If you’re looking for an easy and affordable way to update your home interior this year, then acrylic pour paintings are right up your alley! We have hundreds of tutorials on our YouTube channel and website that can help you create your DIY acrylic pour masterpiece, but I realize filtering all the information out there can be exhausting and overwhelming for some.
In this article, I decided to collect a few of our favorite projects in one place to make it easy for you. From our favorite Pinterest boards to blogs and video tutorials, here are my top picks from our archives of home decor ideas to help you create a space that’s perfectly you this year.
Acrylic Pour Paintings: Ideas and Inspirations to Spruce Up Your Space
As you peruse, remember that all our projects are meant to be tampered with! If the final product isn’t exactly your vision, feel free to stray from the tutorial and put a little bit (or a whole lot) of you into it! We’d love to see what you create!
If you’re a beginner, no worries! For most projects, I’ve included links to both the step-by-step written tutorial and the YouTube video, so you get a double whammy of expertise to guide you as you complete your first acrylic paint pour.
1. Underwater Acrylic Pour Escapade
For our first acrylic pour painting, I’ve chosen a stunning creation that combines a straight pour, chain pulling, and the swipe technique. This sub-aquatic wonderland is perfect for your pool house, sheltered porch, sunroom, or themed bathroom.
It’s on par with color trends this year as well! The Pantone color of the year is “Peach Fuzz,” and our resident artist and founder, Nerissa, expertly uses this vibrant hue in the coral and seabed foliage!
For more expert color advice and trends, check out “Color Palettes for Creating Updated Art.“
If you want to go even further, this piece lends itself easily to embellishment. Embellish acrylic pour painting is just what it sounds like. It’s a technique that involves adding rhinestones, glitter, paper mache, seashells, etc to the wet paint to give it more texture and life.
2. Acrylic Puddle Pour
In this tutorial, Nerissa experiments with the puddle pour. The puddle is one of our favorite acrylic pouring techniques because of the separation of color you can achieve. It works well with analogous colors as demonstrated in the video, but it’s also one of the better methods for mixing complementary colors without creating a muddy effect. The colors in this one are to die for!
3. Strainer Acrylic Pouring
No other acrylic pour technique creates the intricate patterns of the strainer method. Utilizing strange or unexpected objects to experiment is one of the most fascinating parts of making pour paintings. It’s amazing what a plastic Dollar Store colander can do!
In this detailed tutorial, you’ll see how just the slightest movement of the strainer can form intricate designs that took hours to make with my spiral art kit as a kid (never did figure out what half those stencils were for).
You’ll notice with this one that Nerissa begins with a black background. Using black not only gives your painting a moody feel but often increases contrast as well!
This fluid painting technique is perfect for larger canvases as well. Use a traditional pour and a palette knife (or whatever edge you have on hand) to lay down a fairly thick background color. Then, you can strategically place your strainer pours (with less manipulation after the pour than in the video) to create a still life reminiscent of a field of flowers.
Pro Note: With a layer pour like this, if you pour aggressively (as in the video), you’ll get thinner layers in your “flower” that meld together. It’s a surefire way to get a bold pattern, but this can tend to get muddy if you’re not careful.
If you don’t like that look, allow a bit more time for the colors to drain and spread out before adding a new color. By increasing the time between paint pouring, you spread out the layers and create a big, open flower with less paint mixing.
4. Magic Marble Creations
With this project, we move away from canvas art (though you can use it on canvas too) and explore the mesmerizing world of hydro-dipping with Magic Marble paint. What is hydro-dipping you say?
Well… in short form… due to the high surface tension of water, you can easily create a paint film that floats on top of a bucket of water. Hydro-dipping uses this phenomenon, allowing you to create unique and intricate marbling patterns on any object that is dipped through the paint film into the water.
If you need new vases, but can’t explore expensive ceramics, then this is your new go-to art project. Hydro-dipping allows you to use relatively cheap and safe acrylic paint to get that high gloss look that we usually associate with resin or oil-based finishes. This technique is pure magic, and you can use it on just about anything!
5. DIY Acrylic Christmas Ornaments
We do love a holiday! If you check out the Seasonal Pouring section on our website, you’ll find dozens of fun tutorials on everything from acrylic pour pumpkins to winter landscapes on canvas! In this tutorial, Nerissa takes on the task of creating DIY Christmas ornaments.
Yep! You can use acrylic on glass! This method is budget-friendly too, as you can grab the cheapest clear glass or plastic ornaments and turn them into something extraordinary!
6. Backyard Updates
I recently wrote an article collecting all of my favorite ideas for updating your backyard on a budget. It includes upcycling used TV trays to make outdoor furniture, using the dirty pour, dip, and balloon smash methods to paint terracotta pots, and creating DIY paving stones with pizzazz!
You get a big bang for your buck with this read, as it includes 15 budget-friendly acrylic pour projects that will have your backyard looking high-end in no time!
7. Mermaid Photo Frame Acrylic Pour
Acrylic paint pouring should be fun, and this one is as fun as it gets. Above, we talked about how hydro-dipping can help you create epic home decor items with ease, but it certainly isn’t the only way to get paint onto an unexpected substrate.
In this video, our artsy girl uses a traditional pour to create an elaborate photo frame for her daughter’s birthday, but I can see this technique being used to update an ornate mirror frame, craft a new tabletop, or create new coasters for your end tables!
8. DIY Countertop Renovation
Did you know that you can use acrylic pouring to update your counters? Well, you can! This project is admittedly a little more advanced, and I recommend practicing a few times on some scrap material before dumping paint on your countertops!
You’ll need to experiment with the resin and with your pouring medium mixture. However, with a little preparation, you could have a whole new kitchen by the end of the day!
This is one of my all-time favorite pour protects because of the incredible change it produces. Admittedly, resin is not cheap. This will not be the most budget-friendly project on the list, but if you’ve got a few extra dollars this month, and ugly countertops, it’s worth the effort and the splurge!
Remember, when working with resin in your kitchen, to look for lower chemical options and allow the final coat to completely cure before any food service!
Wrapping It Up—Final Words on Decorating Your Home With Acrylic Pour Paintings
Alright guys, with these eight ideas, we’ve updated your kitchen cabinets, created new canvas art, redone your mirror frames, renewed your backyard, and decorated for Christmas…not half bad for a few minutes! The bad part (or the great part) is that you actually have to go do the projects now. So, get out of here, go hit up the craft store, and get to transforming your home with acrylic pour paintings!
If you’re not sure what to buy, here’s our “Mega-List of Supplies for Acrylic Pour Painting” to help you navigate those overwhelming craft store aisles!
We’ve also created a few amazing resources to help you get the perfect colors every time! Do yourself a favor, and grab a copy of our Acrylic Pouring Color Theory Mega Printable Pack and our Effortless Readymade Color Palette Collection.
Til next time…Go Forth and Pour!