Monday, August 01, 2011

A little paint goes a long way

Another make-over, this time of the mini variety. I found this planter at Tesco in the sale aisle for a whopping £2. Score! And while I love the natural terracotta with the olive branch decoration, I've been looking for a planter that we could put at MRN's dad's grave for a little while now. And since it will be outside permanently and you have to seal terracotta so it doesn't wick away all of the moisture and kill whatever is planted, I decided I would paint it.

I started by sealing the inside with a clear enamel spray and then painted the whole thing using good old Rustoleum multi-surface spray paint in gloss black (yes, I used the same for Gladys).

After 24 hours I then used a stencil brush to dab bronze metallic acrylic craft paint on the olive branch decoration which I purposefully did imperfectly to give is a more natural look. Another 24 hours later, I sealed the whole thing with more clear enamel spray paint.

So, voila! Pretty simple transformation for a flower pot-- and at a bargain (since I had left-over rustoleum, I only had to buy the enamel and craft paint (£2.99 each). That plus the pot means this little project was only about £6. I always think it's such a shame to leave flowers that die so quickly and I'd noticed that some of the other graves had lovely gardens and planters-- so this way we can plant seasonal plants that could last a few months and there would always be something in bloom. I was too late this season for forget-me-nots so I got some beautiful begonias (not pictured) and as the season changes I figured we could replace with some heather or evergreen as it gets cold and then plant forget-me-nots and rosemary (for remembrance) in the Spring. Any other ideas of what we can plant as the seasons change?


Spray-painted black













Finished product

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