Upcycled Pot with Dirt

We all have items laying around our house that we no longer are using. I saw this trend of people taking old pots and painting them black and then spreading dirt all over it to make it look like a new piece. Kind of a weird thought huh? Well, it was something I had to try for myself. This is how to upcycle an old pot and make it new and modern…with dirt.

The first step is to find something to work with. Your ideal item is something that has a really cool shape. Something you love but you want to change the color to a distressed black look. This is great for anyone who loves to visit thrift stores.

I had the perfect pots for this. A bright red pot and a few pink pots that I used years ago. The colors didn’t go with my decor anymore. They have really cool shapes to them and I didn’t have the heart to get rid of them so I stored them in the basement for years. This is how I updated them to a more modern, stylish look that now vibes perfectly with my home.

Here is the Before….

How to Upcycle your Pot with Dirt

You will need:

• An old pot you want to turn black
• Can of spray paint
• Dirt / Garden Lime

First step is to wipe down and clean your pot. Then you will want to apply a good layer of black spray paint. I used a Flat Black spray paint from Rust-oleum.

Let it dry.

Take dirt and rub it all over the pot. Rub the dirt in all different directions. You will see the dirt starts distressing / antiquing the pot.

Mine started to show some of the red through after the first round of rubbing on the dirt . I repeated the steps a second time to make sure there wasn’t any red coming through.

Here is after the first coat of paint. You could still see the original color coming through so I decided to do a second coat.

Here is what it looked like after the second coat. Much better. I wanted them to look a little more distressed like something you would find at Restoration Hardware or Pottery Barn so I took equal parts water and garden lime and applied it all over the pots with a paint brush. I let it dry and then wiped off with a damp cloth. This gave a more rustic, worn look which was what I was looking for.

I love how it totally transformed my old pots. They now look modern and coordinate better with my home. This process made my target pots look expensive. I’m so impressed with how they turned out that I went searching through my home to find more pots and planters to do this too.

Love this DIY Project? Check out my blog post Kids Playhouse Makeover and DIY Outdoor Patio Bar Shelves. Do you have any items in your home that you could do this with? For more inspiration, ideas and sneak peek into our daily lives head over to Instagram and give me a follow!