One of my favorite things to do this year is finding creative and fun succulent planters.
If I don’t find them, I try creating my own, like these retro-ish looking ones. I honestly had no idea what they’d end up looking like but after putting the finishing touches on them I’m pretty happy with the results!
Right now, they’re sitting on my front porch decorating my entrance. I think eventually I’ll find a home for them indoors somewhere. Especially because succulents don’t need a ton of sun or water to thrive and stay alive. And they also make great indoor succulent planters.
Related: Gorgeous DIY Tiered Succulent Planter
I’ve grown a love for succulents. I was introduced to them when I moved to California, and little by little I’ve fallen in love with these little green plants. They add so much more life to everything when you have them around.
How to make DIY succulent planters
To make these quick planters, here’s what you’ll need. Oh and by the way most of this stuff, including the succulents themselves, I found at the dollar store (or the 99 cent store for some of us):
[ingredients title=”Supplies”]- 3 small to medium tin planters
- 3 small to medium succulents
- 1 can of white 2X spray paint
- a couple of small paint brushes
- potting soil
I absolutely LOVE that you can find succulents at the dollar store. They tend to be a dollar or two each, depending on how big they are. And if you go on a good day when they’re stocked, you can take your pick from a variety of them.
Related: The Best Indoor Plants For Clean Air And low Light Settings
One thing to note is that once you get them, you can take a little piece off each of them and plant them in brand new soil to propagate them and make more (like tons more, if you want to) of them. That way you don’t ever have to worry about buying brand new succulents again.
Here’s a decent guide on how to propagate your succulents once you buy a few. It’s A LOT easier than you might think!
Types of succulents
Before we go on:
I think some of you might be curious to know what type of succulents these are.
The top one is a Ripple Jade and it’s not like the usual succulents I usually come across. Fun fact? They can grow up to be 3 – 4 feet tall!
The one directly under it is a Crassula Ruprestis succulent. They make pretty great houseplants and they survive colder climates.
And the right most one I’m pretty sure is an Echeveria Elegans or ‘Mexican Snowball’ as they tend to call it. This plant prefers full sun to partial shade and doesn’t do as well as other succulents in colder climates. But you can easily grow it indoors with enough water and some sunlight.
To make sure I coated each tin planter properly with a nice coat of white paint, I used the Painter’s Touch 2x for extra thick coverage. For these tin planters I simply sprayed them with two quick coats and waited about 40 minutes between each coat.
Before spray painting, well anything really, you need to make sure you wipe it clean from any residue that might keep your coat from going on nice and smooth.
Believe me, you don’t want to skip this step. Your paint might go on weird if it’s not on a completely smooth surface.
I made sure to wash the succulent tin planters with some soap and water and set them out to dry while I worked on other crafts for the day.
The spray paint I found at Home Depot but you can find it for about the same price on Amazon.
The paint finish with this spray paint is a nice glossy white that once completely dry looks like it came straight from the store.
I’m always pretty happy with how each coat comes out. Honestly, if you’ve ever wondered how to make a succulent planter, it’s a lot easier than it seems, depending on what look you’re going for.
Then for the details on the planters once dry, I simply used a couple of coats of acrylic paint that I had in my craft box. I forgot what I’d used it for previously but thought they would do just fine for the quick color swatches I wanted to create on each planter.
Admittedly I should have gone over a few of the color swatches with a few more coats, since the acrylic paint is water based it’s a little more see through than other types of paints (like gauche, for example).
Even still though, I think the planters came out pretty nice and presentable. Hey, they can even make cute gift ideas for a friend that loves indoor plants!
Adding details to your succulent planters
After I let the spray paint coats dry completely (waited a few hours) then I started adding the final details to the planters.
I decided to stick to three colors so that way they all more or less synchronized with each other without seeming too matchy matchy.
My tip to you? Have fun with your paintbrush and paints and don’t be afraid of trying something new!
Painting your succulent planters can be as simple as adding a few basic shapes together in different colors, and then detailing around them with dot or smaller swatches of color (like I did with the purple triangles).
Painting your planters in an interesting way that you’ll like comes down to:
- Picking the couple of colors you’ll use BEFORE you start painting.
- Practice on a scrap sheet of paper if you have to, until you get the desired look.
And that’s pretty much it.
You’ve got yourself some interesting succulent planters that are sure to stand out from the succulent crowd.
I think all three of these planters make a great pair, even though they each have their own unique personality and colors.
My favorite is probably the pink, blue, and black dotted one. It’s pretty abstract and can go with a bright decor scheme.
These make great indoor succulent planters
Like I said, these planters are great as indoor plant decorations. That way you also keep the paint for peeling or getting dull if left outside in natural weather (unless you’re keeping them on your front porch!)
Did you try creating your own planters? Let me know in the comments below.
More plant ideas to check out: