When we were sorting out garden out we had some concrete lions that were quite big and heavy. They are like statues and about 3 foot high when sitting on their pedestals. We had painted them in the past with some masonry paint but decided we wanted to vamp them up a bit for this year so we went to B & Q to have a look at speciality paints to see what we could find. We decided to look at the aerosol paints as they would be quick at applying and would be easy to get in the corners and groovy bits.


We found the Hammerite aerosol paints and decided to get one of these in silver to give them a metallic look. The can contains 400ml of paint which we thought should be plenty to cover two garden ornaments. The price of the can was £11.98 which we thought was a good price considering it would revamp two ornaments.


The lid of the paint was quite hard to get off, I had to get my Other Half to prise it off for me to do the painting. I took some old newspapers out in the garden and selotaped them to the wall and laid some on the floor then got Other Half to lift one of the statues on to the paper for me. The paint needed to be shook well, when you shook it you got a rattling sound in the can. This is supposed to be something like a small ball that mixes the paint up to stop it clogging up inside as it needs to come out through a tiny nozzle.


You need to hold the can away from the item you are spraying, if you hold it too near then the paint would go on too thick and you would get drips. I found it was best to hold it about 12 inches away and to give it short bursts of paint so giving it a light cover as you can always go back over it if you have places left not covered where as if you put too much on you can't put it back in the can again.


The aerosol was good for aiming the paint in all directions and it didn't take long to finish painting one of the lions. The paint smelled quite strong but it was a nice smell, but I was glad I was doing it out in the garden. It does tell you to make sure you are in a ventilated place to work and you can't get more ventilated than in the garden.


The paint was quite quick at drying as I was only putting on a thin coat. I found there were a few little spots around it that still had the old paint showing through but a quick squirt on these spots did the job. Once it had all dried then Other Half moved it out of the way and put the other one there. The can of paint covered both lions easily and we had enough left over to do their pedestals that they sit on (they are separate and are just concrete flower tubs that are turned upside down). Once they were all finished and dry the lions looked lovely with their new metallic appearance and it makes them look very expensive.


I would recommend this kind of paint as its easy to apply, and it dries quickly and you could use it for many different things.

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