DIY Flower Pots – The Ultimate List

A collection of ideas on how to diy flower pots

In this post, I collected the best DIY flower pots for plants, including terracotta, concrete, plastic, and unusual planter ideas. Creating homemade planters is effortless. With a few supplies, paints, ropes, glue, you can transform them into stylish home decor objects.

Spring is around the corner, and every year I get an urge to plant flowers and to create or buy fun pots and planters for them. Many fantastic DIY ideas are circulating on the web, so I had to collect and organize them. What I love about them is that they’re inexpensive and easy to customize.

Most of these ideas are suitable for indoor and outdoor use.

How to DIY flower pots?

You can make DIY planters with two methods:

1. Transform and customize a store-bought, a thrift store pot, or other objects

Most of us already have plastic, terracotta, clay, or ceramic planters at home. Whit time a lot of them became worn out and ugly. 

With some paint and decorative elements, you can give them a second chance to shine.

These upcycle ideas are inexpensive, with high-class results.

 2. Design and create unique planters

If you want to experiment, try, and cast your own concrete planters. You can also use air-dry clay, polymer clay, or other materials to sculpt small planters for your favorite succulents. 

So here is my list of beautiful flower pots, I hope you will find inspiration and try one or more of them.

1. Terracotta Pot Makeovers

I want to split terracotta planter revamps into two groups: whole and broken pots.

• intact pots

Multiple methods exist to personalize whole planters. You can paint, stamp, add texture, add mosaic, wrap-around with rope, decoupage it with paper or fabric, distress and age them for a French look, or add patina.

 – Painted and stamped pots

• Dip dye succulent pot by I spy DIY
• DIY marbled terracotta pot by Alana Jones-Mann
• DIY painted terracotta pot by The Beauty Dojo
• DIY Boho patterned pots by Hungarican Journey

 – Planters covered in sand, rope, mosaic, rocks

• Sand Covered Terra Cotta Pots by Everyday Home
• Rope-Wrapped terracotta planters by House by Hoff
• Broken China Mosaic Pots by Ideas for the Home by Kenarry
• DIY Rock Covered Bucket by Centsational Style (I know this is not a terracotta pot, but you can do the same, and I couldn’t find a decent stone covered pot)

 – Paper and fabric decoupaged pots

• Decoupage Terracotta Pots by Life is Poppin
• Floral Decoupaged Terra Cotta Pots by Place of My Taste
• Mod Podged Planter with Photos by Mod Podged Rocks
• DIY Mod Podge Terra Cotta Pots by Unsotton Place

 – Distressed, aged and with patina

• DIY French Made Pots With Waterslide Decals by Dreams Factory
• How To Age Terra Cotta Pots With Chalk Paint by The Painted Hinge
• Refinishing Old Flower Pots by The Navage Patch
• DIY Faux Aged Terra Cotta Pots by The Navage Patch

– Other fun terracotta pot ideas

• Pretty Lace Flower Pot by A Beautiful Mess
• DIY Seashell Planter by Billabong
• Teeny Plants in Glittered Pots by The Pretty Bee
• Wood Slice Covered Terra Cotta Pot by Mother Earth Living

• broken planters

Never throw out a shattered clay pot. Indeed! I encourage you to break them because you can create fabulous fairy gardens and succulent gardens.

• Stacked Clay Pot Planter by A. C. Moore
• Terracotta Fairy Garden by Blue Fox Farm

I’ve found some useful tips on how to break a terracotta pot from Blue Fox Farm.

2. DIY Concrete Planters

My favorite way to create flower pots is by pouring cement or covering objects in concrete. They are unique, and you can further personalize them before or after they are dried.

For creating concrete planters, you will need molds. You can either use plastic containers around your home, buy silicone molds, or create your own shapes. 

Do you want to give it a try? Made by Barb has an excellent tutorial on how to make silicone molds.

Here are a couple of awesome cement pot ideas for inspiration:

• Tied Concrete Bag Planter by Made by Barb
• DIY Concrete Planter Pot–With Wooden Base by Woodshop Diaries
• Concrete And Gold DIY Plant Pots by DIY in PDX
• Concrete Sugar Mold by Our Handcrafted Life

Not sure about making your own molds, I got you covered, I have a list of stunning silicone molds for concrete. 

3. Upcycled Tin Can Pots 

Tin cans are those types of kitchen trash you don’t want to throw out. You can easily upcycle them to many home decor objects, flower pots, utensils or pencil holder, wind chime, wine bottle rack, lamp or lanterns, and others.

To transform them into pretty planters, you can: paint, decoupage, or cover them with.

Cool painted tin can pot ideas:

• DIY Tin Can Planters by Mom Always Finds Out
• Painted Tin Can Planters by The Crafted Sparrow
• How To Turn Upcycled Tin Cans Into Gorgeous Home Decor For Cheap by Five Little Bears
• Recycled Tin Cans by La Trastienda de Liderlamp

Beautiful decoupaged tin can planters:

• Succulents in Tin Can Planters by Sisoo
• Decoupage Tin Can Planters on DecoArt
• DIY French Recycled Tin Can by Dreams Factory
• Easy Upcycled Marimekko Decorative Tin Can Planters by Pillar Box Blue

You can also cover your tin cans with: moss, rocks, wood sticks, burlap, rope, cork sheets, lace, felt, any other material.

• Gorgeous Recycled Jean Planter by Pillar Box Blue
• Tin Can Pine Cone Planters by My Husband Has too Many Hobbies
• Twisted Rope Wrapped Cans by FrugElegance
• Make Your Own Can Planters by American Lifestyle

4. Plastic Planter Transformations

Plastic flower pots are cheap, but not really charming. We have many of them in our home, and I can’t wait to replace them with something more sophisticated.

Until then, I’ve found some impressive ideas to beautify them with paint or covering them.

• Pallet Wood Planter Covers on Hometalk
• Chalk Paint on Plastic Pots by Pet Scribbles
• Gold Painted Flowerpots by Garden Therapy
• Plastic Pink Flower Pot Gets a Face Lift on Hometalk

After refinishing them, no one would ever believe you that these are made of plastic.

5. Succulent Flower Pots

Succulent planters are trending these years. I really like succulents, because they are cute and colorful, easy to care for, and you can incorporate them in every room, including your office.

One of my favorites is the hanging and vertical succulent planters. They look stunning planted individually in small pots but in large arrangements as well.

• Hanging Succulent Planter Log on Etsy
• Pine Cone Succulent Planters by The Inspired Home and Garden
• Moroccan Planters in under 10 Minutes by Pillar Box Blue
• DIY Succulent Wall Planter by Empress of Bird

6. Creative Pots for Plants

Now, this is where the fun begins. Technically you can use anything as a planter if the object has a hole, or you can cut a hole in it to fill with dirt.

So you may ask? What can I use as flower pots? Here are some of my favorites:

• teapot,
• strainer,
• shoes,
• plastic toys,
• dolls (they are a bit creepy if you ask me, but the trolls version is cute),
• birdcage,
• watering cans,
• teacups,
• books,
• rain boots,
• chair,
• wheelbarrow,
• old phones,
• jeans,
• ripped balls,
• drawers,
• chests or boxes,
• old mailboxes,
• guitar,
• vintage cupping spoon,
• hat,
• baskets,
• lanterns,
• pitchers,
• tire,
• etc.

These are my favorites:

• How to Make a Birdcage Planter by Empress of Dirt
• How to Make a Book Planter by World of Succulents
• Troll Succulent Planters on Hometalk
• Cement Sneaker Planter by Artsy Pretty Plants

7. Clay planters

Another method to make flower planters is using clay. You can use air-dry clay, paper mache, or polymer clay. I really like this technique because you can create fun shaped and colorful pots, like fruits, animals, faces, etc.

How to make the flower pots?

 1. wrap a container or a pot with clay,

 2. sculpt a unique shape,

 3. add clay embellishments.

I love this DIY terrazzo planter. They look high-class, easy to make and to customize to your needs.

A couple of fun ideas for inspiration:

• DIY: Handmade Clay Pots by Say Yes
• With A Clay Minimal Face Planter by Bliss Makes
• Faceted Clay Pots by MerryPad
• DIY Stamped Clay Succulent Pots by Damask Love

My favorite method is using polymer clay because after baking becomes waterproof. And also, you don’t have to paint it and seal it when you’re done.

These DIY succulent clay planters are adorable. Also, you don’t need any special skills to make them.

8. DIY Outdoor planters

Large outdoor flower pots can be expensive, but you can easily upcycle stuff around your home to turn them into fabulous outdoor decor for your porch or garden. These are my favorites:

• Turn An Old Tire Into A Gorgeous Planter by Addicted 2 DIY
• Tall PVC Pipe Planter by Színes Ötletek
• Laundry Basket Planter by Elizabeth Joan Designs
• Stenciled Cinder Block Planter by Reality Daydream

You can also use driftwood, large wood logs, buckets, pallet, barrel, etc. or build one out of wood or cast with concrete.

Experiment with other embellishments

• glass pebbles
• sticky flatback rhinestones
• flatback sticky pearls
• crochet, knit
• macrame
• buttons

Conclusion about DIY planters

I really like these ideas because they are effortless, fun, and budget-friendly. You can revamp old and weathered plastic, clay, terracotta, etc. pots around your home or from the thrift store.

You can decorate any space in your home, from the kid’s room to the bathroom, that will match in style, color, and texture.

Related articles:

• Best Concrete Silicone Molds for Pots

Which flower pot is your favorite? Do you have unusual planters around your home or in your garden?

Leave a comment.

The best DIY flower pots