When you think of flower pots and planters, the first thing that comes to mind are flowers in the garden, on the patio, or on a porch. Believe it or not, planters and flower pots have many more uses outside of simply holding plants. Crafty people have turned them into useful items around the house.
Some of the remarkable things you can make out of flower pots include holders for various items in your home, unique pieces of furniture, and new ways to serve food at your next dinner party. You can also use planters for a variety of new, and seldom thought of, uses, including as a drink cooler.
While you might think that you are not handy enough to make any of these projects a reality, most of them take little more than some paint, glue, and a little know-how. So, break out your glue gun, stir up your paint, and prepare to craft a variety of useful items using flower pots and planters around your home.
Making a bird bath out of your clay pots is another great project. All you need to make a beautiful bird bath are four clay pots, some clay saucers, adhesive caulk, and spray paint in the color you want to make the birdbath. Find out more on this project at
Tracy’s Trinkets & Treasures.
You don’t need a barbecue to make S’mores. You can pop some charcoal into a large or small terra cotta planter and enjoy a patio potluck. Get all the details on how to do it
here.
3) Turn Pots Into Makeshift Food Covers
You can also use clay pots to keep bugs off of your food when eating outside. Simply paint the pots to the color you like. Once dry, slip a loop of knotted rope through the hole in the bottom of the pot. Then, place the pot over your dish once you place it outside.
4) Use to Hold Bottles of Wine
Another great way to utilize flower pots is to glue them together and store bottles of wine in them. You can also add some fake grapes for a more authentic look. Then, the next time you need some wine, you have easy access to it.
5) DIY Bathroom Organizer
Paint some flowers pots so they match your bathroom decor. Fill them with Q-tips, cotton balls, and other items. They will look nice, match your bathroom, and keep it organized.
You can also make a bird feeder out of flower pots to go along with your clay pot bird bath. Simply drill some seed holes in the bottom of the pot using a glass and tile drill bit, glue the clay pot to a saucer, and place a loose saucer on top. Hang via a knotted cord run through the hole in the clay pot and saucers.
7) Use to Hold Your Plunger
If you have a medium clay pot and saucer, paint it and make a colorful holder for your plunger in the bathroom. Make sure to put a liner in the bottom of the saucer to keep any toilet water from getting on your floor. Also, make sure to clean the plunger holder occasionally.
If you have some small flower pots, use them as candle holders. Place the candles in the pots, and position them where you want. When you need a little candlelight, light the candles with no worries, as the pots should catch any melting wax.
9) Turn a Pot Into a Handy Stand
If you don’t have a stand for these things, you have to hang them off the side of the table — and that’s just asking for an accident. Instead, make a beverage dispenser stand from a flower pot and saucer. Glue the upside-down saucer to the bottom of the planter, and place your dispenser on top of it.
You can also use a small pot to fashion an easy-to-make pincushion for your sewing area. Start by filling the small pot with a stuffing material. Next, glue a covering material, such as fleece or microfiber cloth, to the inner edge of the pot. Finish by decorating the outside of the pot to your tastes.
11) Create a Candle Planter
Why not have the best of both worlds? Fill the bottom of a large pot halfway with gravel, and add a candle in a glass hurricane holder to the middle of the pot. On top of the gravel, add some soil and some plants. Now, you have a nice light source for your back patio.
12) Turn Into Storage Bins for Clutter
If you have a lot of mail, notes, or other clutter around an area in your home, use flower pots to keep it sorted. Look for brightly colored flower pots or paint them to match the color you want. Next, sort your clutter into the appropriate pot — mail in one, important notes in another, etc.
13) Easy-to-Make Condiment Holder
Keep your condiments, napkins, and utensils neat and in one place with flower pots. It’s a lot nicer than tossing them on the table. You can also paint or decorate them so they’ll be festive looking.
14) Make a Handy Accent Table
Turn a large clay pot into an accent table for your patio area. To accomplish this, paint a large pot and its accompanying saucer with the color you want, add any decorations, and glue the saucer to the bottom of the pot. Place where you like in your outdoor area.
15) Turn Into a Candy Holder
Craft a small clay pot and saucer into a gumball machine candy dish for the kids. All you need are a clay pot, clay saucer, some acrylic paint, a glass bowl, and glue. You can find this fun and easy project at
Amy Latta Creations.
16) Use to Hold Dog Treats
You can also make a nice-looking treat holder for your doggie using a clay pot and saucer. To personalize it, paint the outside and add the name of your pet. Just make sure to keep it out of their reach or they might sneak into it when you are not looking.
17) Turn a Flower Pot Into a Mini Fire Pit
Flower pot fire pits are the prettiest fire pits. Fill one with rocks and a chafing fuel container. Get all the details
here.
18) Create a Vertical Garden
Create a vertical garden using flower pots for a balcony or other outdoor area of your home. All you need are a variety of flower pots, the proper tools, and a little skill. To find the tutorial for this project, check out
The Horticult.
For this project, you need various sizes of small pots with drainage holes, some paint, and jute twine. Paint the pots, and hang them on the twine at the height you want. You can use knots to keep the pots close together without touching, as detailed in the tutorial
here.
Why buy an expensive smoker when you can make one from a clay pot. You can cook an entire chicken on this thing. Learn how to make one
here.
21) Use to Hold Gardening Tools
To keep all of your gardening tools in one place, fill a medium-sized flower pot about halfway with sand. When finished with your tools, clean them and place them in the pot. The sand gives them something to stick into so that they stay upright and ready to go for the next time.
22) Put Together a Rain Chain
All you need for this project are some clay pots, a length of chain, and some smaller chain that fits through the holes in the pots. As water fills up each pot, it spills over into the one below, continuing until it reaches a clay saucer filled with pebbles at the bottom. You can find out how to make this project at
All Things Heart & Home.
Use tiny clay pots to hold cupcakes. To make them, place a cupcake liner in the bottom of each pot, pour in the cupcake mix, and bake until done. Finish by covering with frosting and adding garnish as desired. Find out how to make them
here.
24) Turn Into a Jewelry Organizer
Another neat little project is to turn flower pots and saucers into a holder for your jewelry. Simply place three saucers of varying sizes, from large to small, facing up, and glue some medium-size pots in between the bottom and second tier. Finish by adding paint.
25) Make Your Own House Marker
Want your house numbers to stand out? Use some garden planters. Place one number on each planter and really make your house numbers stand out. Or place several numbers on one planter. You can put flowers in it or place lights inside of it.
26) Turn a Pot Into Beautiful Garden Decorations
Another great use for flower pots is to turn them into decorative items for your garden, such as colorful toadstools. Glue the saucer, facing down, to the bottom of the pot. Paint the pots a neutral color, such as white or gray, and paint the saucers in a more vibrant color.
27) Use as a Cutlery Holder
Paint small pots in colors matching the decor of your kitchen, and use them to store pieces of cutlery. You can even add stylized representations of the cutlery held by each pot, or simply write the name of the cutlery.
Using a clay pot as a gift holder is a unique way to give a gift to a friend, family member, or co-worker. Paint the outside of a medium-sized pot to match the occasion, and fill it with a variety of gifts. This project is perfect for a birthday or a baby or bridal shower.
29) Turn a Pot Into a Side Table
This idea is brilliant! If you have a planter that you’re absolutely in love with, toss a glass top or wooden piece over it. It can be turned into an instant table.
30) Make Into a Colored Pencil or Paintbrush Holder
For a great-looking colored pencil or paintbrush holder, paint a lovely design on a small clay pot, and keep them near your work area. Another way to apply designs onto your pots is to use decoupage to apply a design of your choice, such as on a napkin or paper.
31) Create Your Own Cupcake Stand
You can glue a bunch of painted clay pots and saucers together to hold a variety of items, including cupcakes. To make this, glue a large saucer, facing up, to the top of a medium upside-down pot. On top of that, glue a small upside-down pot, followed by a medium saucer, facing up.
32) Use to Hold Side Dishes
Small clay pots are great for holding side dishes, such as dips and other items. Some great food items to place in a small pot to add a nice touch to your next dinner party include guacamole, pico de gallo, and bean dip, among many others.
33) Make a Beverage Cooler
Instead of using an unsightly tub to house your beverages and ice, use a planter. It looks a lot nicer. It’s also portable so you can bring it poolside or near the grill. Just make sure to seal it or you could have a mess on your hands when the ice melts.
34) Easy-to-Make Ice Cream Planters
Like many other dessert items, place ice cream in a tiny clay pot for a unique treat. Just make sure to get pots without holes to prevent a mess as the ice cream melts. To complete the effect, add some Oreo cookie crumbles to look like dirt.
35) Use as a Towel Holder
Need an inexpensive way to store your pool towels? Use a planter. It will keep them nice and neat. It also won’t look like a cheap container on your pool deck. To make the towels fit better, roll them up instead of folding them.
36) Turn Flower Pots Into Magazine Holders
A magazine holder is another great use for a flower pot. You need a large-sized pot and a wooden stand. Glue the pot to the wooden stand, and decorate the outside. For a truly unique look, use fabric or scrapbook paper to cover the rim of the pot.
You can even use a terracotta flower pot to bake bread. Before using, make sure to soak the pot in water for 20 minutes and then grease the inside with butter. Place the dough inside of the pot and bake in the oven. You can find the recipe
here.
Looking for a great wedding favor? Then look no further. Tiny clay pots painted and containing a succulent plant make a great gift for your wedding guests. You can also use the pots as decorated centerpieces with table numbers painted on the side for easy seating.
39) Use as Bedroom Storage
If you find your bedroom vanity area cluttered with various hair accessories, use clay pots to keep them more organized. Paint the clay pots to match your décor, and add labels so that you know what goes into each pot.
40) Turn Into Household Decor
Flower pots can hold more than just plants. Make full use of them inside of your home by using as items of decor. Fill them with holiday-appropriate ornaments and items for some easy holiday decorations, or maybe even some sand and crystals to give your home a more New Age feel.
41) Heat a small room or shed
This is a bit of a quirky craft, but if you’re in a pinch and need to heat a small area, shed, or some other small space, use a terracotta pot! All you’ll need is a pot, some bricks, and a large candle. Here’s the
tutorial.
42) Make an adorable lighthouse
With a little bit of creativity and elbow grease, you can create a sweet little lighthouse for your garden or front yard. Just flip the pots upside-down, paint them how you’d like, and add a solar or battery-powered garden light on top! The full tutorial is
here.
43) Craft some beautiful garden lights
Bland and boring terracotta pots can be transformed into so many things! Like these gorgeous garden lights using some colored glass globes. Head over to
Pinterest for some more info.
44) Create a DIY tiki torch
Need some mood lighting for your backyard during warm summer nights? Why not make a super cute tiki torch using a terracotta planter? It might look complicated to make, but it’s really not at all. You can find more info on
Pinterest.
If you’re not familiar with a Zeer pot, you are about to fall in love. It’s a non-electric, super handy way to keep food and drinks cold. Perfect for the summer! Want to make one for yourself? Here are the instructions.
46) Terra cotta pot person
Looking to add a little cuteness to your yard? You can get fun and creative by gluing terra cotta pots together to create an adorable terra cotta scarecrow or person. This charming idea below even puts them on a little rusted bike. Too cute!
Using multiple small clay pots, you can fashion a really cute wreath for your door or wall. This is perfect if you’re going for that farmhouse-chic decor that is so popular right now. Here are the
instructions on how to make it.
48) Terra cotta light fixtures
String some light bulbs through a terra cotta pot and hang from the ceiling for some unique light fixtures. These would look gorgeous in a she-shed or craft area. Apartment Therapy has the
instructions.
49) Flower pot chandelier
Technically with this project, the flower pots are still holding flowers, but now they’re displayed on a super adorable chandelier. Just take an old chandelier, remove the lighting elements, paint it whatever color you’d like and secure the terra cotta pots! Want the details? You can find them here.
Just because your pot is broken, doesn’t mean you still can’t use it. With this adorable project, you can create a staircased gardening project that is sure to catch your guests eyes.
Here’s how to make it.
51) Keep yarn from knotting
“Knitting a sweater will take ages to finish if you’re constantly stopping to untangle the wool. To prevent this, place your ball of wool under and upturned flowerpot and thread the end through the drain hole,” says
Reader’s Digest. It also works for string and twine.
Some little fishies love hiding in dark places. If you have an aquarium, place a small terra cotta pot on its side so that your fish have a dark hang out spot! Plus, it looks so adorable.
You can spruce up a bland and boring terra cotta pot by decoupaging it!
Decoupage “is the art of decorating an object by gluing colored paper cutouts onto it in combination with special paint effects, gold leaf and other decorative elements.” It will instantly transform your pot.
Paint your terra cotta pot with some chalkboard paint and write whatever you’d like on it! Whether it’s flowers or herbs, or labels for craft supplies, the possibilities are endless!
55) Disguise it with twigs
Another adorable way to spruce up or disguise a boring clay pot is to glue some twigs around the side and now you have a rustic new planter for plants or whatever else you’d like to use it for. Here’s the
tutorial.
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Flower pots and planters have a wide variety of uses outside of just holding plants. These ideas for flower pots and planters can help you organize your life, decorate the inside and outside of your home, and make useful items of furniture.
