You won't believe how easy it is to paint plastic planters!
I love to buy plants to pot and keep on my porch, or plant in my yard, so over the years I've bought quite a few planters. I usually buy plain terra cotta pots, or painted glazed ones. But I wanted to try my hand at spray painting some plastic pots, so I went looking for some sad plastic pots to paint. I found some 20 inch pots at a local discount store and snapped up 3 of them.
I had a plan.
The pots that I found are sturdy plastic, but an ugly color, and no holes in the bottom for drainage.
I got out my handy dandy Milwaukee Cordless Screwdriver impact that my favorite son bought for me last year. Just kidding, he knows he's not my favorite son! But, he was that day. I was really surprised!
I used a 7/16 th inch drill bit to drill some holes in the bottom of the pots. I drilled them in the recessed areas on these pots, but you can drill them just about anywhere.
I used about a 1/2 inch drill bit to drill this hole and I busted the pot a little. So, use a smaller drill bit if your pot cracks.
I've included a link to a basic drill bit kit, but there are kits available that include screwdriver heads and metric heads. Just be sure that the bits that you buy will fit the drill or impact that you buy.
I knew that I wanted to coordinate my painted planters with my porch chair cushions so I found some colors in the teal family and used this paint card to pick out my spray paint color.
The color doesn't have to be exact, it just needs to be in the color family. These are dusty, muted blue-greens.
A good quality spray paint is easier to use than a really cheap one. It seems that the actual sprayer is better made and the paint goes on smoother overall. I found this Rust-Oleum satin enamel in Vintage Teal, which is a dusty blue-green like I wanted.
Since it was satin instead of gloss, I picked up a can of clear gloss just in case the satin looked too flat. You can use satin or gloss, or you can even get chalk paint in a spray can version. Just use the one that you like the best.
(I'm planning to paint the table that you see here pretty soon. I'll let you in on that project, too!)
The Rust-Oleum spray paint in Vintage Teal sprayed on really easy. I used a wide, sweeping, horizontal motion for the first coat, then went back over the area with an up and down motion. Follow the instructions on the can for shaking and distance from your project. I didn't have any drips, runs, or bubbles. I had to pick out a couple of gnats, but other than that, it was no trouble to paint this planter.
I protected the table with newspaper and elevated the 20 inch pot on a smaller pot in order to paint the lower part of the planter without having it stick to the paper.
Giant Liriope is one of my very favorite plants. It's a hardy evergreen perennial grass that grows in clumps. I have it in my flower beds and in planters all around my house. It doesn't die down, so there's no cutting back. The only maintenance I do is pick out the leaves that die of old age on the underside and the top. It's one of those plants that literally anybody can grow!
I moved this Giant Liriope, also known as Lily Turf Grass, to the new spray painted plastic planter. I'm so happy with how it turned out! The Vintage Teal Rust-Oleum is the perfect color and looks great with my outdoor furniture.
