How to Make An Outdoor Planter Using Cement

Easy Cement Planter

With just a few simple to use items, I want to show you how to make a cement planter pot, that will enhance your outdoor ambience. I wanted to make my own cement planters for the outdoors because have you seen how much planters cost these days!? I’m trying to get into this plant mom life; you can read about my plant life start HERE. As I begin accumulating more plants, I’ve come to realize to travel this planter’s journey will require vessels to house these new plant babies.

Now, I’ve seen some gorgeous planters, with the not in my range price tag to match! And who is not interested in tossing money to planters? It’s me!

I was able to find a few old t-shirts lying around the house. I think it may have been best to use old towels because cutting my old shirts was a tedious task. Although, I think it could also be attributed to the dull scissors I used. In all, I used about three old, thin tees.

These IKEA buckets were inexpensive and made for a decent height after super gluing the two bottoms together. Keeping in mind, when adding the plants of your choosing, there will be additional height added to the planter.

I mixed the cement as if making pancake batter. Hopefully, you’ve made pancake batter where you just add water. If not, you basically want the cement to not be too liquified but also not too pasty. A thin but thick texture, which I know sounds conflicting but trust me. If you try this, you’ll totally understand once you start mixing the cement. Side Note: don’t forget to wear a face mask of some sort to protect yourself from inhaling the cement dust as you mix.

After mixing the cement, it’s now time to take the cut-up shirt pieces; wet with “cement sauce” (not all at once; preferably individually but moving with a swift pace as the cement will begin to thicken in the mixing bucket)and start applying the shirt pieces to the bucket. You’ll slowly see your concrete flower pot coming to life.

Allowing the finished application to dry over 24 hours, the concrete planter now looks like this (see cement garden vessel below).

Notice the texture and sense of movement the tee shirts give the planter. I’m excited!

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Before moving on to the next steps, I added one more coat of “cement sauce” over the completed planter -just to act like a final sealant. Once this cures, which wasn’t long since it’s presently 100 plus degrees here in Texas, you can either leave it as is or do what I did… Pull out a can of your favorite spray paint!

For me, I used Rustoleum Textured interior/exterior spray paint in black. Although the planter already has texture from using the cemented pieces of t-shirt, I still wanted to give the piece an added ‘lift’.

With some flowers added, this project made for a simplistic addition to my front porch. Now, I need to make another planter, but definitely early in the morning. That Texas heat is a BEAST!

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Until we meet again, be intentional about living your legacy now and genuinely!

Ya girl, Kim!