Hoo's ready for a garden glow-up?

28 Nov 2024

This owl garden art is a hooting good time! Pick out your most favourite Resenetestpot colours and make them as bright as you like – be sure to get the kids involved too. These are especially great if you’re lacking colour in your garden, they will add a vibrant, whimsical touch to your outdoor space all year round.  

You will need: 

• Dressed fence paling, 140mm wide x 19mm thick x 1.8m long 
• Pencil 
• Jig saw or band saw 
• Sandpaper 
• Paintbrush 
• Resene Quick Dry 
• Exterior wood glue 
• Electric drill and galvanised screws 
• Garden stakes 
• Resene testpots in your chosen shades. Fleur used Resene Blue Diamond, Resene Fire, Resene Black and Resene Waterborne Woodsman Grey Green 

Step 1: Start by using a pencil to draw simplified shapes of an owl on to the fence paling. Cut these out with a jig saw or band saw. Trace around a cup to create circles for the eyes and cut out enough for your owls, and from the left-over scraps of wood, make some triangular shaped noses. Sand rough edges smooth with medium grit sandpaper.   

Step 2: Prime the owls, eyes and noses with one coat of Resene Quick Dry. Once the primer is dry, paint the pieces with two coats of your chosen testpot colours. Fleur used Resene Blue Diamond for the bodies and Resene Fire for the eyes and noses. 

Step 3: Once all the paint is dry, use exterior wood glue to glue the eyes and noses to the owl body. Screw through the middle of the eyes with a galvanised screw to secure it and do the same with the nose but screw through from the back so that the screw can’t be seen. Paint over the eye screws with some Resene Black, or another of your chosen colours. 

Step 4: Stain some wooden garden stakes with ReseneWaterborneWoodsman in the colour Resene Grey Green. Attach a stake to the back of each owl with a couple of galvanised screws.  

Step 5: Place in your garden to enjoy.  

Retaining wall in Resene Waterborne Woodsman Pitch Black. 

project and images Fleur Thorpe 

Published: 28 Nov 2024