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Have you ever been at the store and fallen in love with something, but it was the wrong color or finish? Well, that is exactly what happened to me. I fell in love with this grecian bust pot but I knew that I could make it what I wanted. After living with it for a while the way it was, I finally decided to give it a makeover and WOW – am I happy I did.
If you are someone that is interested in DIY but often times feels intimidated, this is a great place to start. This DIY is super easy, forgiving and customizable.
I found this grecian bust pot (head planter, goddess bust planter – whatever you want to call it) at TJ MAXX. I had really been wanting one, but I couldn’t find one that I loved. Well, I loved this one enough to take it home and thought that I could give it a makeover to make is more my style.
Honestly, this DIY was so easy and I am just amazed at how beautiful it looks now!
What’s great is that it is completely customizable: paint color, texture of the paint, adding the patina, he flowers – it’s all up to you to make it perfect for your home and style. So, if you’re interested then keep following along!
This post is all about DIY grecian bust pot.
Grecian Bust Pot
Step One: Get a vessel
This is the vessel I used but you can use this painting technique on literally ANYTHING! You will be amazed at how a basic pot or planter can be transformed with a little paint and creativity.
I have found pots at Goodwill or the thrift store for $3 and made them look like a $200 vintage piece.
Ok, so once you have your vessel we are ready to start!
Step two: Paint!
For this step we will be using paint (duh) and baking soda. The paint color I chose was Black fox which is a dark brownish gray that I thought would be perfect for this project.
I just put a little paint in a cup or on a disposable plate and I added in some baking soda. Now, the amount of baking soda you add is up to you. The more you add, the thicker and more texture it will give to your piece. I added a pretty good amount for the amount of paint I had. It probably ended up being a 50/50 ratio because I really wanted to add a lot of texture.
I am going to try to add the reel from my instagram so that you can get a better idea of how much I used.
Once the paint is mixed, paint your vessel using a stippling technique, again, to add even more texture.
Once that is done we move onto the next step…
Step Three: Add Patina
I added patina 2 ways: Adding soil and adding chalk. And no, I’m not talking about adding soil to inside the planter. I rubbed soil all over the outside of the pot. This creates such a BEAUTIFUL and natural finish. I also think that if you use miracle gro and then spritz it with water, it will start growing a little bit of moss. I am currently testing this out but how amazing would that be?!
After I was done rubbing on the dirt, I rubbed on some crushed up chalk dust to add a little bit of highlight. This really made it look like that perfectly old, dusty vintage vessel look that we’re going for.
Now, these are the two methods I used and I was really happy with the look, but you can also use paint. I would grab a color one or two shades lighter than the color you used and also grab a cream color. Using a crush, stipple these on but be very careful not to overdo it. You will hardly want any product on your brush. Remember, you can always add more! Be creative! There is no exact science to this other than what YOU like.
Step Four: Add Flowers
Once your pot is to your liking it is time to add flowers. I used these beautiful dried florals that I got from a local shop and I encourage you to buy local and support small shops. If you don’t have any place around you that sells dried florals I would try hobby lobby, amazon, michaels or Jo ann fabrics.
All I did here was use a block of styrofoam so that the stems had somewhere to hold onto and couldn’t just fall out. It was so fun to arrange all of these florals. It really is such a great way to be creative.
After this you are done!
I am so happy with how this turned out and look forward to making more of these! Just think of all of the possibilities for just the painting technique: lamps, ceramics, vases, pots… Such a great way to recycle old pieces.
Thank you for coming along with me as I refinished this grecian bust pot. Follow along for more DIYs and cozy home decor.
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[…] DIY can definitely be intimidating, but there are so many that are super easy! We DIYed a huge mirror that would have cost us $200-$300 easily, but we ended up only spending $20 because we built the frame ourselves. I gave a grecian bust and many vases a makeover with paint & baking soda and you would be amazed at how expensive they look now! See my blog post on that here. […]