Inexpensive Faux Stone Planters: Plastic Coke Crate Planter DIY Project

You can recycle a plastic Coke Crate and turn it into a faux stone planter perfect for the front porch or back deck. Stone planters and garden urns can be expensive. You can recycle and reuse plastic Coke Crates to create budget stone garden urn!

To Turn a Plastic Coke Crate Into a Faux Stone Garden Planter You Will Need:

1 Plastic Coke Crate

Fabric

Glue or Starch

Spray on Primer

Spray On Stone Spray Paint

Oil Based Polyurethane

Paint Brush

To get started you will nee a plastic coke crate, the kind that looks like a cube. These will work best as a cheap faux stone planter. Really, any plastic crate will do, it does not have to be a Coke crate.

Now, cut strips of your fabric, about 3 inches wide and a foot long. The fabrics I like to use best of this are either canvas or burlap. Denim from old jeans works well too.

Now, pour your liquid starch into a bucket. If you do not want to buy liquid starch you can go ahead and use the oil based paint. It will be messy, so please wear gloves.

Start dipping the strips of fabric into the liquid starch, or paint. Let the bulk of the excess run off., then start applying them to the inside and outside of the plastic Coke Crate. This is very much like making piñata when you were a child.

Cover the inside and the outside of the plastic coke crate until full hidden and nice and thick.

Let the liquid starch or paint dry completely.

Now, spray on a coat of spray primer. Once this dries use a spray on faux stone spray paint, like Krylon, to coat the entire planter.

You want to coat the inside as well as the outside to give the stone look all over.

Once the faux stone is dried you need to coat it with at least 3 coats of exterior grade oil based clear polyurethane. This will protect the paint and other materials from the water and other outdoor elements that can shorten the life of your faux stone planter.

The clear oil based polyurethane will look best of you use a mate or less shiny version in place of a high gloss, which does not mimic stone very well.

Tip: If you wish to plant directly in the faux stone planter, versus setting a plastic pot inside, ten you will need to make a drain hole. To do this simple leave ea small hole in the bottom of the planter while you are adding the strips of fabric. A simple ½ to 1 inch hole will suffice.