10 Easy DIY Planters For Houseplants

You’ve been umming and ahhing about whether to splash out on that gorgeous, large Monstera Deliciosa and finally decide to go for it. Then you realise it comes in a plastic pot which looks downright ugly.

But a decent large planter is almost as much as the plant! What do you do?

Well, you could go down the route of making your own DIY planter to save some money now and in the long run. Especially if you plan on building your houseplant family.

I’ve scoured the internet for the best ideas and have found my top 10 easy DIY planters for houseplants.

My Top 10 DIY Planters For Houseplants

I wanted to find ideas that were easy enough for anyone to do, but also saved a good chunk of money.

The more money that can be saved, the more there is available to buy houseplants!

Wait, this is just a vicious cycle isn’t it?

Nah! Let’s do DIY and then spend all our money on plants! Woo-Wooo!

Make Your Own Terracotta Pots

DIY Planters for Houseplants
Source: Fall For DIY

I know, terracotta pots are dirt cheap (even cheaper than dirt, especially when you use houseplant potting mix!). But they are all that standard ‘V’ shape and if you don’t like that look then you’re a bit stuck.

However, you can actually make your own and you don’t need a potter’s wheel.

Air dry clay has made a big entrance to the craft scene recently and it’s easy to see why. You don’t need a kiln, you don’t even need to bake it, you can just make what you want and leave it to dry until it’s hard.

It’s also great for doing projects with kids. Just don’t do this one, from Fall For DIY, with your kids if you want it to turn out right. You know what I mean. 🙊

What’s great about making your own pots like this is that you can get really creative. You could add clay embellishments to the out side of your pot, much like what you will see in the next example!

Homemade Knitted Effect Planter

DIY Planters for Indoor Plants
Source: Lily Ardor

I love the look of this knitted effect planter from Lily Ardor. It looks like you just gave your houseplant a jumper to keep it warm.

This is an easier option than creating a terracotta pot from scratch as they use a tin as the base to add the strands of woven clay to.

You could use any suitable container as the base for your planter, but using something from the recycling bin is a great way to save even more money and be kind to the Earth!

Leftover Tiles DIY Box Planter

Easy DIY Plant Pots for Houseplants
Source: Pillar Box Blue

You may or may not have some handy Moroccan style tiles leftover from a bathroom renovation, but they’re not too expensive to buy anyway. You can even get a few free samples in some shops.

This DIY box planter, from Pillar Box Blue, is a really quick way to create a gorgeous planter for your houseplant. Technically it is just a cover for your plant pot, but it does the same job!

I like the way you could have this put together in 10 minutes. What is also great is that you could choose any style of tile to do this with.

Check on Freecycle to see if anyone is giving away leftover tiles near you!

Easy Sharpie Bowl Planters

DIY Pots for Indoor Plants
Source: A Piece of Rainbow

You can’t get much easier than this idea from A Piece of Rainbow. They have simply used cheap, plain white bowls as a base to draw patterns on with Sharpies.

This idea would be best for groups of succulents as the bowls are not the best shape for a single houseplant.

If you want to create a drainage hole at the bottom (which would be best to prevent the plants sitting in water) then you just need a tile drill bit and a drill.

Wooden Crate Planters On Legs

DIY Planters for Houseplants
Source: Wohnklamotte

You don’t always need to put your plants in ceramic planters. A wooden planter or crate is another great way to hide those plastic plant pots.

This Ikea hack from Wohnklamotte is a great, easy, cheap way to create a raised wooden planter to go anywhere in your home.

They have simply screwed two Ikea Knagglig crates together and added some dowels for legs. You could take it a step further by either painting or staining the wood to whatever colour or style you like.

But you don’t have to restrict yourself to low-level wooden crate planters…

Hanging Wooden Crate Planters

DIY Planters for Houseplants crates

Why not hang your crates up using rope!?

In this example, you can see what a wood stain can do to the look of your wooden crate. It’s a bit more rustic. Which ties in well with the rope.

All you will need is a sturdy screw-in hook to attach to a joist in your ceiling.

When you are placing plants in the crate, be sure to even out the load so that it stays level.

Tin Can Ming Vase Planters

Source: Pillar Box Blue

Going back to those recycled tin cans again. These stunning planters, from Pillar Box Blue, give a tongue-in-cheek Ming vase effect to your houseplant collection.

All it takes is a spray of blue paint to the tin can and the decoupage some images of blue and white porcelain vases to the front of the tin.

It sounds like a bit of a lame idea, but when you see them with the plants added, it actually looks surprisingly good!

Of course, you could use the same technique to decoupage anything you like onto the side of the tin.

DIY Rope Planter

rope-planter-diy
Source: Collective Gen

This gorgeous-looking rope planter idea, from Collective Gen, is simply created by wrapping a 1/2″ thick rope around a mould to create the shape you want.

Once the rope has been glued together and set, you can remove the mould and the rope planter will keep its shape.

A good item to use for the shape of the planter is a plant pot that is one size larger than the one you will be putting in the planter. Or you could use a waste bin, a saucepan, Tupperware. The options are endless!

Easy Large Planter Hack

Source: Lily Ardor

You can save the most money by making your large planters. The price seems to go up exponentially as the planter gets bigger!

With this in mind, this ingenious DIY large planter idea from Lily Ardor is going to save you a ton of money!

She has simply wrapped a tasselled, woven placemat around a plant pot to hide it. To make it even easier to take off and put back on, she added some velcro strips.

A great idea and a BIG money saver!

Easy Painted Tin Can Planters

Source: Pillar Box Blue

I’ve saved the easiest until last. If you thought the Ming vase tin can planters were easy, then these cute and colourful tin can planters are about to take the easy crown.

You probably already have everything you need for these in your home and you can get very creative with them. It’s a great one to do with the kids (and you don’t even need to worry about how they turn out!).

Succulents and Cacti always go well with bright colours, so these small planters are perfect for them.


If you’re worried about the expense of getting planters in addition to all the houseplants you want, then why not consider creating your own?

These easy DIY planters for houseplants will help you make your plants look even better, while saving you quite a bit of money.

Now all you need to do is choose the best houseplants to start with!