The Clever Way You Could Be Reusing An Empty Plastic Nursery Pot In The Bathroom

Buying plants from home stores and garden centers can be a great way to fill your home and yard with flowers and greenery. If you've been plant shopping lately, you may find yourself overrun with plastic nursery pots after you've transferred the plants they held. While there are many handy ways to repurpose planters in and around your house, you may be wondering what to do with these often flimsy plastic ones that usually don't last very long for a permanent planting solution. Well, the perfect place to reuse them may just be in your bathroom, where you can completely customize them to store bathroom essentials.

Plastic nursery pots come in all sizes, including larger ones that house trees and shrubs. While many home stores host recycling plans for these planters or you could reuse old plastic nursery pots for a gardening hack, this bathroom storage idea is another great way to keep these plastic pieces out of landfills and in-use in your home. Even better, you can make stylish storage for your bathroom for next to nothing that can be customized to your needs and interior design style. But first, you need to know how to clean them properly.

Plastic planters can get quite dirty and grimy when they are fulfilling their original role. They can also harbor traces of chemicals, bacteria, mold, and other things from the organic matter they once held. This means you want to get them as clean as possible before using them to hold other items in your house or undertaking any upcycling project. One of the best ways to remove any contaminants is to give planters a good scrub with soapy water to remove any loose dirt or planting matter from the interior, bottom, and sides of the container.

To fully sterilize them, use a solution of ½ cup of bleach inside a 5 gallon bucket filled with water to submerge the planter while you scrub with a brush that's small enough to get into all the nooks and crannies. If you do not want to use bleach, a rubbing alcohol or white vinegar solution can also work. After you have removed any dirt inside, allow the planters to sit for about five minutes, then rinse the planters with clean water. If you are unable to sterilize the planters, or they have persistent stains, you could also use a liner made from plastic or fabric inside. 

To put plastic planters to work for bathroom storage, use smaller options for housing items like toothpaste/toothbrushes, Q-Tips, cotton balls, makeup remover pads, and other smaller essentials. Or, use medium-sized planters for keeping things like soaps, grooming tools, makeup brushes, and other items stored to keep your bathroom vanity clutter-free. You could also use a planter to discreetly stash an extra roll of toilet paper in easy reach. Large planters can hold rolled towels or be used as a simple way to stash plungers or toilet brushes next to the commode.

There are many ways to decorate your upcycled plastic planters, including wrapping them in jute twine or rope secured with hot glue for the natural woven look of a much more expensive basket. Alternatively, use chalk paint on the outside to add color or create a textured look using a stencil brush to stipple another shade of chalk paint over a base coat. Decoupage your planter or use a cool paper mache and mortar technique to make it look like real stone. Create texture by slathering on layers of Plaster of Paris or DryDex silicone spackling paste and painting over it.