DIY Painted Cacti Pots.
My love for cacti hasn’t gone unnoticed by you lot, I think I have quite the collection of these little guys by now – I always pick up a pack or two every time I’m in IKEA as they’re just so darn adorable.
As I’m in the middle of redecorating my bedroom, I thought I would paint a few pots for my windowsill. These started out as a practice attempt in order to prep for painting for some HUGE pots I’ve got coming, but they all turned out so well so I just kept making more.
It’s worth mentioning that I’m not at all arty – I really can’t draw at all, and I don’t have a lot of patience for creative things, but these were super easy. I think because they don’t have to be perfect, anyone can make some really cute designs.
Toolkit:
black sharpie pen
Rustoleum Metallic Copper Spray Paint
Rustoleum Gold Spray Paint
coral acrylic paint
black acrylic paint
IKEA mini cacti
masking tape
small paint brushes
It really was so simple, you just need to come up with a few ideas for designs first. I started by doing little X’s on one pot, all the way around so they were scattered. On another I did a herringbone print, which is one of my favourite patterns – all I did for this was draw three rough lines right around the bottom of the pot, a few cms apart. I filled in the top section with slanted lines going one way, and the bottom section with the lines going the other way.
I also used a sharpie pen to do a little scalloped detail all around the top of one of the cacti pots, again so easy and oh so cute.
For some of the pots, I used spray paint to spray them all using the metallic paint. I went for gold and copper because they match the rest of my metallic house, but any hue would work. The spray paint can be messy, so open a window (if you can’t do it outside!) and put down an old sheet. Follow the directions on the can and maybe wear gloves if possible, things get covered in the stuff. I tend to put the pot on the end of something long and thin, usually the spout of my watering can (genuinely) so that I can cover all sides. A plastic ice cream lid would work though.
For the half painted pots, I used masking tape or just free-hand. I like a ‘cartoon’ kind of style, so most of these were done freehand, I think they look better that way. If you’re using a brush, just go round carefully to create a sort of messy line and then fill in one half. If you’re using masking tape, make sure to stick it down really well, so there’s absolutely no gaps for the paint to escape through – because it will! Remember to cover the whole side with masking tape too.
Use the masking tape method for creating shapes too – I made a black triangle on one, it took seconds. On the scalloped coral one above, I did it by hand – just make swooping circular arches with the brush and fill ‘em in.
Play around with designs, have some fun with it. I am so tempted to do another bunch for the windowsill in my room, but I think I’ll settle for getting the huge pots done first. I can’t wait to have giant versions of these soon.
Hope you enjoyed one of the only DIYs I’ve ever done on here. If you try it, make sure to tag me in pictures – I’m on Instagram here.
