DIY West Elm Inspired Planter

In this simple & fun tutorial I will show you how you can transform a dull looking plant pot from the thrift store into a beautiful midcentury modern & West Elm-inspired plant pot. You can either check out the video above, or keep on reading.. 😉

Here is the dull thrifted plant pot pre it’s transformation.

I don’t mind nice neutral colors – but this was really a boring so called ‘non colour’. However, I loved the shape and size and that’s why I got the pot as I saw big potential in transforming it into something more fun.

To make the plant pot you will need:

2 colors of spray paint – I picked mine up from Rust-Oleum. One was a white with a flat finish and the other a sun yellow with a glossy finish. Rust-Oleum does not require primer but if your spray paint does make sure to pick a primer up as well.

The tools you will need:

– 1 inch wide frog tape

– Craft knife + cutting mat
– Ruler

I also used some optional items including; scissors, pencil and a tape measure.

Time to prime

Start with priming your plant pot white and make sure to really shake your can vigorously for one minute before starting to spray paint. (Always follow the instructions on your can if they differ from what I am writing here)

Make sure to shake often during use, as well, spraying 20 to 40 centimetres away from the pot. Spray in a steady back and forth motion slightly overlapping the previous stroke.
After 1 hour I applied a second coat to make sure my pot was fully covered with paint. Let your pot dry completely before moving onto the next step.

Plan out your design

Once the pot was fully dry (around 48 hours later) I started to plan out my design. I wanted to go for a midcentury modern/West Elm-inspired look after I had seen these plant pots on Pinterest.

I settled for a pointy stripe design and attached frog shape around the pot to make sure the stripes would be evenly places around the whole pot.

With frog tape, my craft knife and cutting map I started to cut out the stripe details. I decided to make my stripes 16 cm tall and took advantage of the 1 inch width of my tape. I would suggest that you purchase a tape with the width that you would to prevent any extra work.

I decided to make my points 2 cm long and started to measure and cut these outs on my cutting mat.
I had to cut 17 stripes with a 1 inch space in between as my plant but had a circumference of 34 inches. To make sure that my stripes was evenly distributed around the pot and apply I used a piece of tape as a guide as my frog tape had a 1 inch width

Make sure to smoothen out your tape properly to prevent paint from bleeding through while spray painting.

Time to add some yellow!

Time to spray paint the pot yellow! Again make sure to shake your can vigorously for 1 min before starting to spray paint and then apply an even back and forth motion slightly overlapping the previous stroke.

One thing I have learnt in this process is to not to stop spraying at the surface but rather just outside the pot.

Once the paint is dry to touch in my case it was within 20 min it’s time to carefully remove the frog tape. You do not want to let this tape sit for too long as you risk to take your paint with you and whilst removing the tape, but you also need to make sure when you do remove the tape to not scratch the newly painted surface.

And there you have it your the fully finished plant pot! Just make sure that you wait 48 hours before I you put your plant in to back into the pot.