DIY FAUX COPPER PLANTERS

After everything we added to our patio for The Home Depot Patio Style Challenge, my favorite element is the faux copper containers hands down! Our Patio is long and narrow and…

After everything we added to our patio for The Home Depot Patio Style Challenge, my favorite element is the faux copper containers hands down! Our Patio is long and narrow and runs right along side our driveway. We needed to define the space, but didn’t want to make the already narrow area feel closed in. I was envisioning a series of large planter boxes that gave the feel of a knee wall, without crowding the space. Large planters can be very expensive and we certainly didn’t have time to build anything. I needed something quick and cost effective. I came across some large galvanized feeding troughs at tractor supply… the shape & size was perfect! I went with the 2′ x 2′ x 4′, but they are available in various sizes if you need something different for your space.

The galvanized look didn’t really fit unto our warm cottage appeal, so I turned to my rust-oleum arsenal. Our favorite element inside the house is a copper farm sink, and I really wanted to incorporate that same aesthetic on the patio… I grabbed my new favorite color metallic copper! We don’t have a whole lot of pattern going on in the fabrics so I really wanted the planters to make a bold statement. The troughs had two grooves running horizontally around the container so I taped them off before I started spraying to create a striped effect.

After I had the container coated down with a few coats of Rust-Oleum Metallic Copper it was a bit too orange. It looked like a shiny new penny, and I was going for an old watered look. I dug some Rust-Oleum Aged Copper from my stash and layered it on sporadically… much heavier in some places than others and making sure some of the lighter copper was still showing through in some places. If I got it too dark, I just layered on more Metallic Copper to brighten it up until I got it right. I figured out that the looser you are with the application the more authentic the finish will look… just slap some paint on it and move on! When I took the tape off I was so happy with the silver striped effect!

Be sure to paint inside of your container about 6″-8″ to be sure everything is covered once your plants are in.

When you have a container this large you need a filler because it would take so much soil. I learned this little trick from my friend and expert gardener Carmen Johnston fill your container about half way with pine bark nuggets then add your potting soil to plant in.

I am so pleased with the statement that these make on the patio, and the hardest part was taping off the stripes