DIY A Gorgeous Centerpiece Using A Few Empty Kitchen Essentials

A good centerpiece adds more than just visual interest to your table — the best ones also serve as conversation starters that can help break the ice at any party or gathering. Although there are all kinds of preassembled centerpieces available at home decor stores, the truly noteworthy and memorable ones are those you make yourself. So, if you want to DIY a simple rustic centerpiece that's sure to impress your guests, those empty tin soup cans in your kitchen recycling bin are going to come in handy. 

All you need for this gorgeous centerpiece is about seven to nine cans in varying sizes, plants of your choice to go in them, a hot glue gun, and four thick wooden dowels. For a more durable hold, you can also swap the hot glue for epoxy, polyurethane glue, or super glue. Not only is this a great opportunity to upcycle coffee cans and scrap wood into a darling home decor piece on a budget, it's also the perfect opportunity to buy more plants, and who doesn't love that?

Before you transform your old tin cans into beautiful plant pots, it's important to decide whether you will use these repurposed kitchen essentials for fake or real plants. If you opt for real plants, prep your empty cans by drilling drainage holes in the bottom and lining the inside with plastic to prevent rust. For fake plants, you don't need to prep them at all. Now, it's time to put the planter together. To do this, use lines of glue to attach the containers in a cluster. Keep smaller cans on the outer edge of the cluster so they remain visible. Once the cluster is built and the glue is dry, glue on your four wooden dowels, putting two on each side of the centerpiece.

You can customize this project by adding some paint to your cans before gluing the wooden legs on. White would look classic, but stylish options like terracotta or black are also attractive and versatile. Alternatively, if you want this DIY to look more like pottery and less like tin cans, you can Mod Podge some torn pieces of paper towel onto the surfaces before painting them. Other customizations like adding a bit of lace or painting a pattern on the containers could also help make your centerpiece stand out. If you want to give the project a glow-up (literally), leave one or two cans free of plants and add some artificial candles or twinkle lights instead.