This week I made one of my favorite projects ever: simple cement succulent pots.
I absolutely love these, because it’s super easy, inexpensive and looks beautiful and modern.
I stumbled upon this idea while looking for teacher gifts – something that I could afford to give to a number of teachers.
The process was very simple. I collected cartons for the square shape I was going for, cut them down to size, and lightly rubbed cooking oil on the inside of the larger container, and outside of the inside container. I don’t know if this was necessary, but I didn’t want to risk breaking a pot after it hardened.
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Please forgive the image quality, my tutorial photos are down and dirty iPhone images.
Then, mixed 4 equal parts of cement-all mix and just a bit more than 1 part water. I mixed it until it had no lumps, and was the consistency of a thin pancake batter. I poured the cement into each of my three cartons, then tapped them on the ground a couple of times to reduce bubbles.
I put canned foods inside of the smaller containers to use as weights, then I carefully placed them into the cement-filled containers. These seemed sufficiently hard within an hour, but I waited for three hours before ripping the cartons off of the cement pots.
I loved them just like this, but I wanted to do a little something extra. I just gave it a light spray of white spray paint in a basic geometric print.
I filled them with inexpensive succulents from Home Depot, and added a cute tag I found online.
I definitely plan to make a set for myself – and I’m trying to dream up another project or two to make from cement. Any ideas? Please let me know in the comments below. Cheers!
Beautifully done and might try this on my next school holidays. 🙂 They sell them a lot at markets here in Australia! 🙂
Thank you! The pots themselves are only around $0.50 to make. Score!
These look great! I can’t wait to get a few succulents and try this out. Thanks for sharing, I clicked through from the Be Inspired Linky 🙂
Yes! This is an easy tutorial to follow! I’ve been wanting to make my own cement pots but all other tutorials were confusing. Such a great gift for teachers.
Great idea! I pinned it! I linked through from Inspired Bloggers. Your site is beautiful.
Thank you so much, Joleen!
OMG these are adorable! What a great gift idea. You make it look so easy. I’m just super lazy and would probably prefer to just buy one. But these are really creative!
So cute! These would make such wonderful gifts for people! I love the design and colours too! 🙂
Lovely DIY project.I am going to try this.I am worried about the cement blocking drains.
So cute! I will have to try this for my balcony! Thanks for sharing.
This is such a cute idea, I love succulents! Pinning for later!
I love how simple these look – def going to pin this!
Very cute idea! I like that you’re using recyclable boxes to make these cute cement pots.
I used to be a teacher, and I would have loved to receive one of these! I may just make one for my husband – who is the gardener around here!
These are so cool!! Love them! I pinned and am excited to try them.
Such a lovely DIY idea… This is so cool and nice.. Gonna implement this at my home too!
These are so cute! I love succulents!
What a great DIY project! I wouldn’t have thought to make my own pots.
This is such a cute and creative idea!!! I love having succulents in my place!
These are so great, I’ve been meaning to try creating something with cement – I love the look of these. Pinned for later!
Those planters are so pretty!
This an awesome idea to do with my family this summer! That would really like it!
So great for the kids! It is easy to make, and they feel so proud of the reactions they get.
Awesome idea. I need to try this
These are awesome!! Thanks for sharing. Pinned this!