• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • DIY
  • INTERIORS
  • PRINTABLES
  • Shop
  • FOOD
  • PARTY
  • KIDS
  • About
  • Work with me

DIY home decor - Your DIY Family

Scandinavian DIYs and home decor ideas

  • Shop
  • My account
  • Basket
  • Checkout
  • Shipping & Returns
You are here: Home / DIY / DIY: cheats way to age terracotta pots

June 27, 2019

DIY: cheats way to age terracotta pots

quick way to age terracotta pots

I love, love having plants especially inside my home because I think plants add so much to any interior space.  But I’ve always resisted because I can’t seem to ever keep them alive. Recently I decided to try again but as I normally fail in their upkeep, I didn’t want to spend much on the plants or the pots.  So I bought cheap plants and the cheapest terracotta post I could find.

I’m not a fan of the bright terracotta colour of the pots so I thought I would age them somehow.  There is the smearing yogurt method but that takes ages so I decided to take a shortcut and cheat. This cheats way to age terracotta pots is really quick and I’m pleased with the results.  It may not be as authentic as naturally aged pots, but I wanted these plant pots in my home right now so this was the best way I could think of getting rid of the bright orangey/red colour.

painted terracotta pots for aged look

Cheats way to age terracotta plant pots

Materials:
terracotta pots
sand paper or sanding block
acrylic paints – white, burnt umber, yellow ochre & lemon yellow
paint brush

1. Sand down your terracotta pots quite well
2. Paint the pots in white using long brush strokes – you want to keep the coverage pretty uneven.
3. Leave the pots to dry and then sand again.
4. Mix white with other acrylic paints. Use approximately 6 parts white to 2 parts burnt umber and 1 part yellow ochre and 1 part lemon yellow. You are looking for a darkish nude colour as per the pictures.
5. Paint the pots with this mixed paint keeping coverage a bit uneven so that a bit of the white shows through.
6. Leave to dry and sand the pots again.

I mixed up the paint separately for each pot as I wanted them all to look slightly different in tone to keep them looking more authentic. I didn’t bother to paint the inside as it won’t be seen.

Here’s a quick video showing the different stages of ageing these terracotta pots:

As you can see it’s really quick to cheat your way to aged terracotta pots. I’m keeping these pots inside my home so I didn’t bother with a waterproof varnish but if you’re going to leave them outside then you’ll probably need to varnish too.

age terracotta pots

how to age terracotta pots

Are you great at looking after plants? Please share your tips in the comments below – I need all the help I can get.

Pin
Tweet
Share

Filed Under: DIY Tagged With: diy for the home, diy home decor, DIY ideas for the home, easy DIYs, paint DIY, plants

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Enjoy my blog? Then why not

SUBSCRIBE

scandi style eco-friendly stationery

About Your DIY Family

Hi! I’m Nomita.  Do you love warm minimal Scandinavian interiors?  Then you’ve come to the right place. I’m here to show you how you too can create a cosy, clutter-free home where everything you own is both beautiful and useful to you.

 

AS SEEN IN:

BUY ECO-FRIENDLY STATIONERY

  • A5 notebook with a grid pattern £11.00
  • minimal Scandi gift wrap sustainable gift wrapping paper (type print) £5.00
  • sustainable gift wrap sustainable gift wrapping paper (grid print) £5.00
  • colour block gift wrap sustainable gift wrapping paper (colour block) £5.00
  • A5 notebook in black and white A5 notebook in black and white dots pattern £11.00

Categories

  • DIY
  • FEATURED
  • FOOD
  • INTERIORS
  • KIDS
  • PARTY
  • PRINTABLES

Footer

About Your DIY Family

Looking for easy and affordable creative ideas for the whole family? Then you will feel right at home here.

I’m Nomita and together with my family, we share DIY and design ideas for families who wants to get more creative, quickly. And besides, why buy it, if you can make it, right?

Nomita and family

Join Our Mailing List

PRIVACY POLICY

Copyright© 2023 · Brunch Pro Theme by Shay Bocks