Upcycled Terra Cotta Pot Project

     This has been the hardest post ever to get up! I've had my pots painted and in my bathroom for weeks, but for some reason, every picture I've tried to load has fought me tooth and nail for weeks not wanting to be posted. No clue what the deal has been, but here it is, FINALLY!

     So, this is my first project attempt from Pinterest! Yay! Here's the original picture. I tried to imbed from Pinterest itself, but it screwed my blog up, so if you're looking for a source you can add me and check out my boards!

Terra cotta pot q-tip, cotton ball, and soap holders

     Materials:

Terra cotta pots in the sizes you want

      (I got two small ones, one each for q-tips and cottonballs)

Terra cotta water tray

      (I got a small one for soap, you can get some to go under pots if you like)

White/black paint for base coat

Colored paint - I used a pearlescent green and then a teal glitter topcoat.

Clear spray paint

Any decorative elements (Rhinestones, ribbon, etc.)

Sidenote: If you want to do this project, now is a great time. Walmart has their terra cotta pots marked down to something like 50 cents per pot and you can get all kinds of decorating stuff in the Christmas section super cheap.

    

     Step one: Area prep! Lay some newspapers or plastic down where you'll be painting, or go outside. Get a little paint palette or paper plate ready for your paints and some brushes handy. I used some cheap plastic bristle, inch wide craft brushes.

     Step two: Make sure your pots are clean. No price stickers or dirt. They don't have to be washed or anything, just ready to paint.

     Step three: Base coat. I used white because my final color was fairly bright. Use black if you're going for a dark color. It doesn't have to be a perfect coat, and doesn't need to be thick. Just barely cover, but make sure you cover ALL the terra cotta. Let this dry.

     Step four: Color coat. These are the colors I used.

Folk Art Metallic Emerald and Teal Glitter Glue

     First, you want to paint your pots and tray with the flat color. I did two coats, one relatively smooth and the second to smooth over and cover any imperfections from the first one. If you do the coats pretty thin, they don't take any time at all to dry.

This is two coats of Metallic Emerald, fully dry.

This is my soap dish with its glitter coat.

Add your clear spray paint coat. This is one of my all time favorite art supplies. Great sealant, great for making stuff pretty and shiny.

Pots with their clear coats

One pot holds cotton balls and q-tips...because we all secretly hate fishing around under the cabinet and in drawers for them.

The tray holds our hand soap.

And the other pot holds our toothbrushes, toothpaste, and scissors (gotta have those for trimming bangs, cutting tags off, whatnot). Best toothbrush holder ever by the way, you can actually stand your toothpaste in it instead of having it laying out on the counter.

This is the finished products! The tray they're sitting on is one of my favorite thrift finds...its a mosaic printed leaf in all different teal shades that I found on clearance at TJMaxx.