Paint On.

I have a feeling paint is going to revolutionize my decorating world.  Like most things that I'll be trying in this blog, it seems so obvious.  Paint is probably the fastest, easiest way to revitalize a lot of things in your house. Your coffee table doesn't match anything anymore?  Paint it.  Need a pop of color in your kitchen?  Paint your REFRIGERATOR.  Or your cabinets.  Is your dresser old laminated wood and the most boring piece of furniture in the history of mankind and you've considered (multiple times) trashing or donating it but keep holding on to it because you're too cheap to buy a new one?  Yep, you guessed it...paint it.

So.  Today I start my foray into painting.  Because I'm trying to avoid tackling a project that I'm definitely not ready for yet, I'm starting small.  Or just because I'm a straight up coward.  Whatever.  As much as I want to refurbish my old dresser NOW, fear and/or wisdom (and my husband) are telling me to start with planters.

You got it.  Planters.

Don't be disappointed.  It's actually really useful.  Again, because I am cheap a smart consumer, whenever I have to buy a pot, I buy the cheapest one in the least offensive color I can find.  I then spend 10 minutes yearning for the "pretty" ones, but convince myself that it's not worth it.  As a result, I end up with boring pots in varying shades of green, with an occasional white one in between.  Not the best way to pull your patio space into a pretty, put-together space.

I wanted a sort of Moroccan feel to my tiny apartment patio.  I love color, and we're lucky that we have a lot of leafy green around our patio, but I wanted more pops of color and design.  Actually the planters are kind of a dominating factor on our patio (and the only factor that is able to be decorated), so it seemed logical  to start there.

This process takes time - it's definitely not something I did in an evening.  This was over the course of couple days.  I plan on taking this one step further and creating my own stenciling to paint designs onto the pot, the process for which I'll post later on.  If design isn't in your plans, this is how to do a basic one color.   As it's going to take time to do all of my planters (and I have some fun ideas for them!), I'll show you how I did the first one and post the rest of them later.

Here's what I used:

Planter, wide paint brush (purchased at Michael's), Martha Stewart multi-surface acrylic craft paint (for indoor and outdoor use),  container to pour paint into, drop cloth (or newspapers)

The planter I used was a textured plastic, so I wasn't too worried about the paint not staying put.  If you're using terra cotta planters, after you're finished painting you're going to want to spray a sealant (also available at Michael's or gardening stores) on the pot, otherwise all your work will be wasted.  When I'm completely finished painting, I'm going to try to use the same sealant on my plastic pot, just to protect the paint.   

 Here's what I did:

1. Make sure you're working with a clean surface.  I had been using this pot, so it was really dirty.  I threw it in the tub and wiped it down. 
2. Pour paint and begin painting.  Pretty obvious, right?  Your first coat will actually take less paint than you think, so to avoid wasting a lot of paint in between coats, take what you think you'll need and cut it in half.  You can always pour more as you're painting.
3. As you're painting, apply an even, thin coat.  Think about it like nail polish - if you get lazy and try to glob on all your polish in one coat, it's not going to turn out very well.  Multiple, thin coats = better paint job.  This is experience talking, people.
4. Let your paint set completely in between coats.  Since you applied a thin coat (RIGHT?), it should take about an hour to dry.  Time to do some laundry!
5. Keep applying coats until you get a complete, even color.  I also painted the inside of my pot, but only down to about an inch below what a typical dirt line would be.  

After the first coat.

I would post more pictures, but this portion of the project is pretty basic, and pretty self-explanatory.  Boring planter, several layers of paint...BAM  new, excitingly spiffy planter.

Still not enough fanciness for you, though?  Stay tuned for DIY stenciling....