This was my first experience with chalk paint and I was surprised at how thick the paint was and how great the coverage was with just one coat. The dried paint has a beautiful almost velvety texture.
Halfway into this project, I realized that the Plaster color was too bright for my taste, so I tried to tone it down with some antiquing. Then it looked better but it looked more southwestern to me. It actually reminded me of a purse I used to have. Hmmm. That was not exactly what I had in mind. Fortunately this is paint and if you don't like it, paint over it, and so I did, using the Savannah color this time. I am loving this subtle color.
Although there is a raised design on two of the pots, I decided not to emphasize the details with another color of paint or antiquing. I gave the pot a good coat of the Savannah color and let it dry overnight. It was actually beautiful just like that.
The next day it was spitting rain all day long, but sitting under the umbrella on the deck, I continued to work on the project. I went ahead and buffed the raised surfaces with a sand block to reveal some of the white undercoat. It is very subtle, but I like the final effect. The velvety look of this paint is so appealing! Unfortunately, since the pots are going to be placed outside, there had to be some sort of protective layer painted over top of it. I had some satin exterior polyurethane varnish from another project, so I used the specified three coats for the pot, allowing each coat to dry before the next coat.
What do you think? In the end, I am pretty happy with the results of my DIY planter makeover.
