DIY Painted Terra Cotta Pots

I am finally wrapping up my Christmas gift projects and I saved one of my favorites for last. J and I worked together to spray paint two terra cotta pots for my mom. Her backyard currently has a lot of different pots, but none like these. I wasn't sure she would like the paint job so I only painted one side that could easily be turned to face the wall. I knew she would love the shape and color of the terra cotta, though. Fortunately, she does like the gold.

Pots on Mother's back porch, taken Christmas morning

This project is extremely simple, especially if you choose a straightforward design like mine. And I'm sure quite a few of y'all are far more artistic than I am, so get creative! The materials list is also very simple.

Materials
Two terra cotta pots - I bought these for $5.88 each, but they are 50% off right now!
Gold spray paint
Tape - I used masking, but any kind of painters tape should work well
Scrap paper
Pencil

The steps are just as simple. I wanted my center gold stripe to follow the curve of the pot, so I marked off dashes with my pencil the same distance in from the edge. You can see the dash marks in the picture above. Then, I freehanded a curve following the dashes. I taped along the curve using smaller strips of tape. The smaller pieces of tape are better than larger ones because it allows you to really get a curve rather than connected line segments.

Once I got my stripe taped off, I covered the rest of the pot with scrap paper so that the spray paint would not accidentally touch other parts of the pot. I also taped off the top rim of the pot because i only wanted the gold on the outer face. Then I took the pot outside and sprayed it with light layers, allowing for drying in between. One thing to note: the pot face is curved so if you move your spray can in horizontal swipes, you will be closer to one part of the pot than the other. Take into account how close your can is to the pot because you want your spray paint to be even. I thought I had more pictures but I can't find them. This project was a lot of fun, though, and very cheap considering I only had to buy the pots.

Another thing to note: many tutorials mention that the paint may bubble off as you use the pot. Bubbling happens because the terra cotta is porous and water seeps through, which is one of the reasons why plants love it so much. If you don't want this to happen, it's recommended that you seal the inside of the pot. I chose not to do that step because I wanted the plants to still be happy inside the terra cotta. That is why I chose terra cotta in the first place. Also, if my gold paint starts to chip or bubble it will only add to the charm; that look will definitely fit into my mom's outdoor style and I know she prefers her plants to be happy. I will update y'all on any bubbling or flaking, but so far the paint job is in perfect condition.


Enjoy this post? Read about our other DIY projects and gift ideas!

Apartment Decorating: Man Desk

Part of the reason we moved into a larger apartment was so that Mr. 3 could have an at home office.  He is a small business owner, so it's important that he have space to work when he is at home.  I would prefer this space not to be the dining table or the coffee table in the living room, which is where it has been...until now!

We've been working on this room since we moved in, but it has been a long process and the last room in the apartment to get done.  At first, we were keeping all of our unpacked boxes and pictures that needed to be hung in the room.  Once most of that was taken care of, Christmas rolled up and I was keeping a bunch of Christmas stuff in there along with the wedding gifts and other items we had stored at our parents houses and finally retrieved.  We've finally gotten enough of these items taken care of that we can finally start setting up Mr. 3's home office.  Mr. 3 has his grandfather's desk that his dad has been storing for him, but we haven't been able to pick it up when we've gone for a visit.  We weren't sure if the desk would actually fit inside our car to bring it back and since we live 5 hours from his dad, that would be an expensive U-haul trip to return to a different location.  We decided that we would just purchase a 6 ft. folding table from Home Depot so that Mr. 3 could make room for his dual monitors and happily set up for business world domination until we could figure out how to bring the desk back.

When we went this weekend to pick up the table, Mr. 3 got roped into hearing a sales pitch from a Home Depot salesperson on windows, labor rentals, or something of that nature (I didn't feel bad for him though...he wanted the free popcorn that Mr. Home Depot Man was offering up in exchange for listening to him ramble).  Meanwhile, I ran away and perused the front section of Home Depot where they display all their special buys and I came across this instead:

Home Decorators Collection Kelman Writing Desk in Walnut
Image Source: Home Depot

The best part about the desk was the price....$49!!!!!  I couldn't believe it.  It was an attractive desk for about the same price as the folding table we were going to buy.  I liked the desk because I thought it was manly enough for Mr. 3 to enjoy, had shelves that the folding table couldn't provide, and was cheap enough that we could Craigs List it for $30 if we needed to in the future.  Mr. 3 was totally on board with the idea and noted that we could even re-purpose the desk in the future once we have a house (in the distant future)...maybe as a TV stand?

Once we got the desk home (and carried it up two flights of stairs, ugh), we put it together in about an hour using a phillip's head screwdriver and an allen wrench.  This was, by far, the best "assembly required" piece of furniture I've ever put together in all my Ikea purchasing days.  

Parts Kit

The instructions were clear and the pieces were so unbelievably well organized.  All the assembly pieces were clearly marked and neatly organized in clamshell packaging.  There was even a little section for spare parts that had one of each item included in the kit.  When you opened the box, the pieces were organized in order of assembly which matched the instructions perfectly so there was no searching for parts.  The only issue we had was there was one set of holes that would not line up so we were unable to put the screw in; however, it was a middle hole and the rest of the desk was sturdy enough that we didn't feel like we should worry about the desk breaking.

If you are looking for other office pieces, the collection also includes a three-shelf bookcase for $99 and a five-shelf bookcase for $49.  I think the five-shelf bookcase would be great in a living room and looks very Pottery Barn-esque.  These pieces are all available online.  I also spotted one other smaller bookcase in store for $29, but it doesn't look like Home Depot is carrying it online.

We're still working on the room (we still have Christmas stuff to put away) and we are thinking about buying a sleeper sofa so that we can also use the room for guests, so I will keep you updated as we go along.  Until then, here's our inspiration picture for a neat and orderly workspace:

Image Source: Home Depot

But the reality is that I'll be lucky if I don't kill myself trying not to trip over all the "command center" computer cords.  

I was surprised to find furniture for the home office, since I mainly see sinks, tile, and toilets in this section usually.  Anyone else found any good buys or unexpected surprises at Home Depot?

Happy Martin Luther King Day

For those of you with today off, I hope you are thoroughly enjoying your three day weekend. Melinda spent her weekend preparing for and hosting a birthday party for her husband so today she should be relaxing. I don't have the day off, so today is just a normal Monday for me. However, I had a waffle brunch yesterday after church which was a lot of fun. We are excited to share both events with you in the upcoming days!

Paint Store Brainstorming

Over the past few weeks, I have started working with my dad on our paint store. We have been discussing all kinds of business things like new Point-of-Sale software, inventory, and various upgrades. It is actually quite fascinating but not what Posh Purpose is about. I do have a reason for bringing it up, though! I asked if we could repaint the interior. You will see why very shortly. Fortunately, the answer was yes but we are holding off until more important things are sorted out. And even better, repainting is on the list of Posh Purpose approved topics!

You can see the red and the green walls that surround our paint chip displays. Not pictured is a very unfortunate shade of khaki. I'm sorry, I should rephrase. The khaki is unfortunate for the space and there are definitely better options the red/green combo. All three colors would be wonderful in the right setting, but I have decided that Scosta Supply and Paint is not it.

While I get to work, I will be thinking about my many color options. We carry both Benjamin Moore and PPG paint (and we are the only locally owned paint store in the county, for those of you in central Florida) so our color selection is wonderful. I know the baseboards will no longer be white when I get done. White baseboards get scuffed up very quickly in high traffic areas, so ours will be going darker. Choosing the paint colors for our store is a challenge for me; I love picking colors, but I never ever work with brown (check out that tile). My mom suggested I think of what outfit colors I pair with brown. Well, I only own one brown item - a skirt that I wear with a dusty rose top and some really awesome heels. I really only bought the skirt for the shoes. You know how that goes, right? So anyway, dusty rose is definitely a paint option.

As for other visual upgrades, I will be recovering those chair cushions. I never pass up an opportunity to use a staple gun and the current fabric has been around for quite some time. Melinda suggested getting a rug to go under the table and chairs to anchor it in the room. We also discussed what we could add to the table to make it more enjoyable for ladies to whittle down their paint options while still allowing them plenty of space to spread out. As I begin implementing these decisions, I will keep y'all updated! And definitely share any tips on those paint colors.

Decorating Apartment Walls: The Dining Room

As I've mentioned in several posts before, Mr. 3 and I moved into a new apartment back in September which was covered in wall-to-wall white carpeting, white vertical blinds, and lots of white paint.  I'm sure this isn't much different from most apartment rentals, but staring at all that white space is a bit daunting when you think about trying to get some rental friendly color up on the wall without being able to actually paint or wallpaper it!  In our old place, the dining room was part of the larger living area, so I didn't need more than one picture on the walls to brighten up. However, in the new place, the dining room is its own separate space with two big white walls and those icky vertical blinds covering the pretty windows.  I didn't want to spend tons of money trying to fix up these walls, because I'm hoping that the next time we move we will get a new dining room table and chairs (the optimist in me also hopes that the next time we move, we will be buying not renting and painting won't be a problem...but we are still a few years away from that goal!).

I considered a lot of different options including removable wallpaper (too expensive!), framing regular wallpaper or fabric and making paneling (lots of labor involved), and just slapping up some prints from World Market or Home Goods (couldn't find what I wanted).  Finally, I spotted these:

Magnolia Plates
$12-$22
Image Source: Arhaus 

Which look like this when grouped together and hung on a wall:

Image Source: Arhaus

I instantly fell in love with this look and headed over to Tysons Corner mall where there is a brick and mortar Arhaus to see if they had any flowers in stock.

Arhaus Tyson's Corner
Image Source: Arhaus

They had the plates and they had even more colors than are pictured online.  I wound up getting a total of 6 plates (plus another one for a different wall project, which I'll be blogging about more soon!).  I reused a mirror I had in our old apartment and hung the six flowers around it.  Here's how it turned out:

The brown and white plates had pre-made holes in the back of them and the store had already run fishing line through them to hang up in the store display (which by the way was amazing!), but the two blue plates didn't.  The very helpful sales lady at Arhaus told me that the ones with the pre-drilled holes could be hung using a simple nail and she suggested I buy plate holders to hang up the two blue plates.  We grabbed some picture hooks and found our plate holders at Home Depot for about $2 each.  When we hung them up, we found that the gold hooks on the plate holder blended in nicely with the flower petal lines.

Here's the finished room:

Mr. 3's cousins gave us their dining room chairs when they moved away from DC.  They are in excellent condition and we were grateful that they were free!  Red isn't usually the color I veer towards when it comes to home decor since I'm much more of a cool tone type of girl (red shoes and handbags...completely different story!), so we will probably have the chairs recovered when we set up shop in our forever home one day.  Rather than doing all white flowers, I chose two other colors to brighten up the wall.  The brown made sense because it goes with our main tablecloth (which is from World Market) and blended with the mirror.  Mr. 3's favorite color is blue and I thought it would be a great way to introduce a new color into the room with out being another earth tone.  If you've been following me on Instagram (and you should! @poshpurpose), you know that I bought this new tablecloth from Target to bring more blue into the room.

Target Threshold Tablecloth
70" Round
$16.99

I've left the brown tablecloth on for now because I'm throwing Mr. 3 a birthday party on Saturday involving ribs and bourbon...but not BBQ stains on my pretty new tablecloth (more on that party next week!).  Much better right?  Here's a cost breakdown of my dining room decorations:

Mirror: Free! (Well, sort of. I've had the mirror for 5 years and I think I paid $30 for it when I bought it from Burlington Coat Factory)
Wall Flowers:
- Brown Magnolias: $35.20
- White Dogwoods: $19.20
- Blue Magnolias: $19.20
Plate Hangers & Hooks: about $6
New Tablecloth: $16.99
Total: $96.59 (plus tax)

Not too shabby considering that includes wall decorations aaaaand a tablecloth.  Most of the prints and other larger mirrors I was considering were in the $80 range.  Mr. 3 also noted that if I wanted to eventually have that feature wall look, I could buy 1-2 plates every once in awhile until I have enough to do the really closely clustered look in the inspiration picture above.

I also want to take the time to say how wonderful shopping at Arhaus was for me!  This was my first time in the store to actually purchase something specific, and I think I have been in there maybe 3 other times before just to kill time.  The sales lady was so helpful in finding the flowers for me, pulling them off the store display, and giving me tips on how to hang them!  She also showed me how I could buy this plate stand later and put the plates on the stand to make a tiered serving dish if I didn't want to hang them on the wall in future homes.

The woman also saved me some moo-lah! She told me that they were having a Friends and Family 20% off entire store discount in 3 days, but if I came back with my receipt that they could give me a price adjustment and take 20% off (which I did - prices above reflect discount).  Finally, while she was carefully wrapping my plates and putting them in an extremely durable and reuseable bag she answered all my questions about their sources for furniture and their construction standards (Lots of American made and Italian made, mixed in with some things from India and China.  No MDF.  Solid hardwood construction for all the upholstered furniture.)  The other impressive feature in the store was the upholstery room which was full of swatches for all their custom furniture.  I can't say anything but positive things about my experience with Arhaus!  Anyone else had good luck with them?  What do you think of my wall?  I'm so glad to be rid of those completely white walls!  The also give me something pretty to look at to avoid staring at those heinous vertical blinds.

Stay tuned for more articles on my living room gallery wall and bedroom collage!