DIY aged terracotta pots…

I can’t believe this is the first blog post I’ve written this year, shame on me after having a word with myself at the tail end of last year about writing more consistently. I have been suffering with a lot of sinus pain since Christmas, started a new job (which I love btw) and we have also been having internet issues but I won’t bore you with my excuses, I’m here now, so let’s get this show on the road.

One thing I want to enhance on my blog is the DIY tutorial section, I mean who doesn’t love a cheeky weekend project that is easy to do, (I’m not referring to my beaded chandelier tutorial by the way, that one was a bitch to make) so today I’m bringing you a really simple tutorial and showing you how to age your terracotta pots.

Terracotta pots are so versatile, I love them! When I see photos of them on insta and Pinterest I’m particularly drawn to the ones that look a bit knackered, you know that chalky stain, bit of dirt and a few chips look.

The terracotta colour can look at bit too orange, especially the Ikea ones so I want to tone that down a bit and give them some character.

Let me start by telling you a few places you can get hold of some pots, Ikea is great as mentioned above, failing that any garden centre or home improvement store will do, they are cheap as chips too!

First of all you need to gather your materials.

You will need…

• Terracotta pots
• A small pot of Annie Sloan white chalk paint
• A pot of water (I used a large plastic plant pot)
• A sanding block or sand paper
• Some tissue paper or a cloth

First you need to wet your paint brush and roughly paint where you want the chalky finish to be on the pot.

Then add a spoonful of white paint to the water in the pot. Make sure you don’t have too much water otherwise it will be too diluted.

Next you need to dip the painted pot in to the water so that it allow the paint to run.

Remove the pot from the water and dab dry with the tissue paper or cloth.

Then you will notice you may have some lines or drip marks making it look unnatural so this is where you will need your sandpaper.

Sand any areas where the Chalk Paint needs blending in. This will help it look like it has aged naturally.

And there you have it, aged chalky terracotta pots.

You can also add some Annie Sloan dark wax to them to make them look even more aged, which I may do in the future.

I hope I have inspired you to try this small project yourself.

Until next time

Hayley x