How to Paint a Terra-cotta Pot

I've been on a search for decently priced grey stone pots for my front porch for a few weeks. I was actually shocked at the price of large pots.  One that had the colors I was going for, the size I wanted, but the wrong shape was $89.00 and that was the cheapest they had.  Wanting two of them, I knew that I could not dish out $180.00 for pots for my front porch.  I decided to check out Home Depot and found these terracotta pots for $27.00 each.  I bought them on the spot.  I called my mom and asked her if spray paint would do the trick and her answer was a big NO.  The paint won't stick and would likely peel off.  Ugh.  Not the answer the master of spray painting everything was looking for.

Luckily, I had been contacted by Decoart offering me some paints to sample.  I sent them an email asking if they had anything that would do the trick for my new pots and the answer was a big fat YES! I think I jumped up and down a bit.  They have a line of called Patio Paint that is specifically for use on concrete, terra-cotta, wood, masonry, stucco, stone, ceramic bisque, cast aluminum, and Styrofoam. Cue the stars aligning.  I emailed them with the color ideas I was looking for and they suggested the colors below. 

I gave the pots a coat of Eucalyptus Green just to get rid of the orange.  I wasn't really sure what technique I would be using for this, it was all a fly by the seat of my pants, and cross my fingers it worked.

I then mixed Wrought Iron Black and Sterling Silver.  I would say I used about 2/3's black to 1/3 silver.  I did not fully mix the paint to get both colors showing through.

I used an old T-shirt and just swept the rag across the pot starting from top to bottom. 

Then I mixed Glorious Gold, Woodland Brown, and a bit of Sterling Silver.  I did the same drag the rag technique for this layer.  I wanted the pots to have dimension and not just slap on a layer of grey/black paint and call it day.  When I finished this layer, I actually loved the look. It had a bit of a bronze/copper feel to it. If my colors had been in the browns, it would have stayed just like this.  You can see some of the darker layer peaking through.

Finally, I got Wrought Iron Black, Sterling Silver, and a bit of Glorious Gold and did the same technique.  You can see below the rag technique. Oh yea, I also put a coat of Clear Coat on top further protect the paint. I loved the texture that the paint has. I find the texture of Terra-Cotta pots to be kind of like a nail scratching a chalkboard. These particularly had a rough texture, and it's gone. They are super smooth right now.  I loved playing around with the different paint colors. I think there are tons of combinations that you could do.  This paint is just so easy to use.

Here it is on my front porch.  I LOVE them, like really LOVE them.  I can't believe they were $27.00 each and some bottles of paint. 

I really want to thank Decoart for sending me this amazing paint. I am beyond happy with the results.   I can't wait to see what else I can paint.  Have you tried Decoart Paints before?  Have you ever painted Terra-Cotta?  Do tell...

I'll be linking up to these parties

and Beyond the Picket Fence, Between Naps on the Porch, DIY Showoff

Dream Driveway

Ever since we bought our house, we've been wanting to replace our torn up asphalt driveway.  Since that's not going to happen anytime soon, I might as well dream.  We'd like to do something like this.  Concrete pavers with grass in between.  You can see it here in a traditional type setting. 

Via

Here, at the bottom right, you can see kind of what we would love to have.  It feels more modern in this picture.  We have a pretty large front yard and have always loved the idea of making the driveway side feel like a courtyard.  We wouldn't really do a circular driveway, because we love the expanse of grass we have in our front yard. 

Via

Since this is not happening anytime soon, I went to Home Depot yesterday and bought a tank of Asphalt repair paint (or whatever it is).  If I can convince my husband to help me, yay, if not I'm calling the handyman. 

Some Pictures of Our Newly Painted House

I'm still trying to recover from a fantastic weekend.  A group of 6 of us went on a girls trip this weekend to Orlando, Florida.  The group Erasure was playing at the House of Blues on Friday night and we used to love them in high school.  We had a blast. We spent all day Saturday shopping.  It was a total girls weekend.  I was beat yesterday.  Even as tired as I was, I got out to Michael's to start working on my fall wreath for my new yellow front door.  Here's a photo of our house below. The bench and pillow are what started this whole curb appeal project. The house was not bad, just bland and much in need of some plant grooming and excitement.  We had changed the light fixtures a few years ago and the house numbers to stainless steel ones.  The ceiling in the porch had never been stained and the door had been stained by us a dark brown.  It just read boring. The color here looks whiter than in person. It was a light beige that actually seemed washed out.

Here it is all painted and pretty.  We had the columns painted grey, the walls white, and the door bright yellow.  (I hazed out our house numbers, but they match the lights.)  I had just hosed down the porch and realized that I should be taking pictures of our newly painted house, so pardon the wet, shiny floors. You can see the wood ceiling was stained to match the fascia boards.

So you all know, there's this thing that happens with me often.  I find something I love (the bench in this case) and it catapults into a million projects and a million dollars (well, not that much, but it sure feels like it).   I've now decided I want to:

Replace the ugly brown tile
Replace our wooden walkway
Add lights along the wooden walkway
Replace the non functioning fan in the porch with some kind of light fixture
Redo our driveway (for now repaint asphalt)
Replace our windows
Replace our haphazard and random landscaping to the left of our house
Add mulch or pine bark
Manicure ferns under the oak tree
Get a new mailbox
Replace pots on our porch (already working on this)
Reinstall garden lights to light up the trees, especially the oak
New mat for the porch (working on this)
Paint doorknob and lock
Make a wreath for the front door (supplies purchased)
Fix the pond (our cleaning lady filled it with dirt and leaves, it's a disgusting mess)

And...all this without spending a lot. I love it.  If only my husband liked DIY as much as I do. :(

Blue Velvet Chair

We found these chairs a while ago at the Faith Farm Thrift store for $4.00 each.  They were pretty crusty.  I pointed them out to my sister and she loved the idea of them, but oh, they were bad.  The velvet was in horrible condition and the foam was disintigrating, but for $4.00, whatever.

I painted the legs using Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Old White.  I gave them two coats and then sanded down them down a bit to get the aged look.

We had them refoamed and reupholstered.  There was no way I would attempt this on my own.  My sister bought a high quality upholstery blue velvet from a local fabric store. It was kind of pricey at $35 a yard, but the quality and texture of the fabric seemed worth it.  It's hard to tell in the photograph. I didn't want to destroy the fabric, so we left it to the professionals.

 Here's the back of the chair with a few nailheads.

Pretty, right?  They will be used in my sisters dining room along with the two chevron chairs and the Turquoise Chandelier.  The crazy thing is, my sister has decided to rent out her apartment and move to Paris for 6 months.  After all that work!  I think I've figured out why I'm so exhausted lately. I'm back at work, trying to workout (which I am now doing Crossfit and it WEARS me out), some other crazy stuff, and trying to wrap up all the projects for my sister's place.  I am beat.  Writing that just got me even more tired. I'll be photographing my sisters apartment this weekend. We weren't able to finish everything, but it is a huge and adorable transformation.  Have a great weekend.