Plastic, iron, wood, which barrels are not present in our summer cottages. But, as a rule, they do not look presentable.
To correct the situation will help a creative approach, best with children. You just need to color the barrels with your own hands.
Choice of barrels for coloring
Various barrels are used for decoration: plastic, metal, wooden. They must meet certain requirements.
| Barrel material | Surface | Using |
| Plastic | Smooth | For water. |
| Metal | No chipping or cracking. | Under water for watering and flower beds. |
| Tree | Stripped | For wine, compost storage, creating various compositions. |
As you can colorize, a few ideas to get you started:
Stain preparation and tools
Capacity for painting properly prepared.
Barrel cleaning
Before painting the barrel, its surface is washed from dirt, if necessary, it is leveled, the old paint and rust are erased using emery paper or a metal brush, wiped with a solvent, removing dirt and remaining dyes and oils.
Necessary tools: barrel, rag, metal brush, emery or paper, acrylic paints (spray cans), metal or rust paints, wood paints for exterior use, white spirit or gasoline, wide and narrow brushes, stencils, simple pencils, scraper, primer.
Using stencils
If a person knows how to draw, it doesn’t cost him to beautifully decorate the barrel, but if there is no such skill, it’s okay, because stencils will always help. They are manufactured industrially or made independently.
Types of stencils
Stencils vary in different types and types.
| The properties | Types and uses |
| Usage Amount | Disposable and reusable. |
| Rigidity | Hard and soft. The first is applied on a flat surface, the second is convex or rounded. |
| Adhesive layer | The glue stencil is convenient for complex work, it is glued to the surface and the hands remain free. |
| Layering | Single-layer ones are used for simple monochromatic drawings; multi-layer ones create multi-colored patterns. |
Stencils for download
We believe that you can easily make stencils yourself by simply printing them in parts on a printer, cutting them out with scissors, and then gluing them with ordinary tape.
You can save your favorite picture. We offer several to choose from. Click on the image to enlarge it with the left mouse button.
Stencil staining technology
The painting process varies depending on the work surface.
Metal and plastic barrels
After preparatory work, the staining of the barrel begins. Work Stages:
- They clean the surface of the barrel from dirt and rust, remove paint residues.
- Do not put a bright background.
- Let the layer dry.
- If necessary, cover with a background paint 2 times or apply a primer in front of it for better dye penetration.
- After all layers have dried, a stencil is attached. If it is not on an adhesive basis, then they are fixed with masking tape, since then it is easily removed.
- Put paint on it, spraying from a spray can or brush.
- To obtain a volumetric pattern, a multilayer stencil or another layer is used, darker than the first. Paint the surface after drying the previous one, slightly shifting the single layer to the side.
- The painted barrel is allowed to dry completely.
- They put it on a permanent place and fill it with what it is intended for.
Stencils can turn out not only from paper, but from anything: leaves, children's hands, always wearing rubber gloves, traces of old boots, flower heads.
Wooden barrels
Wooden barrels look best in natural color, showing the naturalness of the tree. Therefore, for their decoration, most often they use not paint, but varnish. Before using it, you can also stencil to apply a small drawing. For example, a brush of grapes will show that the container is used for wine.
If a wooden barrel in its natural form does not look good, then the same technology is applied to it as to metal, making the first layer a background.
Painting the barrel with your own pattern
In landscape design, gardeners often use the method of decorating various old objects. Painted barrels look great on the site. The best images are those that are done with your own hands, without using a stencil. In fact, it is not so difficult, and if it did not work out, you can paint over and try again.
The preparation of such barrels is reduced to their cleaning, degreasing, applying a primer.
Then, together with the children, they go on a mysterious adventure, examining everything, including on the way to the cottage, and choosing a future design for the barrel. Sometimes they take a picture from a children's book. So that the children are not disappointed in their work, they select a drawing corresponding to their age.
The next stage is the selection and application of a background layer corresponding to the color of the future picture. They give him a good dry.
If there is carbon paper, the image using it is transferred to the barrel. In the absence of carbon paper, a subtle outline is drawn with a thin brush so that something can be corrected. Start painting on the inside of the picture using multi-colored paints.
Mr. Summer resident: some useful decorating tips and coloring options
The word colorize can be interpreted in different ways, for example, decorate. The result is sometimes superior to using conventional paints. You can take beads, shells, pebbles.
The preparation is the same as with ordinary staining, you can apply a background layer if the barrel is not very beautiful in color, and then proceed to decorate. To the surface you can stick leaves, branches, straw.
The barrel can be braided with willow twigs or vine. A great decoration: shells, pebbles, broken ceramic tiles, mosaics, fragments of mirrors (preferably without children), covers from cans and bottles. You can decorate the container with textiles, giving it the appearance of a figure, for example, a fairy-tale character.
If the barrel is used for a flower garden, it is not completely buried in the ground, filled with soil and a beautiful flowerbed is obtained. Small flowers are planted in front of her to decorate.
A wooden barrel is cut in half and nailed to it at various heights of the bar, create a cascade of flower beds.
Twine or rope is glued onto the barrels in a circle, creating a three-dimensional pattern.
Decorating the barrel, the right materials are selected, depending on its further use. And also take into account the place where it will be placed. For example, a barrel for collecting rainwater can be painted with just one paint, without a picture.
Other ways to use old barrels
If the barrel is leaked and does not fulfill its purpose, you do not need to immediately throw it away. From it, especially wooden, you can get a lot of useful things not only for the summer cottage, but also for the home. For example: chairs, tables, armchairs, shelves, wash basins, chandeliers, waterfalls, small ponds, pet houses.
Many creative owners combine barrels with other old objects, such as watering cans, shovels, glass frames, getting real architectural masterpieces.
Safety regulations
Since when painting the barrel, work with harmful substances occurs, observe safety rules. Use gloves, protective equipment, gauze bandages, special clothing and safety glasses.
The painted barrels perfectly decorate the garden and remind of the summer and the time of creativity.
