We paint barrels in the country: an overview of ways

Any metal can rust over time, especially often with steel. The wood rots, plastic and other materials grow dull, a decorative coating is crumbling from them. Country barrels are no exception: with active and long use, they become unsightly and spoil the appearance of the garden. There are many ways to paint the barrels in the country, or decorate them in a less standard way, but also with your own hands and at minimal cost.

Content:

• Choice of barrels for coloring
• Stain preparation and tools
• Barrel cleaning
• Using stencils
• Types of stencils
• Stencil Making
• Stencil staining technology
• Metal and plastic barrels
• Wooden barrels
• Painting the barrel with your own pattern
• Custom decoration methods

Choice of barrels for coloring

If desired, you can update the appearance of any barrel, regardless of the material of its manufacture. The main thing is that the product should not be severely damaged, have no through holes, although even a partially destroyed container can become an original decor item in the country without performing practical functions.

Most often you have to decorate, paint metal and plastic barrels: they are usually used by summer residents for water. The surface of such products should be smooth, without cracks, nicks: if there are defects, they must be removed in advance by grinding. You can also see wooden barrels in the garden: they store compost, bulk materials, fertilizers, various devices, garden tools. The walls of wooden barrels must be sanded so that the paint lays evenly, without flaws.

Stain preparation and tools

The decor on large barrels looks the most advantageous - from 200 liters, but even small containers can be decorated if desired. For work, you will need materials, tools from the list:

• rag;
• metal brush;
• sandpaper;
• paints;
• rust converter;
• brushes of different sizes;
• stencils;
• a pencil is simple;
• scraper;
• primer;
• solvent.

The rust converter is used to remove corrosion elements from metal barrels. If you do not get rid of unsightly red spots, the paint will lie unevenly, the product will continue to rust, collapse. Against corrosion it is worth buying a quality product based on acids or zinc:

• Docker Steel;
• Sintec;
• B-52;
• "Expert".

Before work, a barrel of any material should be degreased, for which standard solvents are used - white spirit, acetone, gasoline. You should also determine in advance the type of paint for decorating the barrel. It should be marked "for outdoor work", well suited to a specific type of material. For metal, acrylic paints in aerosol form are often purchased, which are convenient to apply, but the price of such products is high. The cheapest are alkyd compositions in cans, applied by brush, roller, reliably protecting the metal from corrosion. The downside is their fire hazard, so it is better not to keep painted barrels under the scorching sun.

When buying paint, you must consider the following factors:

• compatibility with primer;
• consumption per 1 square meter;
• drying speed;
• security.

It is better not to buy oil paints for barrels - they are cheap, but short-lived, in the winter the painted container will have to be brought into the room. Well tolerate cold, heat acrylic paints, considered the most practical and durable.

Barrel cleaning

The plastic barrel must be washed, dried, then degreased. The metal container must be prepared more carefully - you will have to remove all rust deposits using a converter, emery paper, a scraper, and a brush for metal. The tree is washed from dirt, dried, polished until smooth, then the dust is brushed off with a clean rag, brush.

Using stencils

Stencils - a great solution for those who do not have artistic skills, can not draw beautifully, invent original decor. It’s very easy to work with them, even a beginner will cope.

Types of stencils

Stencils can be bought ready-made or made independently. Different patterns are used to decorate the barrels:

• multilayer, single layer;
• flexible, dense;
• glue, glueless.

Single-layer paper stencils are usually purchased for single use, after applying the paint, they deteriorate, become sap. Multilayer templates are considered reusable, they are worth buying if you plan to paint several barrels in the same style, or to create a three-dimensional decor.

Dense stencils are used on barrels of large size, where the processed surface in a particular place will not have serious bends, depressions, bulges. If the capacity is small, the stencil will have to be bent, so it should be soft.

Glue templates are convenient for complex work - they can be glued without using additional devices (adhesive tape, clothes pegs). Both hands of the master during work will remain free, the stencil will never move from the ground. As for the form, you can choose absolutely any variant of the template - stars, geometric shapes, plants, flowers, cartoon characters.

Stencil Making

If a suitable template is not in the store, you can make it yourself. The easiest way is to download the finished version on the Internet, print it on thick paper (a large-sized stencil can be made in a specialized company, bringing the file to a flash card). The template from the printed publication is transferred to paper using tracing paper or leaning against the window.

You can seal the workpiece by sticking masking tape or a second layer of paper. If possible, the stencil is cut out of thin plastic, which is especially convenient for reusable use. If you have the skills, you can draw a template on whatman, thick cardboard, then cut it out. Large elements are permissible to print in parts, connecting with adhesive tape.

Stencil staining technology

How to color the barrel in an original way? Drawings can be performed on the basis of or pre-stained the barrel with a solid neutral color. The option with the creation of the background is preferable, because the paint will protect the tank from rust over the entire area. To choose a background shade, you need to take into account the color palette of the picture: for example, when decorating the barrel with floral ornament, you should not make the base green. Before painting, iron and wood products must be primed with a suitable primer.

Metal and plastic barrels

In order not to spoil the vegetation around the barrel, they cover it with cellophane, newspapers. Work is carried out with gloves. After finishing the preparatory phase and applying the background (in 1-2 layers), they begin the main actions:

• fix the stencil on the surface of the barrel (on tape or adhesive base), smooth it well, so that there are no swelling or creases;
• free zones are painted with a brush, roller, sprayed from a spray can, or painted over with a foam swab.

Capacities look beautiful on the surface of which the shades smoothly pass into each other.

Instead of stencils, you can use natural material - leaves, twigs, flowers. They are attached to the barrel with tape, and the areas around are painted in one or more colors. Tanks look good, the surface of which is painted with multi-colored lines made diagonally. For such a decor you don’t need a stencil at all - 3-4 shades of paint in cans or spray cans are enough. To obtain a three-dimensional picture, multilayer coloring is used, where subsequent layers of paint are darker than the previous ones, and the image is slightly shifted to the side with each layer.

Wooden barrels

A tree looks beautiful in natural color when its structure is emphasized. Therefore, for decorating wooden barrels, you can use not paint, but stain, varnish. It is allowed to apply different tones using a stencil: for example, the background is light and the pattern is dark.

When the barrel has lost its appearance, it can be covered with ordinary paint like metal. After staining, the product must be allowed to dry completely, then it should be installed in a permanent place and filled with what it is intended for.

Painting the barrel with your own pattern

Drawing on country barrels is a great opportunity to show creativity. Capacities are well suited for organizing landscape design, so it is better to immediately think about their appearance and compatibility with other elements. First, the barrel must be washed, sanded, degreased and dried, then apply a primer.

Depending on the idea, the background is applied or the product remains in its original form. After a thin brush, the contours of the future pattern are performed, which can be adjusted with a rag dipped in a solvent. It is worth pre-putting a sketch on the paper in order to repeat it in an enlarged version was easier. If the dimensions of the picture correspond to the dimensions of the barrel, it will look organic and beautiful.

After the contours have dried, the interior of the decor is painted, for which it is convenient to use a wide brush. When several barrels are standing nearby, it makes sense to make a drawing in different colors to give the garden or garden a more vivid appearance and cheerfulness.

Custom decoration methods

An interesting method of decorating garden containers is to weave a “cover” of natural material. To do this, pre-dial twigs, twigs and do the following:

• soak the material to work with it was more convenient;
• sharpen the tips of the branches, stick them into the ground around the perimeter of the barrel;
• weave the twigs with a snake, a net or in any convenient way, using supporting branches (they will run horizontally).

To disguise an old, unsightly tank, it can be painted in khaki: then it will be less conspicuous against the background of vegetation. Another option for changing the appearance of the barrel is to cut out the figures from plastic bottles, paint them and paste over the walls of the container. With the help of reliable frost-resistant glue and small pebbles, the barrel can be decorated with an original mosaic. It also uses gluing with twine, forest moss, shells, straw, shards of ceramic tiles, bottle caps and cans. In the future, a low capacity can be used as a flowerbed by planting flowers along the edge and closing them with ugly borders.

From any, even the oldest barrel, you can make a real garden decoration. The main thing in the work on decorating the site is to choose the right materials that will last a long time and not be spoiled by temperature extremes, but the rest is limited only by the imagination of the master.