DIY Mosaic Flower Pots

During the cold and snowy spring season I have been making plans for my balcony. I have made lists of what needs a bit DIY, how to put flowers and what kind of small decorations I am going to make. This week I thought is was time to start the summer and balcony season. Five days ago ice finally floated away from the river and even though the weather is still exceptionally cold grass is getting green little by little. Last year about this time I planted my balcony flowers and it was nice and warm. Now I cannot think about buying flowers yet, it has been so cold that I am afraid plants could get frost bitten. Still I wanted to someway get projects started so that when the great warm weathers arrive my balcony will be ready for relaxing. On February I made this mosaic wall art and I did´t need all the material I had prepared for that project. Back then I thought that it might be fun to decorate few old flower pots with mosaic. I have decorated two terracotta flower pots maybe 10 years ago and I still use those pots! This kind of both practical and beautiful garden decorations are a classic. Now lets start with the how to make mosaic flower pots!

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Mosaic Flower Pots

You will need:

-Terracotta flower pot(s)
-Broken china or pottery
-Grout and water

-Hammer
-Plastic spatula (you can use old silicon spatula from kitchen or cut your own from ice cream box plastic)
-Plastic cups like ice cream boxes
-Sponge
-Safety glasses, earmuffs and gloves

Step 1. I went through my old flower pots and brushed off the mould and other dirt. If needed wash the pots and let dry properly before starting to make the mosaic.
Step 2. Hammer the broken china and pottery to smaller pieces. I prefer to put the object in to a fabric bag, roll in to a towel and then hammer on a cutting board. Safety glasses, earmuffs and gloves are needed!
Step 3. Mix the grout as told on the package.

Step 4. Use a plastic spatula to spread some grout on the pot and press pieces of china and pottery to it. Leave approximately 0,4 cm between the pieces. Cover the whole area you want to decorate with mosaic and let dry for 12-24 hours.

Step 5. Mix slightly more running grout. Use plastic spatula to fill in all the holes between china and pottery pieces.

Step 6. Let the grout dry about 15-30 minutes (depends on how dry and warm the work space is) or until the grout does not stick in to fingers. Take sponge and water and wipe the extra grout off so that the china and pottery pieces get polished. Let dry properly. Polish gently if needed.

Collection of new unique mosaic flower pots waiting for summer flowers! I wanted to make my flower pots as colorful as possible but you can use just few colors if you like.

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My theme for the balcony is colorful camping. I have had that red 70's table a few years now (bought it from thrift shop), it still looks like new even though the color is original. Chairs are on my list of projects, they will get a color that matches the table´s style. I am also going to make a decor to the railing out of old retro souvenir pennants that I found from thrift shop. Hope that when I get all projects finished it will be real summer. 

How are your balcony or terrace plans? Have you already put the flowers?

Happy Weekend to you all!

Sannu