How to Make Pretty Painted Flower Pots

Figure Out the Design

You might be asking yourself if this is worth an entire step. We're here to tell you it absolutely is. Getting started with no plan and no inspiration will lead to mistakes that you might not be able to cover up. Take a minute to do a few little sketches of how you want your pots to look, especially if you'll be making more than one. If you want to go even further, try painting out some of the designs you'll be making on your pot just to get a feel for them. Practice makes perfect and it's way better than having to cover up a mistake.

Tape Off Your Pots

This isn't always a necessary step; it really depends on whether or not you want to do a colored rim or a crisp line instead of something more abstract. If that's the case you're going to need to use painter's tape. Place it on the terracotta pot and on the edge you want to paint, run your thumb over the edge to make sure it adheres completely.

Paint Your Pot and Allow to Dry

Get your paint together and then get started! It makes sense to have a variety of brushes on hand to vary the types of lines or dots you want. Just keep in mind that you'll want to start on one side and work towards the other to avoid smudging. If you're going to overlap colors start with a neutral color on the bottom and then work up to darker colors so it properly covers, working in the reverse will make it really hard to cover spots of darker colors. To make abstract leopard spots, start by placing a brown dot, let them dry and then put three black dots over top towards one side.

Then figure out which little plants to add to each pot, make sure you give them plenty of room to grow!