Ombre Painted Pots {Pinterest Challenge}

It's that time of year again ... Pinterest Challenge time!!!  

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I sort of missed out on the Winter edition. I had grand plans for a wall loom hanging art piece for our bedroom, and well... it still needs to be finished. Oops. But oh well, I've moved on to more exciting and Spring themed projects - some ombre painted pots!  
As I've begun to plan my container garden, I started to think about how I wanted to add color to the balcony and to the garden. Before I knew it, I was putting my love of ombre to work and creating these fantastic pots for our balcony. 
First, I bought the pots at Walmart - two 12-inch ones for about $10/pot and $4/plate piece and two 10-inch ones for about $8/pot and $2/plate piece. I brought them home, placed them on my cleared off kitchen table, and grabbed some leftover primer.


I painted 2-3 light coats on everything, let it dry to the touch, and then set everything on the balcony to sit overnight and air out. Also to make our apartment stop smelling like primer because not everyone likes the way it smells. 
Then, after it was dry, I brought them back inside and got ready to ombre my first flower pot! Using blue and white acrylic paint, I first painted a blue section on the very bottom, then mixed white into that blue and painted another section, then added more white and painted another section, and so on - until I had reached the top of the pot!


I used a basic little paintbrush and just added as much white paint as I thought was needed to lighten it up a bit more. I waited a couple of minutes between shades just to give it time to set a bit to make any touch ups that I needed before adding more white and moving on to the next layer.

I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE how this pot turned out. It seems a little bit ocean-y, mixed with a little bit of mountain sky and just a whole lot of awesome on our balcony. Officially obsessed. So, because of that, I decided to take my less than beautiful orange polka dotted pot and turn it ombre as well.


Yea... about the polka dots... I thought they were going to to be awesome and then, well... they weren't. But I was able to easily cover them and create an amazing ombre effect for this pot too!

Using the primer, I recovered all of the polka dots. I went over the orange with three light coats, waiting about 20-30 minutes between each one.


Then, using the same method as I used with the blue, I mixed white into dark orange to paint each section, starting without any and adding more for each section - until I had reached the top of the pot. 

It's possible that I love this one even more than I love the blue. Okay, maybe not. But it's a super close call. Bottom line? Ombre painted plant pots are my new jam. Watch out, this is definitely my new obsession. 
I also painted two other pots - the large ones - with more geometrical shapes - one in yellow and one in purple. I will not be covering these up with ombre, although I was tempted to do so.


Overall, I absolutely love how all of these turned out, and I think they make the perfect accessories for our soon-to-be-transformed-into-an-amazing-balcony balcony. 

Do you have a favorite? Love the blue ombre - or is the orange one more your style? And yes, in case you're wondering, this is the third time I've incorporated ombre into a Pinterest Challenge - you can check out the other two here and here.
And please check out the fabulous hosts of this Pinterest Challenge - Sherry at Young House Love, Katie at Bower Power, Emily at Sparkle Meets Pop and Renee at Red Bird Blue - to see the amazing projects that they, and everyone else linking up were able to come up with!