Have you ever imagined something in your head but can’t find it in any store? I feel that way ALL. THE. TIME. To the point where it’s actually really annoying. In this case, all I wanted was a simple black hanging planter for our kitchen. Everywhere I looked they were either too complicated, too expensive or you could only buy multiples for more money. I got to the point where I just decided I CAN MAKE THIS MYSELF. This is how you too can make your own DIY hanging planter.
What you’ll need for this project
- A pot/bowl made out of heavy plastic or metal
- Drill with a large bit
- Chain
- A hook set with anchor
- Pliers
- Plant of choice
Optional*
- Saw
- Spray paint
- 80 grit sand paper
*because you’re particular like me
Let me start by saying I made this more complicated for myself than I needed to. I reeeeaaalllyy struggled to find a pot that I liked. When I finally did, it was entirely too tall and it wasn’t the right color. My plan quickly became: cut down the pot, spray paint it the color I want and make that pot!
The first step was deciding on the height that I wanted for this planter, taking a saw and cutting it down to size. This was totally my choice and did not need to be done. The pot is made out of a heavy duty plastic so I should have anticipated that the edges would end up super jagged using the hand saw, but here we are. I used the sand paper to clean up my “work”, but had to be very gentle so not to scratch the plastic finish.
Once the pot was prepped, I took my drill and poked three holes through the pot which would become my hooks. Because the pot was made of plastic, it was easy-ish to drill the hole once it gets going, but the plastic is also bendable which made getting started really challenging.
We fixed this by using our makeshift plywood table as a base for pressure.
The holes need to be wide enough for the chain link to fit through so once the initial holes were made, I just used the bit to widen the hole by running the bit in a circular motion wearing down the sides until I got to the desired size.
The pot was pretty much good to go after that and ready for paint. I used a matte black and sprayed in light layers until the whole pot was covered. I also painted the ceiling hook black so the whole thing look would blend together.
The inside of my pot was already black, but if it wasn’t, I would have also painted the top rim of the inside that you didn’t see that above the dirt line.
While the paint was drying, I broke down the chain into 3 equal lengths. You can get chain from any hardware store. It comes in bulk so you can get any size you want and even cut it at the store if that is easier for you.
Once the pot was dry (which took longer than I had hoped, but I didn’t want to scratch the pot with the chain) I started the assembly.
Actually assembling the DIY hanging planter
You can keep this as simple or as complicated as you want, but I went with simple.
After putting the chain through the hole, I pried one of the chain links apart and then used it to secure the chain to itself.
As an alternative, we also looked at options using a hook to attach the chain to the pot. This was actually my first choice, but I couldn’t find a hook that was the correct look and size in our local hardware store.
Put a plant in her because she’s done!
Just kidding. We actually did a dry fit first to check the height and cut the chains down to the proper size. THEN I planted our new plant baby and took her for a test drive in the kitchen. I think it turned out great! It’s simple and elegant and gives the corner some much needed color!
Take Away: The only change I would make to this DIY hanging planter is that I think I put too much dirt in the hole because now when I water it the plant, the water pours right out of the holes! For now I’m just taking the plant down and watering it in the sink, but eventually I’ll probably have to deal with the dirt!
UPDATE: After a few months of taking the plant down to water it, I realized that the water wasn’t draining out the holes like it originally did. The dirt must have eventually compacted and settled a bit more into the planter. As of now, I am no longer taking the plan down to water it.
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