Turn A Few Old Wash Tubs Into A Beautiful Tiered Planter For Your Porch

Once you see the gorgeous tiered planter TikTokker @kristysketolifestyle made from vintage wash tubs, we're betting you'll want to try this easy and stunning project, too. While you can find many common household items you can turn into beautiful planters, the nostalgic look of wash tubs, their ample capacity, and their availability in multiple sizes make them perfect for this tiered planter. With the scale of the planter, the appeal of the vintage wash tubs, and the colorful flowers spilling over the rims of the tubs, Kristy's concept makes a significant statement on her porch, as it can on yours.

In her video, Kristy says that a year before she started the planter, she began collecting old metal wash tubs of different sizes from antique stores. She ended up with four washtubs in graduated sizes that could stack on top of each other once filled with soil, and she drilled holes in the bottom of each for drainage.

Kristy's next step was to fill the tubs with soil, and this step warrants discussion. Gardeners often use materials to fill the bottom of large planters. Plants don't need nearly as much soil as it would take to fill up the tubs, and soil also makes large planters very heavy. Along with soil, Kristy used small styrofoam coolers to fill the space, but as the video shows, she had a second reason for using them. The cube-shaped coolers provided a flat surface at the top of each planter for stacking the next wash tub.

But is it safe to use styrofoam in planters? Expert consensus suggests that the amount of chemical leaching from styrofoam is too small to be an issue. Some experts say styrofoam is okay if it's not in contact with roots, which would likely be the case with this project, since flowers are planted around the edges of the tubs. If you want to be on the safe side, you can complete the project using fillers like pinecones or mulch. You could use newspapers on top to create a flat surface to stack tubs. You'll also want to be aware of common materials you should never use to fill the bottom of large planters.

Stacking is the next step. Once the tubs were stacked, Kristy had a rim of soil around the edge of each wash tub for planting flowers. She arranged the potted blooms around the wash-tub rims before planting them to ensure she was happy with the look, and then she planted and watered. Kristy's plant list included portalaca, baby sun rose, vinca vine, sweet potato vine, macaronia, lantana, alyssum, and sedum.