Faux Stone Painted Plastic Flower Pot Tutorial // Recycle Your Flower Pots!


Hey friends! If this project isn’t transforming something from cheap to chic, I don’t know what is! I had this idea over the weekend to “artify” my boring flower pots. Actually, I feel weird even calling them flower pots because although that is what they are, they are really just those ugly plastic containers that hold your flowers before you plant them. The whole idea is usually to just throw those away, but I say why not recycle them into something you can use!?

Here’s how you make them. All you will need is some sand paper, newspaper, a paint brush or two, a primer, a light grey base paint (or whatever colour you like, as long as it’s lighter), another darker shade for the texture, and a black paint. I used paint I had left over from painting my house for this project.

You’ll want to start by sanding your pot. Yes, this is what it looked like “before”! Sanding gets rid of that shiny coating and makes the paint adhere to it better.

Prime your pot with a latex primer. Don’t forget to do the inside, or at least enough of the inside that may be visible.

Once the primer is dry (I did this outside so everything dried super quick in the sun!), paint on your base layer. Mine was a light grey. I did two coats.

Next, grab your darker shade (mine was a teal colour as that’s all I had available), and crinkle up a piece of newspaper. Dab the newspaper into the paint, then dab it onto another piece of newspaper to get rid of some of the paint. Then go nuts and blot the paint all over your pot.

When that is dry, mix a black paint with water to create a wash and apply it to the pot…

While it’s still wet, blot it off with a rag. The black will stick to some of the lighter areas and give it that stone effect.

Once that is done, dip your paintbrush into the black wash again and lightly tap the brush over your pot to create a splatter effect. You might want to practice this on a piece of paper or something first to get the hang of it.


You’re done! It might be a good idea to finish this with a clear varnish if you plan on keeping your plants outdoors.

Hope you liked this tutorial! Is this something you think you could do??!

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By Dana Fox

Founder of the Wonder Forest blog and brand and bestselling author of the Watercolor With Me book series.

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