Rain barrels may be eco-friendly, but they can be large, white eyesores on your property. Rather than accept these white plastic designs, paint your rain barrel to blend into or become an attractive focal point of your landscape. Exterior acrylic latex primers and acrylic or exterior latex spray paint works well on plastic. Always cover your painted designs with two layers of exterior polyurethane to protect the finish.
Camouflage
Paint a rain barrel to blend into background foliage using leafy branches as stencils. Prime and paint the rain barrel a background color, such as light forest green, based on the surrounding foliage. After the paint is dry, tape the leafy branches onto the outside of the rain barrel using double-sided tape. Spray the rain barrel again with a darker shade of green. Whenever you apply spray paint, hold the can upright, six to eight inches from the rain barrel, and apply the spray paint in an even, left-to-right motion. Remove the leafy branches to reveal the camouflage pattern.
Whiskey Barrel
Another way to paint a rain barrel is to use a decorative technique that resembles wood grains to make the barrel resemble a whiskey barrel. After priming the plastic barrel, paint the entire barrel with a medium brown paint. After the paint dries, apply a coat of dark brown glaze over one section of the barrel, from top to bottom. Drag a 2-inch wide dry paint brush in straight vertical lines down the wet glaze. The dry brush will create light and dark effects in the paint, resembling wood grains. Continue to add glaze then drag a brush around the barrel. After the glaze drys, paint dark brown vertical lines between each of the 2-inch wide strips. Paint two dark brown horizontal stripes around the rain barrel to resemble the metal bands on a whiskey barrel.
Under-the-Sea
Embrace the water feature of a rain barrel and paint an under-the-sea scene onto the barrel. After priming, cover the entire barrel with deep blue paint and let it dry. Use templates or stencils to paint swimming fish, a treasure chest and mermaids onto the barrel. Themed templates and stencils are available in most craft and discount stores.
Landscape
Paint the bottom section of the rain barrel green and the top section blue to create a landscape design. Draw a wavy green line around the center of the barrel to mimic hills, after priming the surface. Paint flowers, a tree with a swing, birds, butterflies and rabbits on top of the background to fill in the landscape. Templates and stencils simplify decorative painting projects, but many freehand designs have a charm of their own.
Tags: rain barrel, barrel After, dark brown, leafy branches, spray paint, 2-inch wide