Transform A Vintage Glass Lampshade Into A Beautiful & Unique Hanging Planter

Vintage lighting has a charm and beauty that is not frequently found today. Gorgeous colored glass and charming detailing make old-fashioned lamps a beautiful addition to your home, any way you use them. You can often find these lighting elements in a thrift store or other secondhand markets like antique sellers, flea markets, and online auctions. That said, you might not want to use older lamps as lights due to potentially dangerous wiring. While the pieces are great for swapping out with modern electrical fixtures, there may be another beautiful use for things like pendant and floor lampshades from eras past. With a solid rope, you can easily turn an antique or vintage lampshade into a stylish hanging planter.

The shape of an upside-down glass shade is perfect as a planter, and many glass shades already have holes in the top. When the shade is inverted, the hole becomes perfect for drainage, especially if you place the DIY planter outside. Hang several shade planters along a porch or another overhang for a beautiful Victorian or Art Nouveau focal point that will make your plants look elegant and sophisticated. While decorative and stained glass shades are ideal, you could also use plain white with painted or etched accents you add yourself. This is perhaps one of the most creative ways to repurpose old lampshades you already have or that you find at the thrift store.

To make a glass shade into a planter, simply turn it upside down. Before you fill the planter with dirt, you may want to add some wire mesh over the larger hole to keep the dirt from falling out of the opening. Add your plants along the top, allowing flowers or greenery to drape attractively over the sides. If you don't want to worry about dirt and drainage, you can also put faux plants inside the shade planter. For a fun twist with artificial greenery, add battery-operated string lights inside the planter to light up your backyard patio.

To hang your shade planter, employ a rope plant hanger, which forms a nice casual contrast with the more formal look of glass. You'll need a holder that's large enough to accommodate the shade and sturdy enough to hold the weight of the glass and dirt. Position the shade inside the holder, and hang it. You could also use a black or silver mini-chain that wraps around the planter for a sleeker look. The bowl of the lampshade would also work with a standing plant stand of roughly the same circumference to hold it. For a tabletop glass planter, use another piece of smaller thrifted glassware (like a bowl or planter) turned upside down as a base attached with adhesive to the bottom of the lampshade to stabilize a rounded bottom. 

While most lampshades will accommodate plants healthily and safely, stained glass lampshades can contain lead in the material used to hold the panes of colored glass in formation. Lead can be hazardous for plants, making them, and the water drained off them, very toxic. If using real plants, you will want to use another planter inside the shade or use some sort of liner inside to protect the soil from direct contact with the lead. Make sure the interior planter is not too heavy for the glass piece, so the lighter it is, the better. Plastic or coconut grass liners make great options. 

If you love a stained glass look and don't want to worry about lead, or cannot find the perfect stained glass piece, there are a couple hacks for getting a similar look. You can use glass paint and liquid faux leading to create an intricate stained glass look on the outside of a clear lampshade (or an inexpensive large glass bowl) that doubles for the real thing. Just make sure to seal it with acrylic for outdoor use. Or, you can cover a plain glass shade in stained glass peel-and-stick window film around the entire exterior for a fun DIY if you plan to only use the planter inside.