How to create a bright and colourful garden deck or patio using paint

Regular readers to my blog will know that I’m a big fan of Annie Sloan paint.  I’ve used it on bannisters and ceiling beams, bedroom furniture, my TV Cabinet and I’ve even painted my lampshade (more to come on that in another post).  This time I decided to take my paint outside and brighten up the newly painted decking.

I painted the decking with Cuprinol Decking Stain and I used the Urban Slate shade.  I liked the Black Ash as well, having seen a few other blogger use it but I preferred the Grey.  The deck wasn’t previously stained so I just swept it thoroughly, opened the tin and got painting.  It went on very easily.  Getting in between the decking boards is more tricky, and that’s the part I need to go back over when the weather is right.

This was my starting point.  When we moved in the deck was half the size, but there was a large concrete base for a big child’s wooden play house.  The concrete looked awful so we doubled the deck size and it was easily hidden!  So we now have a large deck, which is useful for furniture and a wheelchair to navigate.  The deck is in good order, just looked a little sad!

This stain is apparantly non slip which of course is important to Mr Wheel Chic Home and it was so easy to put on.  The paint is about £22 a pot and I ended up using 3 because of the size of the deck and I also did the sleepers around the beds in the same colour (no photos of that because the plants look terrible until the gardeners have worked on them!)

It looks really fresh, and I painted this in a couple of hours, I really couldn’t believe how quickly it went on.

I do have to go over it again and do some touching up around the edges but I’m pleased with the result, looks modern and clean.  I also went round the planters and painted them in the same shade for consistency.

It looks really fresh, and I painted this in a couple of hours, I really couldn’t believe how quickly it went on.

I bought a nice selection of cheap plants from Homebase and once I’d lined them up on the deck I realised the plant pots were a bit naff.  So I wanted to jazz up the ugly plant pots (why are they so ugly, all terracotta and no style?!).

I had given some plant pots to my niece a couple of weeks before but she was looking for pastel colours, so I suggested we try some Annie Sloan Chalk Paint on them, see how it went.  Turned out they looked pretty good!

I know the chalk paint can go on pretty much anything, but I’m also aware it’s not super waterproof, so after a couple of coats we sprayed some clear protective top coat on, to help protect it.  And I thought I’d do what pots we had left for myself.

Instead of pastel colours I decided to go with the brighter colours such as English Yellow, Antibes Green, Aubusson Blue and Emperor’s Silk Red with some of the pastels Louis Blue, Provence and Paloma.

The trick, as usual with chalk paint, is to start upside down and do your first coat, then after 20 minutes when it’s dry (in the warm weather it’s literally that quick) then do a second slightly watered down coat.

Then once both coats (or any third coats if needed – the glazed pots I had needed a third for full coverage) I then sprayed the pots with the Rustoleum clear protective top coat spray.  I didn’t wax these pots, I figured the clear spray would be protection enough.

One pot was particularly ugly on the outside, but it belonged to my mum and I won’t part with it.  It’s a fairly naff pot with Egyptian Heiroglyphics on the outside and was looking really tired.  There’s also a chip in the top but as it was left to me I’ve kept it all these years.  I decided to paint it Louis Blue and I’m so thrilled with the result.

The picture below show me starting the process, then second coat when wet, then the finished product.  Looks great, don’t you think?

The other pots I did in the same way with the brighter colours and I have to say it’s brightened up the decking no end.

It’s given colour to the deck in addition to the colour of the plants.

This was free for me because I already had the Annie Sloan and the spray, and the plants.  Result!

Rather than using Annie Sloan you could use old emulsion you might lurking around the garage, with the protective spray as well, or you could some gloss or eggshell paint which will be more waterproof without additional protection.

If you wanted to go a little bolder you could of course use copper or gold spray paint, really give it the bling factor!  I didn’t have any in the house so stuck with the paint I already had for the cheapest makeover possible!

The plants and compost cost me about £40 so all in all it’s a fun, cheap way to make over your deck or patio area with bright colours and give it that really summery feel.

Have you got any other ideas for a cheap garden makeover?  I’d love to hear about them.

NOTE:  This is not a sponsored post – I’m just a huge Chalk Paint fan and want to share the love!