Debbie's Four Fun Essentials for Outdoor Decorating

I recently did an interview for the KRLA Home Wizards radio show in the Los Angeles area and available online at www.homewizards.tv. The host, Cindy Dole, asked me about my outdoor decorating philosophies, so thought I'd share these on my website as well.

When it comes to decorating outdoor living spaces, there are four things that I think are essentials—

Painted surfaces add fun and whimsy to garden settings, and you can paint just about anything.

Transparent and reflective surfaces like colored glass, beads, and mirrors add sparkle to a garden.

Every garden needs a potting bench—decorative, functional and fun, a potting bench is the quintessential furniture for outdoor living spaces.

You can never have too many watering cans. This garden icon is useful and beautiful and a fun decorating element for outdoor spaces.

Outdoor Painting Projects

One of my favorite things to paint for both inside and outside is terra cotta flowerpots—They are inexpensive, come in many different shapes and sizes, and there are lots of ways to decorate the flowerpots and to decorate WITH flowerpots. You can stack them to make a birdbath, put a saucer on top of pot for a pedestal bowl, or use two together, one upright and the other upside down to add height to a flower display. With the right preparation you can paint, stencil, mosaic, or add beads to flowerpots for many different looks.

How-To Tips

• Clean, dry, flowerpots should be painted with Gesso, a surface preparation primer or sprayed with a water-based primer.
• Allow to dry thoroughly between every painting step
• We use acrylic craft paints, but there are several lines of "patio" paints that can be used. Patio paints usually don't require a varnish finish.

• We've recently discovered a product called dimensional paint. Used with a stencil, this gives a cool raised design on the pot.
• For beading, use a ceramic bit and power drill to drill holes for threading the wire.
• Outdoor varnish is a good finish for garden projects.
• Never plant directly into a painted flowerpot. Terracotta absorbs water which can damage the painted surface. I put my plants into plastic flowerpots and set the plastic pot inside the painted one.
• Store painted flowerpots in the house or garage in the winter. Freeze/thaw cycles can break pots and damage painted finishes.

I also like to paint tin items like beverage holders, French buckets, bird seed buckets, and watering cans.

Tin often has an oily finish from the manufacturing process, so wash tin pieces with white vinegar and rinse thoroughly. Vinegar removes the oils. Allow to dry thoroughly before spraying with metal primer.

We've done lots of painted wood furniture for my books, but my favorite thing to paint for outdoor décor is a potting bench. I have several that I use for just about everything. I use one (with a picket fence back) on my covered patio as a buffet. I use one in the house to hold scrapbook supplies. I love the rustic look of potting benches and they are perfect for fun and funky paint treatments.

Garden Sparkle with Glass

Using glass and reflective finishes in the garden adds sparkle and pizzazz. In my latest book, Greenwood Gardens, we create ungrouted mosaics on vintage windows. Made with colored glass and decorative gems, these windows shimmer and shine when hung from a trellis or gazebo. Birdhouses, bird baths, vases, and other patio accessories are all great places to add the sparkle and shine of glass. Tin wall sconces, wind chimes, candleholders, and garden ornaments are all great places to use beads.

Enjoy decorating your garden as part of your home!

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