Spring is finally approaching as we reach temperatures in the 50s and 60s.  We’re  thinking about outdoor spaces, gardens, cookouts and outdoor entertaining.  Everyone wants to spruce up their outdoor space for the upcoming and warmer late Spring, Summer and Fall.  These three seasons are so cherished in New England.  Especially after a long, cold, snowy winter season.  We want to be outside again!

You can spruce up with major projects or a few small projects.

We highly recommend you consider American Paint Company (APC) products for your outdoor painting projects.

You can paint plastic, metal, cement, plaster and wood using APC paint!

Listing of things you may consider painting:

• Garden urns
• Potting benches
• Patio furniture
• Metal garden art
• Garden bench
• Potting shed
• Picnic table
• Fence

Pick your color.  Decide if you need a finish like APC’s Top Coat or if you prefer to let the color sit, cure and fade over time naturally without a finish.  I do not put a finish on pieces I paint that will be outside.

What You Need:

• Paint
• Paint brush
• Glass of Ice Tea – Enjoy your time painting.  It’s therapeutic and good for the soul to be creative.
• Cure time – I paint my outdoor objects in March and April and let them sit inside for 30 days to cure.  To speed up this process “cure” process, I have brought a piece outside to let it “bake” in the sun.  The hot, paved driveway is a great place to cure your paint finish.  I do avoid placing outdoor objects in the rain until the paint is cured.
• Top Coat – if you decide to apply
• Sandpaper – I love how the paint looks when I sand it after it dries.  Something magical happens to the clay in the paint and you get the most interesting textures.

Watch the color of the paint naturally weather and fade over time.  Paint colors will fade but look gorgeous as they do.

Enjoy the comfort knowing the paint you are using is made with natural ingredients (safe for your home, garden and our environment).

Here is some information I pulled directly from American Paint Company’s FB page:

When using Clay/Chalk/Mineral Base Paint on furniture, the final finish is typically ‘set’ by applying wax or APC’s Top Coat finishing product. When applying paint on an object that will be outside it will work best if the surface is porous. Once you apply the paint, allowing it to ‘bake’/dry and cure in the sun will ‘set’ the finish. You could also buff the dry paint outside. This will burnish the finish and help ‘set’ the paint in order to keep it from weathering. The paint will weather and distress but it will not completely wash away. The only thing to avoid using outdoors would be the wax finish as it is meant for indoor use. Top Coat finish would be the best choice if you feel you need to finish/seal the paint when using it outside. (Source: American Paint Company)

Ivy Lane paints urns, potting benches, planters, benches, etc. using APC products. We allow our paint to cure and then leave it outside. We love the way it naturally fades.

These are some inspiration photos for you I pulled from Pinterest.

Pictures pulled from Country Living Magazine and Better Home and Garden’s Pinterest pages.

Thanks for reading our blog.  We’d love to hear from you!

Jennifer of Ivy Lane