Turn A Basic IKEA Jar Into An Adorable Decor Piece With A Budget-Friendly DIY

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Have you ever seen a decor item in a shop and fallen in love with it, but the price tag is just too steep? That happened to Instagrammer @menawox with a strawberry-covered vase, but the creator found the perfect IKEA jar to recreate the decor at a much smaller price. Whether you've seen these vases in the shops or not, we think they are utterly adorable and fit right in if you like to decorate with fruit at home. Plus, you can take the basic idea of this project and make it your own with different colors and designs.

Essentially, you're creating lots of little strawberries that you'll glue all over a glass jar. To create your own, you'll start with the IKEA 365+ Carafe with Stopper and red spray paint. To ensure that the paint sticks to the glass, wash the surface with dish soap, and dry it off. Wipe it down with rubbing alcohol to remove the oils from your fingers, and spray the entire jar with spray paint meant for glass.

Mix up plaster of paris in a bowl with cold water, using the ratio specified in the directions. Pour the mix into small strawberry-shaped silicone molds. It should set within an hour, though you should let the packaging be your guide. Once the strawberries are dry, turn them out of the mold, and spray paint them the same shade of red as the jar. Or, hand paint them to give them realistic strawberry detailing. Test the spacing before you start gluing the berries in place all around the jar. Attach them using mounting glue or a hot glue gun. Strawberries are an easy shape to fit together, though you might want to turn the bottom row of berries upside down for a better fit.

What if strawberries don't do it for you, or red isn't part of your color scheme? The beauty of this DIY is how fully customizable it is. For example, you can use this as inspiration for creative ways to use fall leaves in your decor. Switch out the red paint for your favorite shade of green. Use leaf molds such as the Wehous Tree Leaves Silicone Molds to create your plaster of paris shapes. Spray paint them in shades of tan, brown, cream, or green. They'll be a little more challenging to fit together around the carafe due to the variety of shapes, but don't worry if there are some open spaces.

A fun way to celebrate summer blooms is to spray paint the jar in a three-color ombre pattern starting at the bottom with a sandy color, moving through sage green, and ending with a matching shade of blue. Mold flowers instead of strawberries, and paint them in a cheerful shade of yellow. Attach them to the carafe for a sweet indoor representation of a complete outdoor garden.  

For those who love the transparency of glass, skip painting the jar and use color-tinged resin instead of plaster of paris. You may want to use a different shape that suits the see-through result, such as hearts, stars, or flowers. Glue the set shapes to the glass using an epoxy resin. Incorporating resin art in your home in this way is easy and produces a gorgeous result. Once your customized jar is done, place it on a shelf or table, with or without greenery or flowers in it.