Hello Denise Designed friends!! My name is Michele and I blog at Our Rosey Life, which is a DIY and lifestyle blog about my midwestern life as wife, mommy to two little girls, crafter, good cooker, furniture painter, gardener… you get the idea.

You may also know me from Share It Sunday, as I’m one of the three musketeers bringing the link party to life every Saturday night at 8pm EST (Yes, it’s a shameless plug, because we’d love you check it out and/or link up and share your favorite stuff!)

I was so excited when Denise invited me to be a guest on her blog! I know she’s been a bit under the weather, so hopefully my little project I’m sharing today will brighten her day and yours too!

For Mother’s Day, I made some special flower pots and promised I’d show how I distressed and white washed them. Have you ever wondered how to make a distressed white washed terra cotta pot without having to wait years for the natural aging to happen? I’m telling you, it’s super easy. And you don’t have to wait years for the aged look. Today I’m going to show you how to distress and white wash your terra cotta pot for a wonderful aged patina for both your indoor and outdoor plants.

SUPPLIES
1. terra cotta pot
2. water
3. shades of white paint
4. paint brush
5. sandpaper (any grit)
6. Modge Podge Acrylic spray – matte finish

Let’s get started. Wet your pot with water. This helps to thin the paint.

Then squirt your paint onto a plate and have a little more water in a cup nearby. I used Martha Stewart acrylic satin paint in three colors:: putty, summer linen & wedding cake. Before I dipped my paint brush in the paint, I dipped it in the water. Again, the water helps to thin the paint so it goes on with a thinner brush stroke. Apply the paint until you like the color combo. I really liked the putty color, so I added more of that to the pot.

This is a good project for the kiddos to help with, because the brush strokes can be messy or drippy or splotchy and that’s ok.

Once the paint was dry, I used my sandpaper and sanded off some of the paint. Sand off more for an even more distressed look to the pot. Once finished sanding, wipe the pot with a damp rag and then spray two coats of acrylic sealer on the pot. I used a matte finish, because I didn’t want a shiny pot. Here’s a close up shot to see some of the distressing.

And we’re done. Or maybe not…

Now I could have stopped at the distress and white wash aged look. Instead I decided to add a little book page embellishment. Before I sprayed on the acrylic sealer, I added the book page strips.

I ripped some strips from an old book and glued them with Modge Podge around the rim of the pot and the saucer. After the book page strips were dry, I brushed on two coats of Modge Podge Matte over the book page strips and smoothed out any wrinkles with my fingers.

When the book page strips were dry, I added two coats of acrylic sealer. Mr. Rosey thought it needed one more thing, so…. I tied on some twine.

Waaalaaaa! My distressed and white washed terra cotta pot with book page embellishment was ready to be planted.

If you want to see another distressed white washed terra cotta pot where I used my Silhouette machine to make the embellishments, click here.

Thanks Denise for letting me share this project with your readers!