Landscape,  Outdoor,  Upcycling

Let’s Make the Birdbath Iridescent!

I bought a cement birdbath about a month ago from Walmart. I’ve always liked birdbaths, but have not owned one due to the cost. The ones I’ve seen in the past have always been over $100 and I just didn’t feel like spending that kind of $$ on one. Then, when I was at Walmart one day, I thought I’d stroll through the garden statues they had in the parking lot. I asked one of the employees how much the birdbaths were and he said $24.99. $24.99????!!!! I must have one!

Purchase

So, I bought the birdbath, the employee loaded it into the back of my Rav4 and I brought it home. It sat in my car until one of my sons came to visit. I asked him if he would take it out to the backyard and lay it in one of the bark beds since the area I wanted to use it was not ready yet. He did just that and there it stayed for over a month.

Before we get to how I painted the birdbath, let’s look at what needed to be done first….

Noticing an issue

After I had the spot ready for it, the son came over again for a visit, so, I asked if he could move it to the new location. He carried the base, I carried the top (which was pretty heavy on its own). He set the base down and I handed him the top. He placed the top on the base, or I should say he tried to place the top on the base because it didn’t fit!! How can it not fit? Then I thought back on how it looked when I bought it and remembered that the top was slightly askew. I just figured it hadn’t been set on the base evenly. Come to find out, the hole in the bottom of the basin was more oval than round.

So, the son set the basin on the base as well as it would go and I thought about what to do with it. The picture doesn’t show how poorly the top fit on the base.

Do I take it back to Walmart and hope they have another birdbath I liked? I forgot to mention that this was the only one in this style….. or do I keep it and try to fix it? I chose to keep it and try to fix it. Hubby thought I should return it, but knowing I had made up my mind, he suggested I grind the hole to make it the right size. He even brought home two grinding bits that I could use with the drill. Even though the package didn’t mention cement or concrete, I was so hoping they would work.

Grind, chisel, sweat

When it was time to work on the birdbath, to keep from having to lift the base of the birdbath, I laid down a large piece of cardboard that I use when painting as close to the birdbath as I could. I lifted the top and set it, face down, on the cardboard, and rolled the base to the cardboard.

Using the square bit, I started grinding the oval, trying to change the shape. The grinding bit worked a bit but I could tell it was going to take a long time and probably several bits to actually get the basin to fit on the base.

What else could I use? Then I remembered I had chisels! I grabbed my trio and a hammer and got to work. The chiseling worked so much better!

It still took me a couple of hours. I chiseled both the hole in the basin and the top of the base and finally got the basin to fit pretty snugly on the base!

After the dry fit of the top & base, I took the basin off again and used the chisel & cone grinding bit to remove all the places where there the seam from the cement mold was showing. As you can see in the pictures, the quality of the finish on this birdbath is not great which is probably why it was so inexpensive. To cover the imperfections, I decided to paint the birdbath!

Time to paint

When I decided to paint the birdbath, the look I was going to try to create was Verdigris. I have used faux painting techniques several times in the past to get a marbled look. But since it’s been a while, I did a little research. I also wanted to check to see what paints are safe to use on cement & especially, cement birdbaths. I read that acrylic/latex paint is safe. I also read that a good basecoat to use for a faux finish is matte black. I happened to have a can of Rustoleum in flat black.

Basecoat

The first step in this process was to spray the base & both sides of the top. Paint dries very fast on cement, so this step was quick.

2nd coat – adding color

These are the colors I chose to use on the next coat. I had all these paints on hand – 3 were samples from Lowes, then I used Christmas green & a shimmery sage. It doesn’t take a lot of paint for this technique – just a few ounces of each.

When the base coat was dry & I had my colors on a piece of cardboard, I turned the top upside down to begin painting. I started where it would be less noticeable since I wanted to get a rhythm to the technique before I moved onto the base and bowl of the birdbath. Using a small paintbrush, I randomly swiped on a little of each color until I was happy with the look. I actually loved how it looked after this step and could easily have stopped here. But, I wanted to add some shine & shimmer.

3rd coat – adding shimmer

The next step was to add some shine & shimmer by using metallic paints. I also had these on hand and used bronze, two tones of copper & gold along with the sage green I had used on the 2nd coat.

Using the same technique as above & starting with the underside of the basin, I added a bit of each metallic color until I felt I had enough shimmer!

Finishing touch

The last step was to seal the paint. On the base and underside of the basin, I used Minwax Helmsman oil-based topcoat. I had used it on another project and loved how it looked!

I don’t often use oil-based products because I’m not great at getting the brushes clean. For that reason, I used a disposable paintbrush. Once both pieces were dry, I rolled the base back to its spot in the yard and set the basin on top. I then used a water-based, acrylic spray in clear to seal the paint in the basin.

Since I had all the paint, paintbrushes & finish on hand, the cost to paint the birdbath was $0! I forget how much hubby spent on the grinding bits, but remember that they weren’t expensive. So, my $24.99 birdbath probably ended up costing $30. Unless, of course, you count the cost of sweat-equity!

Supplies Used for the Painting
  • Spray paint – Matte black
  • Acrylic/Latex paints (just a few ounces of each)
    • Metallics – Bronze, gold, copper, green
    • Turquoise or aqua, sage & dark green,
  • Small paintbrushes
  • Spray clear coat acrylic/varnish
  • Oil-based varnish
Instructions for the Painting
  • With spray paint, spray all surfaces
  • Using a small paintbrush, add chosen colors in a random fashion to all surfaces
  • Using a small paintbrush, add metallic colors in a random fashion to highlight the areas of your choice
  • Seal birdbath with an acrylic/water based sealer

We LOVE the look of our birdbath!

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8 Comments

  • Cindy

    Absolutely beautiful !!!! You are a very persistent and talented individual !! I just love reading your posts and all the information that you share , and coming from a ” maybe I can conquer that stupid project that has been driving me nuts ” that means a lot !!!!! Thanks for sharing your “Uuhhhhhgggg ” ‘s and your problem solving !!!! I get a tickle and a lesson every time.

    I too have had TONS of deals over the years, some repurposed, some filed in the bin and more than I will admit publicly stashed around the garage and home !!! 😁

    I am very sorry for not replying to your email about caring and painting the deck…all great advice BTW …(the hubs and I are at odds over that project). I truly appreciate the time and effort from you !!! Where you find the time to blog, reply and continue your projects as well as photos and real life homemaking is really beyond me !!!! 👏👏🎍

    Thanks again and your “deal” turned out quite exceptional . I look forward to more of your perpetual projects and advice 👷.

    • Jeanne

      Hi Cindy! Happy you enjoyed the post. The birdbath looks really great! An update on our deck….We ended up deciding to replace ALL the floorboards and several other pieces needed replaced. Our Contractor replaced the front beam and added additional cross beams under the lower deck. I just finished the sanding and staining yesterday. This time, I went with an oil based stain in Natural and did a faux technique to ‘match’ the finish I had done on the pieces that we did not replace. I’ll update the deck post when it’s completely finished. Stay tuned 🙂

  • Vyvyan Mannion

    Would the paint you’ve used on the birdbath (by the way looks fabulous), would they be poisonous to birds once it was filled with water ?

  • Jane Renner

    I love your birdbath. I would like to bring in the red of the Japenese Maple tree. What base colors would you use, then would you use different metallic colors for that?

    • Jeanne

      Thanks! My son has a Japanese Maple tree. I would use a base color of either black or a deep brown. The metallic colors that would look nice are bronze, gold, antique copper, bright red. I’d love to hear how it turns out!

  • Ekho

    This is a fantastic post, great details! Since it’s been a few years, I’m wondering how well the paint and finish has held up? Have you recoated any of it?

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