How to Paint Terracotta Planters so They Don't Look Painted

Did you know that you can spray paint terracotta planters to give them a modern finish that looks like ceramic?  I've inherited quite a few plants and they can't all go in $200 planters so I purchased a few terracotta planters in various sizes and gave them a makeover!  Read on for my tips and tricks for painting terracotta, and also why my first attempt looked terrible... 

After updating a plant stand my papa made by refreshing it with paint and adding DIY walnut shelves, I also spruced up the plant stand that came with my Whoville plant (I keep forgetting his actual name, but to me he looks like he belongs in Whoville):

You'll probably think I'm bizarre, but that janky terracotta planter was all I could see when I sat at the dining room table.

I replaced it with a new terracotta pot,. but didn't love the look of them au naturel.  A lot of DIY tutorials, however, suggest just brushing on the paint and I don't love that look, either.

Instead, I gave mine a few coats of Rust-Oleum Tremclad Oil Based spray paint in Harbour Blue.

And I hated it.

The colour is gorgeous and so glossy, but in the living room it stuck out like a sore thumb, making every colour look dull by comparison (and that is no small feat in my colourful world).  I gave it a light sand and repainted the terracotta planter in Rust-Oleum Universal Enamel Paint + Primer in One - Gloss White, the same colour as the stand. 

Now it looks fresh and modern - I love the crisp white with the green.

Sometimes it's better to keep things simple.

Emboldened, I decided to paint a larger terracotta pot for the enormous Jade plant I also inherited.  Worried about leaking, I crammed him and his terracotta pot into this slightly larger pot (without drainage) for the 1600km journey:



Unable to salvage his old pot, I picked up a really large pot at Canadian Tire - did you know the terracotta pots sold there are made in Germany?

Here it is with a brand new paint job:

I was amazed at how well the terracotta planters took the paint!  Unfamiliar with most anything related to plants, I assumed the terracotta would be super porous, but the paint went on like a dream. 

Because I used spray paint, they look factory finished - my Mom was actually convinced they were ceramic (which would have cost me a lot more for this size).  Plus, because the paint finish is glossy, both planters can be washed and wiped down easily!

The little spikey plant on the wall unit is yet another inherited plant - he was living with the Whoville plant but I moved him into a sweet little vintage McCoy pot.

With almost all of my new plants re-homed, the lakehouse is feeling a lot greener.  I'm so nervous about keeping all of these plants healthy (especially the orchids and the Jade - the last plant that bid farewell to the world in my care was a Jade)...

UPDATE (May 27 2016): Readers were curious about how the paint would hold up and whether it would peel or flake off.  My planters still look brand new and there has been absolutely no flaking or peeling.  I think the secret is using a primer + paint in one! 

Huge thanks to Rust-Oleum for providing the spray paint for this and many other DIY projects!

New Marimekko Living Room Pillows - Plus a FinnStyle Coupon Code for You!

I favor a slow approach to decorating, taking the time to find the perfect pieces and making little changes so a room grows along with me, reflecting my changing style.  I recently made a small change to the living but it's the kind of change that suddenly makes everything "click".  I thought this would be a good time for a quick look back at the living room, to see how it has shaped up in 19 months - and what it looks like now, with the new additions!

Although we sold a lot of things right before we moved to the lakehouse, we kept most of our old furniture for the living room.  Although things were moved around a little, the cream leather sofa, teal velvet chair, minty mingo chair, black organic chair, Ikea wall unit and even our brown ottoman (although that's on the chopping block) all made the move with us. 

When we first set up our furniture, the living room looked a little bland, but it was already more our style because we had painted the walls and trim white and the fireplace a deep charcoal grey.  It looked quite different from when we first viewed the property:

When I spotted some Marimekko Kirsikka fabric on sale, I scooped it up and coerced my Mom into sewing four bold pillows to liven up the neutral sofa:

I liked how the Kirsikka pattern looked with the spherical glass shades of the big chrome lamp we had at the time.  Suddenly the room had more life - pillows made all the difference!

When I stole my Mom's 1960s blue Lotte lamps, I was surprised by how much I liked the blue.  I hadn't planned on adding blue, so the pillows - with their aqua, green, black and white palette - weren't perfect anymore, but I loved them too much to part with them.  Plus, no way was my Mom going to whip up four new ones!  

When I switched around some furniture, moving our black organic chair and replacing it with the mint mingo from the bedroom, the living room started to boast a riot of patterns and colours, but I still liked the pillows.  I especially liked how the swirls of the Kirsikka complemented the swirls of the upholstery on the mingo chair.

Because the same shade of blue from the Lotte lamps pops up in the both the living room and dining room art, I was confident that the new tweed dining chairs I found would suit our open concept living space quite nicely - providing a visual break from my love affair with aqua, without introducing yet another colour. 

With the addition of more blue, though, it was time to introduce a textile that would play nice.  That's right - I finally conceded that the old pillows weren't right:



FinnStyle (one of my favorite shops, long before the days of sponsored posts) recently reached out and offered to help spruce up a room.  I immediately started perusing their inventory of Marimekko pillows and fabric.  Have you checked out their selection?  SO many gorgeous prints and if you shop in store there's a great remnant section too.

I found the perfect fabric right away: Marimekko's Lumimarja, which comes in different colourways, including one with two shades of leafy green and one with nearly the exact same blue as my Lotte lamps and dining chairs (called "white/green" and "grey/blue," respectively).  FinnStyle generously sent me two of each and they're perfect for the living room:




They add just enough colour and interest without competing with any of the bolder elements in the space.  They tie in the blues and greens, as well as the warm teak and walnut wood tones, and complement our cream leather sofa beautifully.  Plus they boast a beautiful, organic print that I think pairs just as well with the Mingo chair as the Kirsikka fabric did.  The rooms feels lighter and airier and I'm so amazed what a difference just swapping out four throw cushions can make!

After mixing throw cushion patterns in the townhouse, I went for a bold set of four identical cushions when we moved to the lakehouse because I liked the graphic quality.  But now I'm inching back toward pattern mixing and the Lumimarja is a great way to subtly achieve that look because the prints are the same scale, but the colours vary - making mixing effortless!

If something at FinnStyle caught your eye, you're in luck!  FinnStyle is offering Dans le Lakehouse readers a 20% discount.  They asked if readers would prefer a giveaway or discount and I figured a discount because then everyone can find something - I hope I chose right!  Click on this link, enter your email address and get your 20% discount right now.  I've been an email subscriber for years and I promise they aren't spammy.  I appreciate getting emails about their flash sales because I have scored some super sweet deals!

Thanks to FinnStyle for providing the Lumimarja pillows for this living room spruce.  I was provided the product, but not paid or prompted to provide a positive review - this is the best kind of collaboration, because you already know that I'm a huge fan! 

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DIY Coffee Sack Boot Stuffers

My Mom and I both struggle with saving money because we like pretty things too much!  But we spend money differently.  I'll splash out on something big (like our light fixture from Modernica) but then scrimp like it's the depression to make up for it in other ways.  My Mom doesn't treat herself to many splashy purchases, but she will buy fancy soaps, new linens, new towels - little indulgences that add up.  She and I both have small budgets to work with, so I've been encouraging her to forgo little indulges to save up for her bathroom reno.  Because of my relentless nagging, she fondled boot stuffers at HomeSense no fewer than twenty times, but never made a purchase (go Mom!).

She wanted to keep her pretty boots upright while they're stored in the closet, as opposed to flopping over and creasing, but we decided to make some instead of buying them.  We had everything on hand, so they were free!  Sure, it might be a drop in the bucket, but it's another $10 she can put toward her dream bathroom.  That probably buys two or three square feet of tile (and her bathroom is so tiny, that is actually a pretty good chunk).



Here is how we made these adorable little boot stuffers.

We started with pretty little coffee sacks - but really, any fabric will do.  They were too wide and short as-is, so we cut them apart just to make use of the interesting design.

To make up the length, we sewed a scrap of silk to the top.

Once the silk was added to the coffee bag fabric, the sides were sew up and then the top edge - the opening of the boot stuffer was sewn down into a channel:

(The channel was added for a drawstring).

When the sides and top were sewn, the bottom of the inside was tweaked a little.  Both corners were pinned and sewn flat:

Once the boot stuffers were turned right side out, the sewn corners created a flat bottom so they sit more snugly inside boots.

Finally, we threaded through a drawstring using a safety pin and stuffed the finished sacks with batting.  We also added a sprinkling of lavender to keep things smelling nice in there!  We opted for the drawstring top so we can adjust how much batting is inside - and freshen up the lavender from time to time.

So do they work?

Perfectly!  Exactly what my Mom had it mind. 

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