UP-CYCLING GARDEN PLANTERS

How to Up-cycle Ugly or Tatty Old Planters 

I didn't want to pay out £80 for the large ceramic planter that I vaguely liked, so figured it was time for a bit of DIY - Luckily I then spotted these large 20L ceramic pots  in Aldis for only £3.99 - bargain :) 

I now had my pots, time to get my creative head on.

  If you don't have an Aldi or somewhere similar, selling planters at bargain prices close to you, then you or someone you know, may well have old ones knocking around that aren't of use & you can revamp, or perhaps can salvage from somewhere such as Freecycle, Freegle, Greencycle or whatever your local freeby keep it out of landfill site is - or maybe even if you are lucky a skip :)

How to Up-cycle Ugly or Tatty Old Planters

 They were painted with Hammerite metal paint, no primer needed - I used the hammered version as it's great for covering flaws & gives a nice textured finish.

I then masked off the areas not to be painted with masking tape.

 I used the type of paints favoured by graffiti artists as they are very durable, have good cover, come in a wide range of colours, are easy to use & you can even buy additional nozzles for altering the spray size.

For this project I used about a 1/5th of each of 4 cans in 2 shades of 2 colours
 this decorated 5 large pots

 Protecting my hands with latex gloves, & painting outside & using a mask, I carefully sprayed the deeper pink at the top edge

 I then sprayed the lighter pink at the bottom edge creating what I think is a lovely subtle dip dye effect.

 I repeated this with the 2 shades of green, left to dry for an hour - peeled off the masking tape

Et Voila!!  A lovely large garden planter that doesn't look like it cost £3.99 :)
I decorated 5 of these, alternating the colours so that some start at the top with green & others as shown here with pink, this works really well in & around the wall of our small yard