D.I.Y.: Colorful Pots

All spring I have been looking for great cobalt blue pots for my front steps. It's not that they are so hard to find. It's just that they don't seem to ever run less than $60 per pot and that was a lot more than I wanted to spend. Then I finally had an aha moment this week while making placecard holders for a party last night in which we spray painted miniature pots to use as the stands for the placecards. Why not just buy terracotta pots and spray paint them cobalt blue? I went to a few places before I finally found the right size and shape for what I was looking for, but I found them. Step two was to lay them out on newspaper on the grass.

Step 3 was to paint them. I used Krylon Indoor/Outdoor Gloss Paint in Regal Blue. I first painted them upside down and then flipped them to do the rims and upper part of the interior. This paint dries super fast so it only took a few minutes before I could flip them. I could have gotten away with just one coat, but I wanted them to look as good up close as they did from afar so I did two coats. You can also do a spray primer first, but I wanted them to be a little more rustic looking with some of the terracotta showing through.

And voila, here is the finished product with plants. The color is a close match to my front door and shutters, and it is amazing how cohesive the front of the house now looks. I do like terracotta pots, but I just wanted something a little more special for my front steps (even though the rest of the front entry needs a LOT of work still) and I like how it came out so much that I'm thinking I might do the ones on my back steps too. The total cost for 2 pots (not including plants) was about $33 so a pretty significant savings compared to the colored ones you find in most garden centers. Of course, now I think I need new house numbers and a new light fixture never mind the woodwork that needs to be repaired and the steps that need to be replaced.

Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend!