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PRESTO CHANGO POT TRANSFORMATION

March 6, 2017

When I set about doing this project, I planned on doing a long, involved tutorial on the blog. As it turns out, it was just about the easiest project I’ve ever done so no tutorial is needed.

Remember these pots I found on a super sale in fall at the Restoration Hardware outlet?

I knew when I bought them that the color wouldn’t work at my house. I think it would be lovely in a lot of places, but they just look like big bananas in my yard. I searched the Internet unsuccessfully for a DIY solution for staining pots so I ended up just kind of winging it.

I sanded them lightly with 220-grit sandpaper and then I stained them with Minwax Classic Gray stain (affiliate link) (the half-pint container was enough for two pots). I tried out several combinations of Weathered Gray, Classic Gray and those with other colors mixed in and ended up liking plain old Classic Gray the best.

I used a saturated staining pad to quickly cover the pots, let them sit for a minute or two and then buffed them with a rag to remove any excess stain. I liked the color after one coat, but once it dried it was too light so I did another coat. But that coat didn’t go on very evenly, so I ended up doing three coats.

After three coats of Minwax Classic Gray stain.

After they dried thoroughly, I ran the hose over them to see if the stain would wash out and it didn’t. So that’s all I’m going to do to them. I can’t be sure how this will hold up but if some of the stain fades I’m OK with a mottled effect as well. In the end, they ended up a little darker than I had hoped, but I think it will be fine and it’s much better than the original color.

‘Windermere‘ starts as cream but fades to white and is said to have great fragrance.

The plan for these pots are a pair of ‘Windermere’ roses at the corner where the patio meets the driveway apron. I’ll underplant them with annuals, especially for the first few years while they are getting established. I’ve had great luck with the ‘Prairie Snowdrift’ rose that I’ve been growing in a pot and overwintering in the unheated garage, so I’ll treat these the same.

Until I get a chance to see how my stain job holds up I guess I can’t really vouch for this method, but if it works it’ll be about the easiest project I’ve done.

containers DIY how-to
by Erin @ The Impatient Gardener 
13 Comments

About Erin @ The Impatient Gardener

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previous post: FRIDAY FINDS
next post: THE SHRUB QUEEN

Comments

  1. Vanessa says: March 7, 2017 at 12:15 am

    I'm interested to see how well stain holds up over a season – spray paint is usually only good for a season, but I feel like stain would last longer?

    Reply
    • Erin Schanen says: March 7, 2017 at 5:04 pm

      The stain definitely seems to have absorbed into the pot so that should help, but I guess only time will tell. I figure I can always add more stain later if I really have to.

      Reply
  2. Garden4Dinner says: March 7, 2017 at 5:13 am

    I love the color and transformation. I am interested also in how they look at the end of the season.

    Reply
    • Erin Schanen says: March 7, 2017 at 5:03 pm

      Me too! I'm just hoping there's not a puddle of stain on the patio two weeks in.

      Reply
  3. Lynn Pritchard says: March 7, 2017 at 1:06 pm

    Great color and looks good with your aggregate..

    Reply
    • Erin Schanen says: March 7, 2017 at 5:02 pm

      Thanks, Lynn!

      Reply
  4. Lisa Greenbow says: March 7, 2017 at 3:44 pm

    I love the color. Are these things plastic? If so I am surprised that stain stuck to them. INteresting. I will be curious to see how the color holds up.

    Reply
    • Erin Schanen says: March 7, 2017 at 5:02 pm

      They are fiberclay, which is sort of ceramic (pottery? terracotta but not?) mixed with fiberglass on the inside to make them lighter and more frost resistant. The outside is smooth like a clay pot.

      Reply
  5. Ms. Wis./Each Little World says: March 7, 2017 at 4:49 pm

    Stunning rose and it will look great with the pot. Have you thought of something with gray or silver leaves to trail over the edge?

    Reply
    • Erin Schanen says: March 7, 2017 at 5:01 pm

      Ooh, I think that would be a lovely combination. Good idea!

      Reply

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The Impatient Gardener

Do you love gardening? Me too! I'm Erin and I garden in Southeastern Wisconsin, zone 5. The Impatient Gardener is all about real-life gardening: the good parts, the bad bits and even the funny stuff. It's part information, part inspiration and a little bit commiseration. Thanks for visiting.

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Erin Schanen 🌿 The Impatient Gardener
I fell in love with gardening through container de I fell in love with gardening through container design and it’s probably still my favorite type of gardening. My trip to Philadelphia area gardens was full of so many excellent ideas. For several years I’ve been enamored with clustered pots, but in my opinion they work best when they are able to stand alone in a space. And you probably know me well enough by now to know that as far as I’m concerned, the bigger the pot, the better. Feast your eyes on these beauties and use your zooming fingers to really get into those nooks and crannies. 

Don’t forget to save your favorites because you know you’re going to be looking for them come next spring. 😀

Photos 1 & 2: Amazing container cluster at @longwoodgardens  that works particularly well because of the restraint used in the design. Also how many different ways is the universe going to tell me I need to grow agave before I actually listen?

Photo 3: This was probably favorite display I saw the whole time and of course it’s from the masters at @chanticleergarden This is a master class in texture. It’s also probably not attainable for the average home gardener because it relies heavily on tropicals that need proper overwintering in order to reach a good size. But there’s no reason why I (or you) couldn’t use this as inspiration to create a similar feel with other plants. 

Photo 4: Strappy foliage, bright orange and colorful pots create such a good doorway collection at @chanticleergarden 

Photo 5, 6 & 7: Similar colors were used at a patio doorway at Steve and Ann Hutton’s Owl Creek Farm home garden. A pot is perfectly framed by an arbor off a side patio. The front entrance has a pink theme (and an amazing feature pot that I couldn’t show here because all my shots are vertical). 

Photo 8: Back to @chanticleergarden where I could have studied this container planting for an hour just to soak up all the detail. 

Photo 9: And while I love a pot with a lot going on, never underestimate the power of a simply planted, gorgeous pot, like this one at @abunting64 garden Belvidere. 

#gbfling2023
I think every garden probably needs a little bit o I think every garden probably needs a little bit of water, even if it’s just a bird bath. All of the fabulous gardens I saw recently in the Philadelphia area incorporated water into them. Here are just a few examples of how lovely these water features were. 

@paxsonhillfarm @northviewgarden @brandywinecottage @longwoodgardens #gbfling2023
Gardens must have places to relax and enjoy the vi Gardens must have places to relax and enjoy the view even though we all know that most of us rarely take the opportunity to use them. The seating I saw in gardens in the Philadelphia area reflected their gardens and all were special. 

Make sure to share your favorite!

Photo 1:  I adored these perfectly lichen-covered chairs at @brandywinecottage

Photo 2: Great lichen game on this bench at Wayne Guymon’s mind-blowing garden WynEden. 

Photo 3: Perhaps my favorite seating moment of the whole trip was this chair in @jennyrosecarey @northviewgarden . Not only was it perfectly lichen covered (are you sensing a theme here?) but a volunteer cleome was growing right up through the middle of it. Unfortunately this photo of it isn’t grata because by this point in the trip my phone (I didn’t want to use my DSLR in the middle of the tropical storm so I switched to my phone) was getting very grumpy about the rain. 

Photo 4: I’d be happy to hang out on these chairs in @abunting64 ‘s gorgeous garden Belvidere. I loved this space. 

Photo 5: Color was the name of the game on this patio at Steve and Ann Hutton’s Owl Creek Farm. 

Photo 6: The most original table and benches I saw were at @abunting64 garden. This was a portion of the garden that was actually on the neighbors’ property adjacent to Andrew’s. It had been a vegetable garden but is getting a bit too shady so it will soon have a new life. 

Photo 7: We visited Barbara Tiffany’s Mill Fleurs in a deluge, which is a shame, and dotted throughout the property are examples of her husband Tiff’s amazing furniture. This was, called the Centipede was upholstered and quite different from the others. All were amazing works of art. 

Photos 8 and 9: The @scott_arboretum at @swarthmorecollege had some excellent seating, from brand new @deebenarc chairs to more lichen-covered charmers.

#gbfling2023
*** I can already see that some people do not unde *** I can already see that some people do not understand humor so let me just say this: 1. I was fully aware of the escaped convict situation (I’m an avid follower of the news, which is common for us journalists). 2. It’s ok to laugh about the fact that I’ve missed the Longwood meadow twice through weird circumstances while being a rational adult and realizing that I’m not making light of the situation that led to the meadow being mown. ***

I missed seeing @longwoodgardens beautiful meadow the first time I visited so I was excited to see it the second time. Not so fast! Turns out it had to be mown down during the search for an escaped convict who was hiding out there (at least that’s what I was told was the reason for the mowing). He’ll never see goldenrod the same way again! 😀

That whole situation was really unfortunate for @longwoodgardens (not to mention everyone who lives in the area), which had to be closed for about a week while the hunt was on!
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