I would like to buy some inexpensive plastic containers and paint them. They will be used outdoors so I was wondering – what type of paint should I buy that won't wash off plastic? Also, do you have to use a special primer before painting plastic? Do you have to seal the paint layer with some type of clear waterproof coating?
Thanks to all the painters out there for your help.
what kind of paint works the best on plastic?
There is a new spray paint for plastic. I don't remember the nae brand, but I have used two cans & it works well.
I'm positive there were threads on the subject last year but I never thought to look for them before I headed out to buy paint for one of my big sturdy plastic pots that must be more than 10 years old. I'll be spraying it tomorrow and I'm not using any primer or any finish coat. Wal Mart has a great selection of colors and their prices are excellent.
Krylon Fusion is the one made for plastic.
I bought some krylon and it worked quite well on our plastic bird feeder baffles.
I bought some other spray paint for these faux pots and so far so good with them. I could have been more 'artistic' with them, but I was in a hurry...
I got my paint at Lowes but the Ace Hardware had it too.
My husband pulled a huge pot out of the lake behind our house. It was one of those pots that are supposed to look like a clay pot. I am not sure what they are made of but this one looked just awful. I stained it and it came out great.
I have three other big pots so please tell us what product you used to stain them. Thanks.
There are several brands of spray paint for plastic now--anywhere you go that sells spray paint ought to have a good selection. And you don't need a separate primer (although if your plastic is really super glossy maybe you would)
I just used regular wood stain. It just looks like a regular clay pot now. At least I think so. It was pretty beat up.
Sorry about the picture being so dark. I just went out and took it.
That looks very good. Thanks for the reply.
Tab and Toy -- BOTH of your pots are absolutely fantastic!!!! They look so good, I can't believe it! They look brand new -- well, old-new. :))
Tab, what did you use for paint? Toy, what color was yours before you started, and if you used regular wood stain, why is there a sheen? Did you put a sealer coat on it? And both of you: What colors did you use?
Darn! I saw a pot on sale at Traget that was perfect shape and size, but it was deep, dark gray and I didn't like it. It was one of those fiberglass/resin kinds, so not cheap plastic, but not terra cotta, either.
Do either of you think your paint or stain would work on making a darker pot into a lighter color? Is the coverage good?
I need to scrounge the trash in case any neighbors are throwing some out. Ladies, those pots are first class!!!
Suzy
Krylon Fusion is the name of the paint and it comes in alot of colors. Just make sure it is the Fusion one.
RoseyQ, ask and you shall receive :) This is the thread from last year about my pot painting experiments http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/704141/ Although Krylon Fusion is definitely the easiest, it was way too expensive for the number of pots I was painting, plus I was looking for colors Krylon didn't offer. Although the stone textured paint is still my favorite, again it's a more expensive option. My cheaper method with priming and 3 coats of paint took much longer than just spraying with Krylon Fusion, but I'm happy to report the containers still look great after one year. I had a few spots where the pots got nicked and the paint chipped off but overall it was a success and it's time to start thinking about combinations for this year! Good luck with your project and be sure to share pictures :)
Debbie
I wish Krylon Fusion came in more colors, too, but I went with the beige and I'm very happy with it.
Hi Illoquin-- Thanks for your sweet comments. I confess I am no expert on this. My painter told me to go to Lowes and get some spray paint to do my pots. I think the one in my picture is fibreglass too. It was a mess before I painted it. I just washed it and dried it and then started fooling around with the spray cans.
I bought 3 different shades of spray paint in the same color family--one for a base (textured) , one for shadowing (metallic sheen), and another for highlights and then started playing around. At Lowes they had a 15 foot section of different spray paints and I just picked what I liked. I assume it will last for a while since I did a fibreglass bird bath last year and it is still fine. And we did plastic squirrel baffles for the bird feeders last fall and they look as good as new this spring. I'm not the last word on this, of course, but I think you can easily paint something in a lighter shade, too.
I recommend that you pick up a few cans of spray paint (krylon fusion for the orange plastic flower pots, but for fibreglass and clay pottery I think it can be most any paint.) make yourself a martini, and start playing around with the paint and your pot. If you don't like it you can always repaint or touch up. It only takes a few minutes and you can pot up your plants within the hour, too.
Painting pots is my new big thing. I'm like you--I'm going around to Big Lots and Walmart sale tables and picking out any old thing and repainting it. And Voila! Somthing for 'Fineliving magazine'!
Suzy--if you use the spray paint, you can turn a dark pot into a light colored one (although just like painting over a dark colored wall, it may take a few coats and some primer may help). Stain is usually sort of transparent, so you won't be able to go from dark to light that way.
Ok, Thanks! I bought Krylon Fusion primer and a regular spray paint in a pebbled stone. I have tons of stain here, and I'll go back and read that thread, Toy, but I started this message and can't go back now or I'lllose what I typed. (long story, but I hate typing)
It's way too windy to spray paint today, and too windy (forecasted) tomorrow, and too cold Sunday, but I hope to have a picture maybe Monday or Tuesday. I have a cheap chinzy ugly plastic pot that probably won't look good no matter what I do to it to practice on.
Suzy
Yes, the weather this weekend looks pretty crappy. I've moved my pot operation into the garage. Hope to do some 'makeovers' with some of these...
We'll all be waiting to see the results. Why not do the hose, too? You could make it look like a snake...a really long and skinny snake.
LOL That's a great idea!
Since we're talking about pots here, I want to post this link to a fine gardening article about how to 'stage' a container garden...
http://www.taunton.com/finegardening/design/articles/staging-container-plant-display.aspx
I was looking around for ideas for planting my Cannas from the co-op--many of them are going into pots that I can move around into bare spots in the garden and on the decks. And I want to find some partner plants for them, too.
Coleus go very well with canna.
So Cool! Great article and very timely as far as a place on my patio I haven't figured out what to do with.
I wish I had bought more Cannas for the coop!
Lea/LeBug, are you on htis thread? Can I have one-three of your Pretoria Canna bulbs? ROTFL!
Taking mental invemntory since it's too late to go out in the dark to check, bt I believe I have a bunch of those black nurser pots, and I also have some bulbs crates...what I also have, though, is a window well that will be tough to design around.
Suzy
Illoquin, Sorry for taking so long to respond. The pots original color was a fake terracotta look which looked like it had been white washed. The pot really doesn't have a sheen, I think it might have been caused by the flash. Staining the pot doesn't change the color of the pot much it just makes it darker and much richer. Also stain won't flake off like paint sometimes does as it is absorbed by what ever you are staining.
tabasco, thanks for posting that great link.
I wish I had purchased more Praetorias to share with you. (I just got 2) But I wonder if you can still order? I was on the Horn Canna website yesterday and I noticed they seemed to have lowered some of their prices (but I didn't look at Praetoria). I did see some other places were selling praetoria for $11 each.
I'm especially interested in the Praetorias because of their purple stem. I think it will blend well with purple zinnias and orange crocosmia and chartreuse and black sweet potatoe vines. Don't know if I can get all that into a container, though!
Did already mention here that Big Lots had a feature of 18" pots for $7. this week. Not the sturdiest, but you can get by with them for a while. I bought a few for the cannas and hope to paint them after summer gets going (and I get my container display a la fine gardening magazine organized!)
Thanks for the ideas on spray painting plastic containers!! I would like to give it a try!! Eleanor
Oh, Tab! I am so happy you posted to this thread becuase I couldn't rememeber where we were talking about the Fine Gardening display, but I am so excited! I found 1/2 dozen big nursery pots -- very sturdy -- in black today out in the corner of the shed. It's one of those things where they are so easy to toss out, y'know? Anyway, I have the makings, sort of.
I saw a Rex Begonia that was pearlescent hot pink and silver today at Kroger for only $10.00, but wouldn't you just know that Mr. Clean was with me, and he can't stand it when I buy more plants. Actually, he doesn't even like it when I LOOK at plants when he's with me. LOL! Oh, well, I have my heart on an Escargot, so maybe it was for the best.
Here's my inspiration photo. I'm awfully embarrassed because I don't remember the thread, but Kattamos is the gardener/photographer.
Illoguin, I don't know how big or tall etc, your window well is but could you put a piece of wood across it and use that as a step up for your pots? You would want to be careful that you didn't stack too much weight on the wood in case of fire & you needed to chuck the plants off to exist thru the window well. Of course I could be entirely wrong about the kind of window well you are talking about and this is now all nonsense! LOL..
Actually, you must be thinking exactly right because that would work perfectly. I'll see if I can get you-know-who- to consider it. He could actually make a 1/2 circle that would fit right over it for the summer, but I don't know if he would, or if he'd consider it frivolous. Or if the project would take him 3 days to do so he can get the circle just right -- he can sometimes over-engineer the simplest projects!
The Daffodil show is the end of this week, but the week followig he's off for a whole week. I envision it as a sort of 'honey do' vacation; but he might have other (conflicting) thoughts on the subject! :)))))))
Suzy
Suzy - that gorgeous photo by Kattamos is an inspiration for me, too, and I posted it a few months back on a thread.
Hi Illoquin. That picture and thread inspired me as well. Before seeing the thread I didn't even consider using many pots. Now I am hooked since it allows me to plant a lot of tropicals and other plants that I could not normally plant in my area and overwinter them in my garage. Here is a link to the thread.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/563917/
Kattamos really has the touch for growing tropicals in containers and then placing them beautifully, doesn't she!? I remember reading that thread a couple of years ago (?) and I have to go through it again. Yes, excellent inspiration for me, too!
Here are a few containers that I've been babying along this spring time. I haven't been able to grow tulips because of the deer and rabbit infestations here, and also because of the wet wet wet winters that seem to wreak havoc on the few bulbs that escape the critters, so I took a new tack this season. I noticed Lowes had a pre Easter sale of pots of tulips and mixed bulbs for $6. each (eight tulips to a pot) so I bought a few. Then I re-painted some old pots we had under the deck and re-planted the bulbs into them and put them on the back deck. There they are safe from the deer and they add color to the 'all green' view from the breakfast tables.
I bought them when the bulbs were just shoots and now they have grown along nicely. Then, after easter there was a stormy period and I guess Lowes wanted to unload their bulbs so I bought several more pots of 8 bulbs for $3. each and replanted them in repainted old pots. I hope Lowes does this again next year so I can have a few tulips around next spring, too.
Here is one planting in an old wire basket that is under construction. I still need to add the sphagnum moss to cover up the plastic liner. Tulips red and yellow, and pansies, parsley and herbs.
And these tulips work in my $9 Big Lots planter.
And hyacinths (not bothered by the deer) next to the front door. Very frangrant.
And this is my fibreglass bird bath that I repained last year. Still in good shape, but now the electrical went out and the pump won't work (bummer!).
And another cute little pot that is fabulous when the goldfinches and the cardinals eat at the feeders. ('Color echoes', you know!)
And this pic shows tulips in the pot from Lowes. When I bought these they were just eight sprouts for $3. I'd better get busy and find a planter for them.
I had fun renovating and painting these pots and I have several more to go. I think we'll put the patio cushions out this weekend and enjoy the fine weather! Next week I'm going to assemble a copper window box from Smith & Hawkins that I scavenged from a garage sale forthe deck railing. I hope all the parts are there!
tabasco - beautiful pots and flowers. Eleanor
tabasco - beautiful! I love the wire basket.
Tab, I am desperate for the color and kind or brand of paint you used on that birdbath/fountain! I have one that is a horroble color I need to paint!
The tulips are very cheery!
Suzy
Has anyone tried painting pots that plants from nurseries arrive in?
I have a few things that I've moved into former-nursery pots (you know, the black and green ones). The pots are actually pretty decent quality and the perfect sizes for what I wanted. Can you paint with the plants still in there?
Elizabeth
I would take the plants out to paint, or at least cover them with a bag or something. I actually thought about doing this with some of those heavy black pots from the nursery. They are the perfect size (1 gallon I think). I may sand them down a little and paint them with Krylon.