DIY Repurposed Vintage Dishes into Planters

I have a real love for functional decor, buying things to repurpose, AND plants. If you love all of those things, too, then keep reading. Today I'm going to show you how I DIY Repurposed Vintage dishes into planters.

Thrift Stores Are a Great Place to Find Old Items like Dishes to Repurpose in a Unique Way

I would say that I am an avid thrifter. In fact, I find great things regularly in my local thrift shop just down the road.

Increasingly I am finding items with missing pieces. For example, these two beautiful soup tureens were missing their lids and spoons.

I think I paid $3 for one and $7 for the other, I simply couldn't leave them there, hopeless, alone, and scared for their futures.

The hope was to find a repurpose for them. To give them a new life.

Beauty is lovely to admire, but I prefer to keep things that have more than just the appeal of looks. They need to be functional to take up space in my home.

Enter a great idea, more like an epiphany, to use them as planters!

What could be a better idea than to make repurposed vintage dishes into planters? In this not too detailed tutorial, I hope to inspire you to try repurposing some vintage dishes into planters or cute flower pots, too!

Jump to:

• Thrift Stores Are a Great Place to Find Old Items like Dishes to Repurpose in a Unique Way
• Before You Start Creating Your Vintage Planters Consider These Three Things
• Here Are A Few Creative Ideas for Vintage Items to Use to Make Your Own Planter
• Watch the Video
• 01 Soup Tureens
• 02 Copper Pots
• 03 Pitchers of Varying Sizes
• 04 Crocks
• 05 Milk Glass Mixing Bowls
• 06 Unique Vintage Containers
• You May Ask What About Drainage Holes?

Before You Start Creating Your Vintage Planters Consider These Three Things

This is easily one of the easiest projects you'll ever do. It took me probably all of an hour once I had a few things figured out.

01 What containers will you use?

Besides the items I used you could also use a tea cup, an empty can, sugar bowls (or vintage sugar bowls, even better), old books (to make a book planter), stainless steel bowls, vintage mason jars, and if you're really into repurposing no matter what, an old toilet bowl.

02 What plants do you want to use?

Obviously, you'll be picking options that are small plants like succulent plants, small trees, flowers, or even herbs. Honestly, you don't even need to use real plants if you don't want to. Therefore, go faux if that suits you!

03 Where will you look for your vintage dishes?

There are multitudinous ($5 word) places you can find vintage dishes to repurpose into planters like a thrift shop or flea market, or even estate sales and yard sales. So, keep your eyes peeled!

Here Are A Few Creative Ideas for Vintage Items to Use to Make Your Own Planter

I think I could probably come up with about a million ideas for you, but I'll restrain myself and show you the 6 ways I did it. However, when thinking about creating a small container garden, fairy garden, succulent planter, or flower pot remember pretty much any container without a lid will work with a few small adjustments!

6 Items to DIY Repurposed Vintage Dishes Into Planters

• Soup Tureens
• Copper Pots
• Pitchers (of varying sizes)
• Crocks
• Milk Glass Mixing Bowls
• Unique Vintage Containers

If you love thrifting vintage items you should check out this post where I brought home a $2.50 chair and show in a detailed tutorial on how to repair and refinished it, How to Repair and Refinish a Thrifted Chair.

Watch the Video

01 Soup Tureens

I saw these two at different times in thrift stores. They literally stared me down so I brought them home. But for over a year, they've been sitting patiently on my shelves waiting for me to figure out a real use for them.

They're beautiful, delicate, feminine, and lovely to look at, however, I wanted more functional decor vs pretty to look at and gather dust decor.

Underneath them are a few thrifted brass trays to catch any water that drains. Though I haven't drilled any drainage holes yet, I put them there to remind me.

02 Copper Pots

Copper is one of my absolute favorite things to collect. I have a pretty sizable collection at this point so I've had to slow my eagerness to grab every piece I see in a thrift store.

The beautiful patina on the copper pitcher drew me in. I have limited space, but there's room on my shelves for the rustic imperfect beauty it brings.

The other copper pot reminds me of a fondue pot. It was lidless also, so it was ripe for the picking as a planter. And look at it! Lovely to look at and smell.

03 Pitchers of Varying Sizes

Ask me if I love pitchers. It's probably obvious if you've seen my dining room shelves that I love a good vintage pitcher.

The largest one is my most recent acquisition. I paid $3 at the thrift shop down the street from where we live.

It had some ugly magazine angel mod podge on the side of it, but I had a feeling I could easily get it off. In fact, I had it off before I even left the check-out counter.

The other two are small blue and white pitchers. One is a crock type, but they're so beautiful together and look quite lovely holding crocus flowers. Petite cream pitchers with petite flowers.

04 Crocks

Oh, crocks. The two in the rear are a few of my favorite recent finds from my birthday haul. I went to thrift stores and flea markets for my birthday and found a whole load of goodies.

I got the pair for $8 and couldn't believe it. What a blessing. However, I haven't much use for them besides this and I think, honestly, it's a great use!

The largest has Italian Basil, the smallest two have Crocus flowers, and the middle one has Muscari.

05 Milk Glass Mixing Bowls

Another find from my recent birthday haul was this adorable vintage milk glass mixing bowl.

I actually have several of these already, but this was such a cute way to add it into my dining room mix. And when the Crocus are done blooming I'll plant them in the ground and use it as a mixing bowl again.

Because none of this is permanent. They can be a planter for this season and you can use them as something else next season.

06 Unique Vintage Containers

This adorable little bunny is an old Avon ceramic. I'm not actually entirely sure what it used to be. It may have had a lid originally? A candy dish?

The real point is that I saw its potential and have kept it in my dining room for a while. I know it's perfect for Easter and spring, but I have used it year-round.

I just think it's interesting and unique, don't you?

You May Ask What About Drainage Holes?

You may be wondering about drainage holes in these planters so your roots don't rot. Well, I've got you covered. Here are three options to account for drainage and keep your plant's roots happy.

01 Place some river rocks at the bottom to keep the water from settling near the roots until it is either soaked up by the potting mix or dissipates.

02 Drill a small hole or two (or several) on the bottom with a glass cutting drill bit and an electric drill. If you're drilling for drainage don't forget to put a pan on the bottom of the jars or containers you use to catch water as it empties.

03 Keep the plants in their original drainable containers from the stores. For a few, I opted for this because I could (my vintage dishes were deep enough) and it was super easy. If it was too tall I simply cut off the ring on the top to help it fit.

04 Use these containers as a temporary home for a seasonal backdrop. When the weather is finally warm enough you can totally plant them outside in your garden! This is probably what I'll do for many of the plants I chose.

I hope I have given you some inspiration in this DIY repurposed Vintage dishes into planters posts. Thank you so much for stopping by!

Julie