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Round Up: 8 Clever Ways to Repurpose Items for use in your Garden

by on Apr 11, 2016

Photo: Creative Savings

I’ve been looking to do a bit of work on my garden lately – it’s one of the areas of our house that gets largely neglected with weeds and trees running rampant everywhere (shh, don’t tell anyone; we don’t even have any garden furniture!).

And since I started researching garden DIYs, I noticed there were a lot of really clever ways to repurpose old unwanted items and give them new life as planters, furniture or general garden decoration. Curious to know more? See below for some of my top picks!

 

8 Clever Ways to Repurpose Items for use in your Garden
Photo: Design Sponge

1. Cinderblocks as planters and furniture

If you live near a construction site or somewhere there are cinderblocks handy, grab a bunch for your garden – they’re so useful! You can make them into stacked planters, outdoor furniture or perhaps try creating an outdoor bar with them and fill the gaps with plants like this gorgeous bar on Design Sponge. 

 

8 Clever Ways to Repurpose Items for use in your Garden
Photo: Lovely Indeed

2. Old spoons as plant markers

For some reason I have a lot of excess cutlery (weird problem, I know) so I’m definitely going to try out this DIY. It’s worth noting that you’ll need a metal stamping kit, but I’m happy to invest in one of those as I’ll definitely use it again in other crafts. If you’re the same, head on over to Lovely Indeed for the full tutorial.

 

8 Clever Ways to Repurpose Items for use in your Garden
Photo: Creative Savings

3. Colanders as hanging planters

Why have I never thought of this before? Not only do colanders look super pretty with a lick of paint and plants in them, they also have built in holes for water drainage! Creative Savings has a great tutorial on how to make these hanging beauties so grab those old colanders and head on over. 
 

8 Clever Ways to Repurpose Items for use in your Garden
Photo: Addicted 2 DIY

 

8 Clever Ways to Repurpose Items for use in your Garden
Photo: DIY Show Off

4. Tires as planters or furniture

If you’d told me that tires could look good repurposed as garden decor I probably would have laughed at you. But just look at that – wrapped in rope or with a good coat of paint, they end up looking very nice indeed! If your tire has had a puncture, don’t throw it away – keep it and make a table, an ottoman or a house for your plants. Addicted 2 DIY and DIY Show Off have a couple of great tutorials on how to give those tires a new lease on life.

 

8 Clever Ways to Repurpose Items for use in your Garden
Photo: Liz Marie Blog

5. Drawers as planters

I’m super keen to try out this DIY – we have a few drawers lying about that would look great in the garden with a good coat of paint! Don’t let yourself be limited by the type of drawer either… there are plenty of tutorials on how to make standing plant stands and stacked planters with one, two or three larger drawers. Or you can try making yourself these super cute mini succulent storage boxes from Liz Marie Blog.

 

8 Clever Ways to Repurpose Items for use in your Garden
Photo: Empress of Dirt

6. Windows as a mini greenhouse 

This one is a real genius idea – if you’ve recently renovated and have old spare windows, make a miniature greenhouse! Your plants will love you for it and the kids will probably get a kick out of it too. For a great tutorial, you can’t go past this one by Empress of Dirt – just look at how cute that greenhouse is! 

 

8 Clever Ways to Repurpose Items for use in your Garden
Photo: Design Sponge

7. Pallets as vertical gardens

Ah, you didn’t think I’d get through this list without a pallet DIY in there somewhere did you? Pallets are probably one of the most versatile items to repurpose for the garden. You can make rustic chairs and tables out of them, large box planters, or try going down the vertical garden route with this easy-to-follow tutorial on Design Sponge

 

8 Clever Ways to Repurpose Items for use in your Garden
Photo: A Beautiful Mess

8. Tree stumps as side tables

Okay I’ll be honest, this one was a DIY for the indoors, but with the addition of some exterior stain there’s no reason why you couldn’t rework this for use on your outdoor deck! I love the natural raw quality of these side tables by A Beautiful Mess and they’d fit perfectly into pretty much any garden setting.

 

8 Clever Ways to Repurpose Items for use in your Garden

 

 

 

 

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