How to Customize Your Flower Pots for a Fresh Look Every Year

Planting flowers in pots and containers is a great way to have a completely customizable garden every year and is a perfect option for those with a small yard or no yard at all. You can change out the kinds of flowers you plant, how you arrange the pots and even what the pots themselves look like.

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Maybe you’ve never thought about decorating your flower pots. Who doesn’t love the classic look of a clay flower pot, right? But decorating the pots can quickly add a splash of color and character to your porch, patio or garden. You can add a whimsical atmosphere to your backyard landscape with bright colors and designs, or you can opt for a more sophisticated look with metallic spray paints. Decorating flower pots is also a great craft activity you can do with your kids, and it doesn’t just have to be done in the spring—the containers can get a fresh look for fall plantings too.
Here are some ideas to help you get started. In the end, you’re only limited by your imagination, so be as creative and experimental as you’d like!

Easiest Method: Spray Paint
Spray paint is by far the easiest and fastest method for decorating flower pots, and you don’t need to have any artistic flair to do it. It’s a great way to quickly change the look of your flower pots from year to year.

The most important thing is to use spray paint in a well-ventilated area since the fumes can be quite strong. Find a paint that is suitable for the surface you want to cover for best results. For example, wooden, clay, plastic and ceramic pots may require different paints with different properties in order to ensure that the paint sticks.

To get started, clean the surface of the container according to the product’s instructions. Apply a base coat in one color. Let it dry, and then add a second coat if needed. Once the paint is fully dry, use stencils to add designs. Alternatively, add painter’s tape to create a fun pattern, like a simple criss-cross, and spray paint over the entire pot again in a new color. Peel away the tape to reveal the base color. Repeat as much often as you want and with as many different colors as you want.

The effect can be quite mesmerizing!
When you’re all done and the final layer of paint has completely dried, apply a coat of sealant to protect the paint from weather damage.

Hand Painting Flower Pots
For those who want to add a more personal touch to their flower pots, hand painting is a great option. It’s easiest to start by spraying on a base coat, but from there you can use paint brushes, sponges and stencils to create a one-of-a-kind container.

Because you will be painting on top of a base coat of paint, the type of paint you choose for your hand-made creations is a little more flexible (paint always sticks well to paint). Just be sure to follow up with a coat of sealant to protect your hard work.

Some ideas for what you can paint onto the flower pot include inspirational messages, funky shapes like spirals or zing-zags, animals, rain drops, a beach scene or a sunset, and virtually anything else that strikes your fancy. You can even use a sea sponge to create interesting splashes of color.

If you have children, it’s fun to add their hand-prints to the pot. You can even create one pot for each year so that your child can see how much she has grown over the years.

Another fun approach is to “splash” paint onto the flowerpot. You do this by getting a brush wet with paint and then flicking it at the pot. This is of course a messy method, but it results in some truly unique creations.

Gluing on Decorations
A third option is to glue other materials onto the pot. For example, contact paper comes in all kinds of designs, which you can adhere to the planting container in a jiffy. At first glance it will look like you hand-painted an intricate pattern onto the pot all by yourself!

Bits and pieces of tiles can be glued onto the pot to make mosaics. Choose different colors of tiles and place them strategically to create a recognizable image. It’s best to lay the tiles out on a flat surface beforehand in order to make sure it looks correct before you glue it onto the pot.

Choose glue that is made to stick to the material your pot is made out of. For best results, apply a glaze over top of everything you’ve applied in order to protect the glue from the weather.

Fabric, ribbon, tissue paper, pebbles and more can all be used to create an interesting collage on the pot. As long as you use an appropriate sealant, these materials will hold up even in the rain.

Finding Unique Flower Pots
Decorating your flower pots is just one way to add character to your garden. Many containers can be re-purposed into a mobile garden, such as watering cans, wheelbarrows, charcoal grills, canvas bags, jars, pitchers, tires, rubber boots, buckets, tea pots, woks, water troughs and so much more. If it looks like it can hold some potting soil, it can be a flower pot. You’ll need to add drainage holes to prevent the soil from being water logged, but otherwise you can turn just about anything into a functional flower pot without much fuss. Once you’ve chosen a unique vessel, it’s time to start decorating!

Cathy Habas is an avid gardener who loves to find new ways to express her creative side. She writes professionally on a variety of topics, including home improvement, landscaping and construction.

By: Cathy Habas