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    Home » Homemaking » Handmade » Rehab & Reclaim

    DIY Repurposed Vintage Dishes into Planters

    April 8, 2022 by Julie 2 Comments

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    DIY Repurposed Vintage Dishes into Planters Pinterest Pin

    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.

    Repurposed vintage dishes and other unique items like an avon rabbit turned into planters. Dishes and decor styled on wooden shelves in my dining room.
    As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This post may contain affiliate links.

    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.

    Two vintage soup tureens that I repurposed into planters sitting on a vintage dresser. A dozen brass candlesticks sitting on the top. A vintage painting on the wall.

    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!

    Two vintage soup tureen dishes I repurposed as planters sitting next to vintage brass candlesticks on a vintage dresser.
    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.

    Vintage dishes on wooden shelves. A cream colored pitcher thrited for $3 repurposed as a planter with lemon oregano inside.

    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!

    Vintage bunny rabbit made by avon repurposed into a planter with flowers sitting on wooden shelves and a lazy susan.

    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

    Vintage soup tureens repurposed into planters sitting on brass trays on a vintage dresser.

    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

    Thrifted copper pot on a stand repurposed as a planter with muscari.
    An old aged and patina copper pot filled with lavender.
    Vintage copper pot on a stand filled with beautiful blue muscari flowers sitting on a wooden shelf.
    Copper Pot repurposed as an herb planter with lavender in it.

    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

    Cream pitchers repurposed as planters on a wooden shelf displayed as decor.
    Blue and white crock vintage pitchers which have flowers planted in them sitting on wooden shelves.
    Vintage cream pitcher with lemon oregano planted inside displayed as decor on a shelf in my dining room.
    Two small blue and white crocks sitting in a pfaltzgraff serving dish on a wooden shelf displayed as decor.

    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

    A set of matching crocks with blue stripes repurposed as planters. In front of them is a blue striped cream pitcher filled with crocus flowers.
    Three vintage crocks filled with flowers and herbs as planters.

    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

    Vintage milk glass mixing bowl filled with crocus flowers sitting on a shelf in my dining room next to other vintage dishes.
    A cute petite milk glass mixing bowl filled with crocus flowers repurposed as a planter.

    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

    Vintage Avon ceramic rabbit turned into a planter filled with Muscari.
    Vintage bunny rabbit made by avon repurposed into a planter with flowers sitting on wooden shelves and a lazy susan.

    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

    DIY Repurposed Vintage Dishes into Planters Pinterest Pin
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    Comments

    1. Kimberly Blake

      April 12, 2022 at 5:36 am

      I've never had much of a vision for this, but I FINALLY bought my first dish to use as a planter here recently!

      This past weekend the hubby and I were debating on throwing our old wheelbarrow away (one of the handles broke off), but I had the idea of using it as a planter for flowers in the garden.

      Thanks for more inspiration for ways to get plants into the house!

      Reply
      • Julie

        April 12, 2022 at 12:41 pm

        Oh, I love that idea!! I'm a fan of all repurposing. That old wheelbarrow is likely grateful it didn't end up in a landfill!

        Reply

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    Hi, I'm Julie! Mother to five beautiful kids, Homeschool Educator, Handicraft & DIY enthusiast, lover of Music & Poetry, Photographer, and aspiring Minimalist. Follow along for fun projects to help create a handmade home on a budget! Read more about me here→

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