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11 Stylish Flower Pot Painting Ideas To Add A Personal Touch To Your Garden

Do you want to add a little extra oomph to space you've been looking at for more seasons than you can count and without spending a lot? Flower pots can be a blank canvas just waiting for you to transform them into something dramatic. Maybe you have a wide-open backyard, a cozy balcony, or a cute shelf inside your home. Decorate it with a painted flower pot that you can make on your own, with your kids, or with your besties during a girls' night.

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There are plenty of ways to take your planters from boring to beautifulFrom whimsical designs to minimalist aesthetics, the painting possibilities are virtually unlimited. You can use any type of pot or planter — rust-colored terracotta, ceramic, concrete, and even plastic ones, in any size or shape. Just make sure you've cleaned the old flower pots if you decide to make over ones you already have. Then, you'll just need to grab some fun paint colors. 

Is paint harmful to plants? The answer is that it can be. Since clay planters are porous, you need to take extra precautions before painting them. Experts recommend using water-based or acrylic paints because they don't contain certain chemicals. They also advise to paint the pot and allow it to dry completely before adding the plant. So, here are some flower pot painting ideas that can help spark your creativity and imagination.

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1. Festive Halloween theme

We're obsessed with this Halloween-themed flower pot by lolabonita182. Maybe it's the pot's cute and unexpected pink color or the adorable hand-drawn ghosts and bats? Whatever it is, we can't wait to try this one out and leave it up all year. You can make any spookily adorable design, like a green Frankenstein flower pot, a portrait of Ghostface from the "Scream" movie, or an "It" horror movie theme planter to sit right next to your outdoor jack-o'-lantern and the dramatic black flowers you grew from seed.

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2. Dreamy hot air balloon

Whether empty or not, this dreamy painted hot air balloon pot will make anyone's day even better. Instagram user designsbyesc painted clouds against the pink background are like candy floss. While this idea does take a bit of skill and a steady hand to achieve, if you like it, that shouldn't stop you from recreating it. Customize the background based on your outdoor space's color scheme. Then, use a pencil to draw the balloon shape and a narrow angular brush to give the striped balloon even more realistic details. 

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3. Watercolor-inspired masterpiece

That itty-bitty sprout has a long way to go to fill up this hand-painted pot by ipsarty. The plastic planter started out as a very well-used black pot and was transformed into a gorgeous piece of decor, with green, yellow, and red colors that blend into each other against the sky-blue background. But, you can customize the color scheme to your liking. This DIY project proves that you can take a beat-up pot that looks like it's headed for the trash and turn it into a stunning showpiece that's reminiscent of a canvas by a famous painter. 

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4. Unique dripping paint look

Perhaps the most perfect project for kids, this painted pot idea from abcdeelearning requires hardly any effort. Turn the pot upside down and pour heaps of your favorite paint colors on the outside from top to bottom. The colors will dry into different patterns, making each one will be completely unique. Or, you can paint the pot a monochromatic base color and then pour different drippy contrasting paint colors to really make it pop. Try using the Apple Barrel Vibrant Spectrum Acrylic Paint Collection for bright and cheery hues.

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5. Holiday-inspired cuteness

There's pretty much nothing a small Christmas tree would look better in now that we've seen this adorable pot by art.by.sharlie. It's painted in a vibrant cotton candy pink instead of the traditional shades. And, the Gumnut Babies in red and white Santa hats dangling from leaves are the real reasons this understated pot has a holiday vibe. Any bright green plant will look spectacular against the contrasting pink color of the pot, but an evergreen tree or poinsettia will capture the spirit of the season the best. 

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6. Groovy patterns create throwback vibes

This ordinary terracotta flower pot by hayraeart is made for those filled with that groovy 1970s spirit. The perfectly hand-drawn design has vibrant, psychedelic hues, featuring swirly, wavy lines and abstract shapes. These bold, tonal colorway lines were made using paint pens and an extra steady hand. To make it even easier to paint the lines, use a pencil to trace the design in any direction. This intricate design will look fantastic on the tiniest flower pots or the biggest planters.

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7. Pretty pink sunset

This flower pot painting idea from getcrockd lets you enjoy a pink sunset all day, with shades of pink, red, blue, and teal. To bring your sunset-inspired pot to life, try the Phoenix Acrylic Paint Set, which comes with 24 highly-pigmented paint tubes in a variety of colors, including different yellow, red, green, and blue shades for creating extra dimension. If you plan to put your flower pot outside, consider using a sealer to keep the picturesque landscape and abstract shapes as vibrant as the day they were painted.

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8. 3D flowers that pop

Adding these intricate floral details to your painted pot like alaveraarmesto just gives it that wow factor. Get as creative as you want with the shapes of the flowers and the falling petals. This flower pot gives off spring and summer vibes but you can design one for every season with floral colors that match. Use extra lobs of acrylic paint to make the three-dimensional effect and don't forget to add contrasting colors to make the details pop. Play off the design by filling the pot with matching flowers for a cohesive vibe.

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9. Beautiful blue hydrangeas

This flower pot artwork idea from libbynoniche probably looks harder to make than it is. But people who see it won't know that because it'll turn out like a masterfully hand-painted piece of art. You'll paint a light blue background or any other color you want on the pot and saucer. The hydrangeas start as darker blue circles in different sizes. With a flick of the brush, you'll add the hydrangea clusters that sort of look like bunny ears in white, while adding dimension with other blue shades and green for the leaves. This monochromatic look would also be beautiful in other shades like pink or lavender. 

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10. Dainty and delicate flowers

The perfect flower pot does exist, as lilistrations demonstrates! This regular pot is turned into an adorable, minimalist planter that any plant would be happy to call home. After you've painted the pot in the background color, you'll want to use paint pens, like this Posca Paint Marker Set. It comes with 15 medium-point paint markers for more color options for painting the flowers. It's not an intricate design but it still brings a calming aesthetic. Add a saucer with the same design and you have a super creative set for your indoor or outdoor plant.

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11. Air-dry clay embellishments

There's no rule that says you have to paint the designs onto your flower pot when you can use clay instead. We love the look that elizabethtorres0924 created by taking a simple ceramic flower pot that started out white and was painted to look it was spun on a pottery wheel. Crayola Air-Dry Clay lets you get creative with any ornate design you can dream up, like flowers, birds, and leaves. Use an adhesive like Aleene's Tacky Glue to attach the designs to the pot.

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