Skip to main content

Chez Larsson

Making a home in Stockholm, one drawer at a time

Painted plates

Charity shop plates, painted on the back.

Another quick one, using some satin craft paints that arrived in a box of materials.

It could not be simpler. Charity shop plates, painted on the backs, in three different shades of the same colour.

A slice of tart on a pale blue painted glass plate

The whole method

Two coats is all it takes.

Apply with a sponge brush rather than a bristle one, no brush marks, and on a flat plate that is the entire difference between this looking made and looking daubed.

Green and blue painted plates stacked on a white surface

Leave each coat to dry overnight. Not an hour. The second coat will drag the first one about if you rush it, and the sponge will lift colour straight back off.

A slice of tart with a spoon on the stacked painted plates

Three hues of one colour rather than three different colours, which is why a set of mismatched second-hand plates reads as deliberate afterwards.

Holding a glass plate above the paint pots and two finished plates

The paint is dishwasher safe on glass, which I was not expecting.