Make Your Own DIY Planter with some Farmhouse Style

I’ve been updating my outdoor spaces and one thing I’ve found that can break the bank is a new planter! Especially if you’re looking for one that is a decent size. So to save money, you have to get crafty! My solution: Make my own DIY vintage planter with some farmhouse style – All you need are plants, a large enamelware bowl, and a green thumb. Lies – get succulents and you can skip that green thumb part! Check out how to make your own super simple planter!

I love to go to garden stores and pretend that I know what I’m looking at and that I could miraculously keep all that stuff alive. However, after coming back to reality, I remember that I don’t like to go out and water stuff every day, and if it’s not a shrub in the ground that the sprinklers can hit, I’ll probably end up neglecting it.

DIY Vintage Planter

$Pinterest graphic with text that reads \"DIY Vintage Planter\" and a picture of a large white planter with various plants growing in dark soil.$

Enter the world of succulents! Now, they aren’t as showy and colorful as their flowering plant relatives, but they look great and they’re low maintenance. Score. However – what to put them in?? Planters are pricey, but you can DIY your own for much less.

I found a $5 huge enamelware bowl at an antique store last year and used it to make my own DIY planter. After you get your supplies, this project will only take you about 30 minutes from start to finish!

Supplies for DIY Vintage Planter

Large enamelware bowl
Potting soil
Succulents (3 or so depending on the size of your bowl)
Flowers or greenery if you decide not to use succulents
Rocks
Drill (for making drainage holes in your bowl)

You can usually find these large bowls at junk stores, antique stores, or thrift stores. It doesn’t matter if it’s rusty or chipped. The more worn looking, the better!

Make about 6 or 7 small holes in the bottom of the bowl using a drill with a small bit attached. Get some scrap wood that you can use to set the bowl on while you’re drilling so you don’t run the bit into the floor. Rotate your bowl around so each hole goes into the wood.

Add some potting soil, throw your succulents in there, and add some decorative rocks to the top. Give him a little drink and wallah! Then pretty much set it and forget it. I think mine gets watered every 2 weeks or so. I made one last year and they held on fabulously all summer and even into the winter.

A white enamelware bowl with a red rim around the top and succulents growing inside.

Last year

Two of them are trying to come back this year after a winter of neglect, so they look a little rough at the moment. I added a new one to the bowl this weekend.

And I loved it so much last year, I made a second one for the back porch! I think the 2nd bowl I found was around $12, but still pretty good for a large planter. This one got a few flowers and some greenery. We shall see if it lives or not! It’s going on my newly refinished plant shelf out back! Click here to see my shelf makeover!