Article Photo

Embrace your inner artist and brighten up your garden with these colourful totem poles

17 Jun 2021

Impress your neighbours and set your garden poles apart with these artistic totem poles. You can mix and match colourful designs, get arty with some realistic fruit, or keep it abstract with shapes and lines. With just a few fence posts and a wide variety of Resene testpots to choose from, you’ll be in pole position to create something wonderful.

You will need:

  • 3x H4 treated pine fence posts, 2.4m x 100mm x 100mm
  • Saw
  • Sandpaper
  • Resene Quick Dry primer
  • Your choice of Resene testpots – Fleur used an assorted range of testpots from the Resene Multi-finish collection
  • Paint brushes in a variety of sizes
  • Resene Woodsman Wood Oil Stain – Fleur used Resene Pitch Black

Step 1: Cut the top of the posts at 45 degrees.  Sand your posts and wipe them down with a clean cloth. Prime the top 1.5 metres of the posts with Resene Quick Dry primer.


Step 2: Paint the top of each post with a fun subject of your choice – Fleur painted her children’s favourite fruit; a pineapple, pear and strawberry using a range of Resene colours. 


Step 3: For the second section of the posts, paint unique or abstract faces or subjects of your choice. Try a bold outline in Resene black and change out the colours in the eyes from post to post to add interest.


Step 4: For the third section of the poles, keep it loose and rhythmic with repeated patterns such as guitars or aeroplanes.


Step 5: To complete your totem pole, let loose with your Resene paint colours and have fun experimenting with different colour combinations, patterns and scale. Use a variety of spots, stripes and simple and complex patterns to create a myriad of colour.


Step 6: Stain the bottom 90cm of the posts with Resene Woodsman Wood Oil Stain – Fleur used Resene Pitch Black.

Step 7: Install your posts in the garden. Posts of this length need to be buried to a depth of at least 60cm.

These poles are finished in: Resene Amulet, Resene Apache, Resene Aviator, Resene Bi Hoki, Resene Black, Resene Blackberry, Resene Blue Diamond, Resene Bondi Blue, Resene Bowie, Resene Buttercup,Resene Calypso, Resene Cleopatra, Resene Clover, Resene Dingley, Resene Funk, Resene Grass Hopper, Resene Green House, Resene Half Dutch White, Resene Happy Hour, Resene Hippie Blue, Resene Hot Toddy, Resene Kamikaze, Resene Merlot, Resene Noosa, Resene Pelorous, Resene Poppy, Resene Rebel, Resene Rose Of Sharon, Resene Rusty Nail, Resene Seeker, Resene Smitten, Resene Tree Frog, Resene Waikawa Grey, Resene Waiouru  and Resene Pitch Black.

Project and images Fleur Thorpe

Published: 17 Jun 2021